[1]ASHEBORO, N.C. (BP) — Melanie Wallace was elected president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s (BSCNC) board of directors, becoming the first woman elected as board president since 1993.
Wallace was elected during the board’s regularly scheduled fall meeting, held Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 23-24), at Caraway Conference Center near Asheboro. Wallace was elected after no other candidates were nominated.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be able to serve the convention as president of the board over the next year,” Wallace said. “I appreciate the confidence and encouragement I have received from board members and executive leaders (of the state convention). Anyone who serves alongside our Executive Director-Treasurer Milton Hollifield Jr. comes to appreciate his vision statement that ‘By God’s grace, we will become the strongest force in the history of this convention for reaching people with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.'”
Wallace was nominated by BSCNC President Steve Scoggins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, who said, “She’s the embodiment of the best of Baptist life in North Carolina.”
Wallace will begin her new term in January, but she has been serving as board president since July when former board president Clay Smith resigned after accepting a call to serve as senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in metro Atlanta.
Wallace’s husband Aaron is the lead pastor at Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, where he has served on staff for 21 years. Prior to being named pastor, Aaron Wallace served as Hephzibah’s youth pastor. The Wallaces have been married for 24 years.
[2]Melanie Wallace is actively and regularly involved in missions on the local, state, national and international levels. She and a friend also started a baking and catering business with the purpose of raising money for missions.
Hollifield praised Wallace’s leadership ability and her support and engagement in missions.
“Melanie has demonstrated great ability as a leader,” Hollifield said. “I value her heart for missions and her heart for reaching lost people. She is a delightful, knowledgeable and capable individual, and I am delighted to have her serve as president of the board of directors.”
Wallace is the first woman elected to serve as the BSCNC’s board president since Kathryn Hamrick in 1993. Hamrick is a member of Boiling Springs Baptist Church in Boiling Springs, N.C.
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Chad Austin writs for Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Communications.