First Baptist Church
456 North Street
White Plains, NY 10605
914-949-5207
www.firstbaptistwhiteplains.org
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| Pastor Search Committee
Dr. Juan Afif |
October 11,
2005
Kelly has often been with us as a supply preacher and many of you already know him. He is – after we reviewed 50 resumes and profiles and interviewed five excellent candidates – our unanimous choice to bring before you as the leader God has called for us. You can greet Kelly at a "Meet the Candidate" potluck supper at Wilson House on Friday, October 21. And please arrange your schedule to be present for worship at 10 a.m. Sunday, October 23, to hear Kelly preach and be placed before the membership for election as our pastor. Kelly has been a member services representative of the American Baptist Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board for the past 12 years. Prior to that, he was pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Salem, Mass., famous as the church that commissioned Adoniram Judson as the first U.S. missionary. Kelly came to the 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. Kelly instituted regular retreats for the church boards and led the church to budget for outreach and evangelism. Kelly was born in Memphis, Tenn. His parents were Southern Baptist but 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.” Kelly is married to the Rev. Souci H. Familiaran Grimsley, director of HIP's Integrative Wellness Program in New York. The Search Committee sensed the powerful movement of the Holy Spirit as we neared the end of our search. We are pleased to introduce W. Kelly Grimsley to you, along with our prayerful and enthusiastic recommendation that he be elected as pastor of First Baptist Church, White Plains. Sincerely,
Philip E. Jenks
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is a great pleasure to announce that the 