North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley will be nominated for a second term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Texas pastor Michael Criner announced April 13.
“It is my honor to nominate Clint Pressley for a second term as President of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Criner, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Rockwall, Texas, wrote in a statement to the Biblical Recorder announcing his intent to nominate Pressley during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting June 10-11 in Dallas. “While this renomination is no surprise, it is coming after sincere prayer and ongoing conversations with a wide number of SBC pastors.”
Pressley, who has served as senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte since 2010, has emphasized Southern Baptists’ confession of faith and cooperative ministry model during his first term as SBC president.
Pressley plans to further emphasize confession and cooperation around the theme of “Hold Fast,” based upon Hebrews 10:23-24, at this summer’s SBC meeting. Both the Baptist Faith and Message and the Cooperative Program are celebrating their 100th anniversaries this year.
Criner added that Pressley has represented Southern Baptists well in his first term, while emphasizing the SBC’s core tenets of confession and cooperation.
“During his first year, Clint Pressley has displayed clarity, conviction and courage,” Criner wrote. “One of the most admirable qualities of Clint is that in every environment where he has represented the SBC, he has joyfully pointed us to the very best of who we are and what we do: our confession and our cooperation for/toward the Great Commission.
“Clint has been a stabilizing voice and worked strategically with our leaders, but also lent his ear to the everyday pastor. I hope others will join me in voting for Clint Pressley this June in Dallas.”
According to Annual Church Profile data and Baptist State Convention of North Carolina records, Hickory Grove reported 77 baptisms and averaged 2,790 in worship attendance in 2024. The church reported $9,880,859 in total undesignated receipts in 2024, with $274,056 (2.77 percent) given through the Cooperative Program. Hickory Grove also gave $259,963 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and $75,685 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions in 2024.
Pressley was elected the 65th president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2024 at the SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.
A native of Charlotte, Pressley joined Hickory Grove as a teenager before earning a bachelor’s degree from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., and a master of divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently pursuing a doctor of ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Pressley pastored two churches in Mississippi before returning to Hickory Grove in 1999 as senior associate pastor of preaching. In 2004, he was called as senior pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala. In 2010, Pressley returned to Hickory Grove as co-pastor and was installed as senior pastor in 2011.
Pressley has also served in a variety of other leadership roles in Baptist life, including vice president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2013, first vice president of the SBC from 2014-2015, and as a trustee of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 2015-2025, which included a stint as chairman. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
Pressley’s wife, Connie, is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor. The couple has two sons.
— Chad Austin is managing editor of the Biblical Recorder.