Don Wilton, pastor of the 6,700-member First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, for the past 12 years, was elected as president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention for 2006 during the annual meeting Nov. 16.
Don WiltonWilton received 334 votes while Don Brock, pastor of Gateway Baptist Church, Irmo, received 231 votes for president. Wilton was nominated by Joe Wren, pastor of Summerville Baptist Church, Summerville, and Brock was nominated by Carl Martin, pastor of East Pickens Baptist Church, Pickens.
Wilton, a frequent speaker at state conventions, pastors’ conferences and revivals, will deliver the convention sermon for the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro next June. A native of South Africa, Wilton has been an associate professor of preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and also served as pastor of churches in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Other convention officers for 2006, all elected by acclamation, include Richard Porter, pastor of Branchville Baptist Church, Branchville, first vice-president; Rodney Hord, pastor of Juniper Bay Baptist Church, Conway, second vice-president; Frankie Lott, ministry assistant at Crowfield Baptist Church, Goose Creek, recording secretary; and Jeff Whaley, pastor of Return Baptist Church, Seneca, registration secretary.
In other action, Marshall Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church, Charleston, was selected as the convention preacher for the 2006 meeting at First Baptist Church, Taylors. Dennis Wilkins, pastor of First Baptist Church, Bluffton, was chosen as alternate. Convention messengers also approved returning to Columbia for the 2008 annual meeting.