Clint Pressley (born February 26, 1969) is an American Southern Baptist pastor from Charlotte, North Carolina. He has led Hickory Grove Baptist Church since 2011.
He also served as the 65th president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from June 2024 to June 2026.
You will not find Pressley chasing headlines. He preaches verse by verse, wears a suit in the pulpit, and spent two years calming tempers in America’s largest Protestant denomination.
Here is the full story, from his childhood in Charlotte to his hand-off to a new SBC president.
Clint Pressley at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Clint Pressley |
| Born | February 26, 1969 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA |
| Age | 57 (as of October 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Connie LaBelle Smith Pressley |
| Children | Mack and Nate (both adopted); Nate died in 2023 |
| Education | |
| College | Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina (bachelor’s degree) |
| Seminary | Master of Divinity, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary |
| Doctorate | In progress at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |
| Ministry | |
| Title | Senior Pastor |
| Church | Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Denomination | Southern Baptist Convention |
| Senior pastor since | 2011 (co-pastor from 2010) |
| SBC president | 2024 to 2026 (65th president) |
| Career | |
| Net worth | Not publicly reported |
| Salary | Not published |
Early Life and Background
Birth and childhood
Pressley was born in Charlotte on February 26, 1969, and grew up in the city. His parents belonged to a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation. He became a Christian there at age 11.
He wanted to be a pastor from boyhood. That goal never really changed.
The Baptist church that changed his plans
A few years later, a family vacation took the Pressleys to Roanoke, Virginia. Friends invited them to First Baptist Church. It was the first Baptist service Clint had ever attended.
The preacher spoke with plain conviction. Young Pressley decided that was the kind of work he wanted. Back in Charlotte, he urged his parents to find a Baptist church. They tried Hickory Grove and joined after two weeks.
Education
Pressley played football at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He kept working at Hickory Grove during summer breaks as a pastoral intern.
After college, his pastor pointed him to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He later finished his Master of Divinity at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary while pastoring in Mississippi.
He is now working on a doctorate at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
Some pages list only one seminary. Both are correct. He began at Southwestern and graduated from New Orleans.
Ministry Career
Mississippi and the return to Charlotte
Pressley pastored two small churches in Mississippi after seminary. In 1999, Hickory Grove called him home as senior associate pastor of preaching.
Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile
In 2004, he became senior pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. The SBC calls it a historic church.
Back to Hickory Grove as senior pastor
Pressley returned to Hickory Grove in 2010 as co-pastor. On January 30, 2011, the congregation affirmed him as senior pastor. He has stayed since.
Hickory Grove Baptist Church
Hickory Grove Baptist Church is in Charlotte, North Carolina. The main campus sits in east Charlotte at the corner of Hickory Grove and Delta Roads. The church began in October 1955 and bought 14 acres there that same month.
Today the church runs a second campus about 13 miles from the main site. It also runs a K-12 Christian school on its 56-acre main campus. Reporters call it North Carolina’s fifth-largest Baptist church.
The numbers are steady. Hickory Grove averaged 2,632 in worship in 2023 and 2,790 in 2024. It reported 69 baptisms in 2023 and 77 in 2024.
How Pressley changed the church
After taking over, Pressley cut some seeker-friendly events, such as cookouts and visits from pro athletes. He also cleaned up a bloated membership list by removing hundreds of inactive names.
A longtime deacon described the shift this way: fewer efforts to pull people in, more effort to root current members in Scripture. Sunday teaching moves through books of the Bible in order. Exodus was his focus at one point.
The services still use a modern band. But Pressley kept an old-style wooden pulpit, with his favorite verse from Isaiah 40:8 on it.
Rise in the Southern Baptist Convention
Pressley built a long record in SBC life before he ran for president. His main roles were:
- Vice president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 2013
- First vice president of the SBC from 2014 to 2015
- Trustee of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 2015, including a stint as chairman
- Member of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina board since 2023
- Council member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Elected president in 2024
Pressley told Baptist Press in late 2023 that he would allow his name to be nominated. Chris Justice, pastor of Lee Park Baptist Church in Monroe, North Carolina, nominated him.
Six men ran in Indianapolis on June 12, 2024. It took two runoff ballots. Pressley won with 4,244 votes (56.12 percent) over Dan Spencer of First Baptist Church in Sevierville, Tennessee.
Reelected in 2025
Pressley won a second term on June 10, 2025, in Dallas. He took 5,567 of 6,009 votes (92.64 percent) against David Morrill of Colorado. Michael Criner, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockwall, Texas, nominated him.
