Note: This story has been updated from its original version to include information about the nomination of Iowa pastor Dave Miller.
Upstate South Carolina pastor Brad Atkins will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the denomination’s June 19-20 annual meeting in New Orleans.
Brad Atkins, pastor of Powdersville First Baptist Church and current SCBC president, will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.Atkins, 39, pastor of Powdersville First Baptist Church and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, will be nominated by Johnny Touchet, pastor of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Piedmont.
Atkins joins two other announced nominees for the office: Mississippi pastor Eric Hankins, 40, pastor of First Baptist Church in Oxford since 2005; and Dave Miller, pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Sioux City, Iowa.
“My desire is to see the Southern Baptist Convention united around our call to fulfill the Great Commission for the glory of God,” Atkins said in an email statement to the Courier. “We must do all that we can to reach all that He can as we obey His call to take up our cross and follow Him.”
Atkins has served at Powdersville First Church since 2006. Since he became pastor, the church has grown from fewer than 30 to more than 350 in average attendance, adding 183 new members and baptizing 68.
The church has also increased its missions giving to 13 percent of undesignated receipts – with 7 percent going to the Cooperative Program, 3 percent to the Piedmont Baptist Association, and 1 percent to each of three church planters/missionaries. Atkins has led his church to take part in mission trips to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida and Romania.
“Brad has not been a pastor of a large church or written any books, but he has a heart for the Southern Baptist Convention,” Touchet said in a news release provided to the Courier. “He desires?to help lead the SBC into the future with unity among our members and focus within our leadership.
“Now is the time for the SBC to be united in our efforts to help reach the nations with the gospel as we all seek Great Commission living.”
Atkins served in successive years as second vice president and first vice president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention before being elected SCBC president in November 2011. He also served on the state convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force in 2011.
He earned a B.A. in Christian studies from North Greenville University, attended Southeastern Theological Seminary’s extension campus at Anderson University and completed a master of ministry degree at Andersonville Theological Seminary.
He?is the husband of Hayley Brooks Atkins. They have two children: Annie Laurie, 13, and Will, 11.
Atkins was born in Motlow Creek, S.C., and grew up in a rural Southern Baptist church. He was saved at 17 and soon answered a call to ministry. He has served on staff at three South Carolina Baptist churches over the past 15 years.