Gary Rogers, pastor of Pelham First Baptist Church near Greenville for the last eight years, was elected president of the South Carolina Baptist Pastors’ Conference Nov. 11 at the group’s annual meeting at Trinity Baptist Church, Cayce.

Rogers is a graduate of North Greenville College, Gardner-Webb College and Southeastern Seminary. He served as vice president of the Pastors’ Conference in 2013. He also previously served on the Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and on the SCBC’s Order of Business Committee.

Rogers is endorsed by the North American Mission Board as a fire service chaplain and currently serves as chaplain for the South Carolina Firefighters Association.

He and his wife, Suzanne, have two daughters: Jennifer (married to Adam McKinney) and Taylor, a sophomore at North Greenville University.

Stuart Houston, pastor of Blue Ridge View Baptist Church in Pickens County, was elected vice president of the Pastors’ Conference. Houston will celebrate his 15th anniversary at Blue Ridge in January 2014. He is married to the former Stacey Gallamore of Easley, and they have two children: Harrison, 17, and Sadie Grace, 12.

Johnny Bridges, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Gaffney for the last four years, was elected treasurer. He formerly was pastor of Glendale Baptist Church in Spartanburg County. He and his wife, April, have three children: Noah, 15, Joshua, 13, and Noelle, 11.

Dwight Easler, pastor of Corinth Baptist Church, Gaffney, and 2013 Pastors’ Conference president, said the meeting “was a time of encouragement and challenge to our South Carolina pastors to ‘Pass It On’,” noting the theme for the meeting.

Speakers included Gary Rogers, Peter Beck, Alex McFarland, David Miller, Pat Kilby and D.J. Horton.

“I can say that each message was an answer to prayer,” Easler said in an opinion piece about the Pastors’ Conference. “Many pastors came to me and thanked me for the program theme, but the comment of one fellow pastor, in particular, stuck with me. He said he had recently been forced out of his church and that the messages had ministered to his heart and given him what he needed to keep going.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated Nov. 25, 2013, with additional biographical information about the newly elected officers.