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First Baptist Church
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The Rev. W. Kelly Grimsley, who has served as pastor of historic American Baptist congregations and as a member of the denomination’s staff, has been pastor of First Baptist Church since December 2005. Mr. Grimsley’s wife is also an American Baptist minister, the Rev. Souci H. Familiaran Grimsley, director of HIP's Integrative Wellness Program in New York. Before his election as pastor of First Baptist Church, Kelly was a member services representative of the American Baptist Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board for 12 years. He was pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Salem, Mass., famous as the church that commissioned the first U.S. missionary, Rev. Adoniram Judson. Kelly went to the Salem church following a period of contention and he brought healing and encouraged the congregation to move its vision from a stately past to a hopeful future. He led the church to open its ministry up to the community through the installation of an annual “mission month,” expansion of a youth program into two groups, and the establishment of a senior group, “Young at Heart.” From 1973 to 1988, Kelly was pastor of Elmhurst Baptist Church in Queens. During his tenure there, the church welcomed a Korean congregation, hosted Chinese and Haitian congregations and sponsored a Latino congregation. Both Kelly and his congregation saw diversity as a strength to be celebrated. The English-speaking congregation was 30 percent Filipino and Kelly was instrumental in integrating Filipinos into leadership and full participation in the church. During his pastorate at Elmhurst, the church facility was opened to the community and housed four alcoholic groups, two Scout troops, a mental health club and a senior citizen program. He instituted regular retreats for the church boards and led the church to budget for outreach and evangelism. W. Kelly Grimsley was born in Memphis, Tenn. His parents were Southern Baptist but, as Kelly explains, were neither dogmatic nor doctrinaire in their beliefs. His father, a sports writer for the Associated Press, served as deacon and Sunday school teacher while his mother tended the nursery. When his parents moved to New York they joined an American Baptist congregation. Kelly’s family initially lived in a development in which most of the residents were United Nations personnel, and later he moved to a predominantly Jewish neighborhood where he was the only Christian in his grade at school. He was baptized in the Church in the Garden, Garden City, N.Y.
He graduated third in
his high school class and entered Cornell University as an
engineering student. It was at Cornell that he received his call to
ministry. “When I graduated in 1971,” he says, “I felt I had received the best of both worlds – a strong biblical and theological background at Southern and a strong social gospel focus at Crozer. I came away with a strong social concern with biblical roots, a zeal for justice informed by the prophets, and a hope inherent in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Weekly services of worship at the First Baptist Church of White Plains are 10:30 a.m., preceded by youth and adult church school classes at 9:30 a.m. Nursery services are provided. |
