Pastors Bart Kelley and Marshall Blalock will be nominated for president-elect of the South Carolina Baptist Convention at the denomination’s annual meeting Nov. 15-16 at Riverland Hills Baptist Church in Columbia.
The president-elect will serve a one-year term and will assume the office of SCBC president the following year.
Kelley, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Oakway, will be nominated by former convention president Tommy Kelly (no relation), while Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, will be nominated by Will Browning, pastor of Journey Church in Charleston.
Kelley’s church gives 10 percent to the Cooperative Program; Blalock’s congregation gives 7.5 percent. According to 2015 records, Bethel had 548 members and baptized nine people, while Charleston First Baptist had 537 members and baptized 12.
Both men have been involved in the work of the convention for years. Kelley has served on the Committee on Committees, Nominations Committee, and Building and Grounds Committee of the Executive Board. He currently is SCBC first vice president and serves on the convention’s Budget, Audit & Finance Committee and on the board of trustees at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home.
Blalock has served as chairman of the SCBC Executive Board, chairman of the Budget, Audit & Finance Committee, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, and chairman of the Search Committee for the executive director-treasurer of the SCBC.
Tommy Kelly said that he is nominating Bart Kelley partly because of his experience in working with him on convention business. During Kelly’s term as president, the convention faced several unusual challenges that “necessitated me as president to release several public statements that received state and national recognition,” said Kelly. “One of my closest confidants during those days was Bart Kelley.”
Blalock said, “I am thankful for many leaders who have helped shape the convention around the central mission of God found in Acts 1:8. Should I be given the responsibility to serve in this capacity, my goal is to continue to encourage the SCBC’s God-honoring focus on the Great Commission.”