What his presidency focused on
Pressley said his goal was to lower the temperature. He pointed Southern Baptists back to two things: their confession of faith and their mission. He added that the SBC would stay complementarian, meaning it holds that pastors are men.
That message mattered in 2024. Messengers fell short of the two-thirds vote needed to write a men-only pastor rule into the constitution. Pressley said the convention was just as complementarian as before.
He also told reporters that Southern Baptists take sexual abuse seriously and had worked hard on reform.
Who is the new SBC president?
Willy Rice is the new SBC president. He pastors Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida. Messengers elected him on June 9, 2026, in Orlando, with about 57 percent of the vote over Josh Powell of Taylors, South Carolina.
Pressley’s term ended at the close of that meeting. His final address to messengers came from Ephesians 4. He urged them to hold firm on doctrine and stay humble with each other.
The North Carolina connection to J.D. Greear
Pressley was the second North Carolina pastor to lead the SBC in under a decade. The first was J.D. Greear, who served from 2018 to 2021.
Greear is still lead pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham. The two men differ in style. Greear has a large national following, while Pressley stayed out of the spotlight.
Pressley now joins a long list of past presidents, including Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church and Johnny Hunt of First Baptist Woodstock.
Personal Life: Wife, Sons and Family
Clint Pressley’s wife
Pressley is married to Connie LaBelle Smith Pressley. She is the daughter of a Mississippi Baptist pastor. The two met at Southwestern Seminary, where Connie was finishing a master of divinity and hoping to serve as a missionary.
They married after a nine-month courtship. Connie joked that she had told the Lord she would never marry a pastor. Her mother’s example as a pastor’s wife helped her say yes.
Clint Pressley’s sons
Connie told Clint before the wedding that she might not be able to have children. They considered in vitro fertilization but chose adoption.
While Pressley pastored in Mississippi, they adopted two brothers, Mack and Nate. The boys were 2 years and 6 months old.
Nate died in August 2023 at age 24, from an apparent drug overdose. He had been estranged from the family and was living near Washington, D.C. Church members said the Pressleys grieved with dignity.
Public reports share little about Mack.
Daily habits
Pressley gets up around 5 a.m. to read the Bible and pray. He then lifts weights with a group of church members and pastors in a backyard gym called “The Shed,” which he built himself.
He reads a lot of history. In the weeks before his 2024 election, he finished books on WWII bombing, the lead-up to the Civil War, and a Royal Navy mutiny. He and Connie vacation at the beach with pastor friends.
Theology and Beliefs
Is Clint Pressley a Calvinist?
No source shows Clint Pressley calling himself a Calvinist. He describes himself as a confessional, conventional Baptist. That means he stands on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the SBC statement of faith.
The SBC holds both Calvinists and non-Calvinists. The statement does not require either label. Pressley also sits on the board of Southern Seminary, which has a strong Reformed influence. Even so, trustee service is not a theological label.
If you want to compare, Matt Chandler‘s page covers how a Southern Baptist pastor handles the same question.
What he believes
Pressley holds core Southern Baptist beliefs. He affirms the Bible as God’s authority, salvation through Jesus, and a complementarian view of church leadership. He calls the SBC to be “joyfully complementarian.”
His preaching is expository. He reads a passage and then explains it in everyday language. His Mark 14 sermon in 2024 ended with a plain question: have you given everything you could?
Net Worth and Salary
There is no reliable figure for Clint Pressley’s net worth or salary. Hickory Grove has not published his pay, and no news outlet has reported it. Websites that list a number rarely show where it came from.
The church’s finances are public through SBC records. Hickory Grove reported $9,680,234 in undesignated receipts in 2023.
It gave $232,089 through the Cooperative Program and $244,664 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. That is church money, not his personal wealth.
Criticism and Controversies
No report ties Pressley to personal scandal. Two matters still drew coverage.
In 2024, a volunteer at Hickory Grove was arrested after a student at the church’s Christian school accused him of sexual abuse.
The church said it reported the claim to Child Protective Services and Charlotte police. Pressley sent a letter to the whole congregation saying the church does not tolerate abuse.
The bigger pressure came from the denomination. Pressley took office as the SBC faced falling membership, abuse reform fights, and a public split over women in ministry.
Pressley chose a quiet tone and kept the focus on the convention’s statement of faith.
Influence and Legacy
Pressley’s mark on the SBC is about tone more than policy. He was a steady voice during a loud season. Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, said the public Pressley and the private Pressley are the same man.
