Born in Dothan, AL, Wayne served small to medium-sized churches, both rural and suburban, in Georgia and Louisiana, before coming to lead First Baptist Simpsonville in 2015. Wayne, and his wife of 27 years, Amy, have 5 children between the ages of 13 and 25. Under his leadership, First Baptist Simpsonville / Upstate Church now has 7,000 members who gather in 15 distinct worship services across 6 different campuses. Wayne is an author and adjunct professor at Anderson University. He has served as president of the SCBC.

Will serves as the Lead Pastor of Reconcile Community Church. He lives in Greenville, S.C. with his wife Becca and their three children. Jesus saved Will when he was 14 years old. He grew up in Greenville and graduated from North Greenville University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and has been preaching and teaching the Bible for over 15 years. After serving in East Asia as missionaries, Will and Becca moved back to Greenville to plant Reconcile Community Church. He has led in two church mergers which produced church replants.

Scott is Ruth Anne’s husband and Gabriel’s dad. He has served as pastor of Slater Baptist Church, a church replant in the upstate of South Carolina, since 2014. In addition, Scott is the Associate Mission Strategist for the Three Rivers Baptist Association in Taylors, SC. His areas of passion in ministry are church replanting and revitalization, interim pastor ministry, and encouraging pastors in normative (less than 100 on Sunday morning) churches and bivocational contexts. Scott holds a B.A and D.Min. from North Greenville University, and a Master of Arts from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. When not with his family or serving the local church, Scott is an avid fisherman, a martial artist, and a lover of all things Christmas.

Will is a relational pastor with 16 years of ministerial experience, with a specific focus on church revitalization and relational discipleship.  He is passionate about the local church and leading God’s people to fulfill God’s plan and purpose for them.  His goal is to provide Christ-like leadership, expository preaching, relational discipleship, and biblical shepherding so congregations can effectively impact eternity through a passion for Christ and compassion for people.

Ethan Dean is the Associate Pastor at Standing Springs Baptist Church in Simpsonville, SC. In this role, he oversees all administrative, financial, and facilities operations and leads worship for each corporate worship gathering. Ethan loves the church and strives to lead artistically excellent, biblically faithful worship — strategically focusing on robust congregational singing. Ethan is a North Greenville University graduate and is pursuing a Master of Arts in Worship Leadership at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Emily and has two children: William (6) and Mary Caroline (3). When not serving the church, Ethan, Emily, and the kids love traveling and exploring any national park! 

Dr. Holtzclaw, a native of South Carolina, has served in various pastoral roles within the state since 2004. Since 2020, he has been pastor of Monaghan Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, leading them through the process of revitalization.

He earned a BA in History from Anderson University, a Master of Arts and Religion in Pastoral Leadership from Liberty University, and a Doctor of Education Ministry in Church Revitalization from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Driven by the belief that struggling churches can be revived by God, Dr. Holtzclaw is passionate about assisting them in reclaiming their relevance within the community. He and his wife, Emily, and their three children (Elliott, Sam, and Pearl), find joy in camping, smoking various meats on his smoker, and supporting the Clemson Tigers as a dedicated fan.

Dr. David Jackson is a Replant Specialist with the Replant Team of the North American Mission Board. His ministry focus is on cohorts, coaching, and soul care issues for replanters and revitalizers, along with “revi” transitional ministry and church “foster care” training for our field partners across the country. He resides in Simpsonville with his wife. Joye.

Stephen Leopard grew up in Aiken, SC. He is the pastor of Dunean Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, a textile village church he is leading in a revitalization process. He is a graduate of Spartanburg Methodist College, Charleston Southern University, and holds a Master’s Degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He enjoys spending time with his wife Kaylin, their daughter Noah, and their Labradoodle, Moose. At any given time you’ll find Stephen with his family enjoying the outdoors, drinking coffee, smoking meat, or eating Thai food. 

Lenny Miller received his bachelor’s degree from Carson Newman University and his Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served in ministry for more than 30 years at churches as small as 25 and as large as 5000. He currently serves as the senior pastor at Sans Souci Church in Greenville, South Carolina. He loves being personally involved in Replant/Revitalization ministry and helping others navigate through this ministry.

He has been married to the love of his life, Lorri Denton Miller, for more than 36 years. He has a son, Dustin, and a daughter, Kelsey, and eight amazing grandchildren.

James Nugent serves as the Director of Church Strategies at the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Before his roles as a denominational servant, he served as Transitional Pastor, and Associate Pastor for several churches in South Carolina leading churches to find strength through making disciples in their community. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have 2 sons, Joel and Andrew, and reside in Greenville, SC.

Al Phillips has been in the ministry for 40+ years as a pastor and as Director of Missions. He and Rose have three children and nine grandkids.  Al earned a BA from the University of SC-Upstate and an MDiv from Southwestern Seminary.  He served 9 years as lead pastor of Ben Avon Baptist and First Baptist, Arcadia in Spartanburg before becoming Associate Pastor of First Baptist North Spartanburg for 22 years.  In 2015, he became the Director of Missions for Greenville Baptist Association. He loves spending time with his grandkids, traveling, and reading.