Clearwater, Florida Pastor Willy Rice to Lead the Southern Baptist Convention

By David Happe

Clearwater, Florida has long been home to one of the most influential churches in the Tampa Bay region. Now, its longtime pastor is preparing to take on one of the most visible leadership roles in American evangelical life.

Dr. Willy Rice, senior pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, has been elected to lead the Southern Baptist Convention, bringing a clear voice, a steady pastoral hand, and a deeply rooted Florida Baptist background to the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

For many in Pinellas County and across Florida, Pastor Rice is not a distant denominational figure. He is a familiar local pastor, preacher, teacher, and church leader whose ministry has been shaped by decades of faithfulness to the local church. His election is not only a significant moment for Southern Baptists nationally, but also a meaningful moment for Florida Baptists and for the Clearwater faith community that helped shape his life and ministry.

Rice’s story is closely tied to Calvary Church itself. He first came to Calvary as a young man, spent formative years there, sensed a call to ministry there, and met his wife, Cheryl, through the life of the church.[1] After serving churches elsewhere in the Southeast, he returned to Calvary in 2004 to pastor the church he has often described as home.[2]

Under his leadership, Calvary has grown into a major regional ministry with multiple campuses serving Clearwater, Crystal Beach, Seminole, East Lake, Safety Harbor, and Calvary Español.[3] The church’s broader ministry footprint includes worship, preaching, missions, local outreach, family ministry, student ministry, care ministry, Christian education, and a strong emphasis on biblical teaching.

Rice is known by many for his clear, accessible preaching style. He is serious without being cold, convictional without being needlessly combative, and pastoral without being vague. In an era when many churches and denominations are tempted to soften hard truths or avoid difficult conversations, Rice has built a reputation as a leader willing to speak clearly while still calling people toward unity, mission, prayer, and spiritual renewal.

His platform for the Southern Baptist Convention has centered on what he has called Baptist renewal. That theme is not a marketing slogan. It reflects a serious call for Southern Baptists to return to biblical clarity, denominational accountability, missional integrity, cultural responsibility, biblical unity, global intentionality, and spiritual vitality.[4]

Those seven priorities speak directly to many of the concerns that have unsettled Southern Baptists in recent years. Rice has argued that the denomination must recover trust, strengthen cooperation, speak clearly on biblical convictions, support the authority of local churches, and recommit itself to the Great Commission.

At the heart of Rice’s vision is a simple but powerful conviction: Southern Baptists should not be distracted from their central calling. The mission is still to preach the gospel, make disciples, send missionaries, plant churches, strengthen local congregations, and call people everywhere to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Rice has also emphasized the need for clarity on issues that have caused confusion and division inside the SBC, including the role and office of pastor, the meaning of Baptist cooperation, and the denomination’s public witness on gender, sexuality, marriage, and biblical authority. His approach is not to pretend that these debates do not matter, but to address them carefully, openly, and with a view toward restoring confidence among Southern Baptist churches.

That emphasis on confidence may prove especially important. The SBC is not governed by a single bishop, headquarters, or executive office. It is a cooperation of autonomous local churches. That means trust matters. Transparency matters. The voice of ordinary churches matters. Messengers from cooperating churches gather each year not merely to observe, but to decide the direction of the Convention.

Rice’s election signals that many Southern Baptists are looking for renewal that is both theological and practical. They want a Convention that is clear in doctrine, serious about missions, accountable in structure, and spiritually alive.

His background gives him unusual credibility for that moment. Rice is a graduate of Samford University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry.[5] He has served as president of the Florida Baptist Convention, president of the Florida Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference, chairman of the SBC Committee on Committees, chairman of the SBC Committee on Nominations, and as a trustee of the North American Mission Board.[6]

But for all of those titles, Rice’s most important identity remains pastor.

He and Cheryl have been married for more than 40 years. They have three grown children, Amanda, Anna, and Stephen, and a growing family of grandchildren.[7] Those who know his ministry know that his public leadership is rooted in a private life of faith, family, preaching, service, and commitment to the local church.

For Clearwater, this is a moment of gratitude. For Florida Baptists, it is a moment of encouragement. For Southern Baptists, it is a moment to pray.

The challenges before the SBC are real. The Convention faces questions about doctrine, cooperation, institutional trust, mission funding, cultural engagement, and generational renewal. No one leader can solve all of that. Rice himself has been clear that what Southern Baptists need most is not merely a man, a motion, or a meeting. They need spiritual renewal.

That is exactly why his election matters.

Pastor Willy Rice steps into this role not as a celebrity, but as a pastor. Not as a manager of decline, but as a preacher calling Baptists back to conviction, courage, cooperation, and mission. Not as someone trying to reinvent the Southern Baptist Convention, but as someone calling it to remember who it is, what it believes, and why it exists.

As a member of one of Calvary Church Clearwater’s sister churches, I am personally grateful for Pastor Rice’s ministry and thankful to see a faithful Tampa Bay pastor entrusted with this national responsibility.

Join me in congratulating Pastor Willy Rice, Cheryl, the Rice family, Calvary Church, and the wider Calvary family of churches on this meaningful and historic moment.

Footnotes

[1] Florida Baptist Historical Society, “William Rice,” noting that Rice came to Calvary with his family as a young man, sensed his call to ministry there, and met Cheryl in the church’s youth group.

[2] Baptist Press, “Florida pastor Willy Rice to be nominated for SBC president,” reporting that Rice has pastored Calvary Church in Clearwater since 2004.

[3] Calvary Church, “Locations,” listing Calvary’s campuses and ministry locations, including Clearwater, Crystal Beach, Seminole, East Lake, Safety Harbor, and Calvary Español.

[4] Baptist Renewal, “A Call for Baptist Renewal,” outlining Rice’s seven pillars of renewal: biblical clarity, denominational accountability, missional integrity, cultural responsibility, biblical unity, global intentionality, and spiritual vitality.

[5] The Baptist Courier, “Building Pillars of Renewal: An Extended Interview with SBC Presidential Candidate Willy Rice,” reporting Rice’s education at Samford University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

[6] The Baptist Courier, “Building Pillars of Renewal: An Extended Interview with SBC Presidential Candidate Willy Rice,” summarizing Rice’s prior denominational service, including Florida Baptist Convention leadership, SBC committee roles, SBC Pastors’ Conference leadership, and service as a North American Mission Board trustee.

[7] Calvary Church, “Our Team,” biographical profile of Dr. Willy Rice and Cheryl Rice.