INDIANAPOLIS (BP) — D.J. Horton, pastor of the Church at The Mill in Spartanburg, S.C., was elected president of the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Pastors’ Conference on Monday, June 10, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

Horton, founder of Living Worthy Ministries, won in a runoff election with Georgia Pastor Brad Whitt. Chris Bolt, a Virginia pastor, also was nominated. Horton will lead the planning for next year’s Pastors’ Conference, which is scheduled for June 8-9, 2025, in Dallas, Texas.

“D.J.’s role as a pastor and family man has prepared him for this day,” Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, said in his nomination of Horton.

“Under Pastor Horton’s leadership and commitment to biblical expositional preaching, Church at The Mill has experienced remarkable growth and expansion from a congregation of 600 in 2004 to over 4,000 across three campuses,” Luter said.

Horton earned a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University, where he was a member of the Tigers football team. He earned an M.Div. in expository preaching from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. in biblical exposition from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He served as chairman of the South Carolina Sexual Abuse Task Force, a trustee of Charleston Southern University, a trustee of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

In a statement to the Baptist Courier when his nomination was announced, Horton called it a humbling experience to have an opportunity to serve the denomination.

“Having served my church for 20 years, and now as a 46-year-old pastor, I have become deeply convicted to leverage some of my time encouraging other pastors,” Horton said. “Any measure of faithfulness or success I have experienced is due largely to the godly men who have poured into me.”

Horton will appoint a slate of offers to assist him and report back to the Pastors’ Conference.