At home, his legacy is Hickory Grove. He rebuilt it around Scripture, kept it growing, and raised up a school and two campuses. Many pastors in the Charlotte area meet with him for advice and workouts.
Nathan Finn, the SBC recording secretary, said his steadiness and honesty impressed most Southern Baptists. That is how most people will remember him.
Interesting Facts
- He grew up in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) before joining Hickory Grove, a Baptist church.
- His first Baptist service was a family trip to Roanoke, Virginia.
- He played football at Wofford College.
- On a typical Sunday he preaches three times: 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the main campus, and 10 a.m. at the second campus.
- His favorite verse, Isaiah 40:8, is carved on his pulpit and painted in his office.
- He built his own backyard gym and invites other pastors to train there.
- He wears three-piece suits and monogrammed cuffs, which sets him apart from many younger pastors.
- He won the 2024 election after six candidates and two runoff ballots.
Timeline
- 1969: Born February 26 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Age 11: Becomes a Christian in a Presbyterian church.
- Teen years: Visits First Baptist Church in Roanoke and joins Hickory Grove with his parents.
- College: Plays football at Wofford College.
- Seminary years: Studies at Southwestern, then graduates from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Meets and marries Connie.
- Late 1990s: Pastors two churches in Mississippi and adopts Mack and Nate.
- 1999: Joins Hickory Grove as senior associate pastor of preaching.
- 2004: Becomes senior pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama.
- 2010: Returns to Hickory Grove as co-pastor.
- 2011: Affirmed as senior pastor on January 30.
- 2013: Serves as vice president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference.
- 2014 to 2015: Serves as first vice president of the SBC.
- 2015: Becomes a trustee of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
- August 2023: His son Nate dies at age 24.
- June 12, 2024: Elected SBC president in Indianapolis.
- June 10, 2025: Reelected in Dallas with 92.64 percent of the vote.
- June 9, 2026: Gives final address in Orlando as Willy Rice is elected his successor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Clint Pressley?
Clint Pressley is 57 years old as of October 2026. He was born on February 26, 1969, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Who is the new SBC president?
Willy Rice, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida, is the new SBC president. Messengers elected him on June 9, 2026, in Orlando. He replaced Clint Pressley, who served two one-year terms.
What is J.D. Greear doing now?
J.D. Greear is still lead pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. He hosts the Summit Life broadcast, sits on the Chick-fil-A board of directors, and released the book Everyday Revolutionary in 2025.
Who are some famous pastors in Charlotte, NC?
Steven Furtick leads Elevation Church, one of the largest churches in the Charlotte area. Elevation left the SBC in June 2023. Clint Pressley leads Hickory Grove Baptist Church. Billy Graham, born in Charlotte, remains the city’s best-known preacher.
Is Hickory Grove Baptist Church located in Charlotte, NC?
Yes. Hickory Grove Baptist Church sits in east Charlotte at the corner of Hickory Grove and Delta Roads. A second campus operates about 13 miles away.
What is Clint Pressley’s net worth?
No reliable source reports it. Sites that list a figure do not show financial records. The church’s budget is public, but it is not his personal money.
What is Clint Pressley’s salary?
Hickory Grove has not published his pay. Any specific salary figure online is a guess.
Who is Clint Pressley’s wife?
His wife is Connie LaBelle Smith Pressley. She is the daughter of a Mississippi Baptist pastor. They met at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Does Clint Pressley have a son?
Clint and Connie have two adopted sons, Mack and Nate. Nate died in August 2023 at age 24.
Is Clint Pressley a Calvinist?
He has not publicly said so. He calls himself a confessional Baptist who stands on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. That statement allows both Calvinist and non-Calvinist views.
Where did Clint Pressley go to school?
He earned a bachelor’s degree at Wofford College and a Master of Divinity at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is working on a doctorate at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
What church does Clint Pressley pastor?
He is senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte. He has held the role since 2011, and about 2,800 people attend each week.
How old is a pastor?
A pastor has no set age. Baptist churches call pastors who meet the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, and those men range from their twenties to their eighties. Pressley is 57.
Have you heard Clint Pressley preach at Hickory Grove or at an SBC meeting? Share what stood out to you in the comments below.
Read Also
- Jerry Vines Biography: Age, Wife, Books, Sermons & SBC Legacy
- Charles Stanley Biography: Age, Wife, Church, Net Worth & Last Words
- Mac Brunson: Age, Wife, Books, Church & Salary
- Michael Catt: Biography, Sherwood Baptist Church & Legacy
- Ed Young Jr.: Biography, Age, Wife, Ferrari, Fellowship Church & Net Worth
