Dr. Leonoard O. Griffin

Rev. Dr. Leonard O. Griffin hails from Edgefield, South Carolina. He and his beautiful wife, Wandalyn Kenner Griffin, have been blissfully married since 1991. They are the very proud parents of three children: Samuel DeLeon (deceased), Kandy JaNay and Kemuel James-Owen Griffin. Rev. Griffin is the youngest son of eight children born to Alma and the late Glasglow S. Griffin, Sr. of Edgefield, South Carolina and is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy Reserves.

Rev. Dr. Griffin has served as Pastor of the following churches: Fairmount Missionary Baptist Church, Williston, SC; Zion Field Missionary Baptist Church, Aiken, SC; Associate Minister, Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Rochester, NY, & Southern Missionary Baptist Church, Syracuse, NY. From March 6, 2005 to April 9, 2022, Reverend Dr. Griffin served as the 7th Pastor of the Historic Morris Street Baptist Church in Charleston, SC.

On March 6, 2022, with nearly ninety percent of the congregation’s support, Dr. Griffin became elected and called to serve as the 12th Pastor of Old Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. As a son of the neighboring Edgefield County, Dr. Griffin returns to the Central Savannah River Area (C.S.R.A) becoming installed as the Senior Pastor on Sunday, July 24, 2022.

Pastor Griffin fervently believes in education. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Ministry from the noteworthy Morris College, Sumter, SC in 1999. He continued his education by earning his Master of Divinity from the prominent Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Rochester, New York in 2002. Finally, he completed his Doctoral studies in May of 2021 having matriculated at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC. The title of his dissertation is: An Academic-Styled Seminar: An Intrinsic Case Study of the South Carolina Baptist Congress of Christian Education. The purpose of his study was to increase our knowledge, to gain an appreciation for the uniqueness, and to seek an understanding of why and how the SC Baptist Congress of Christian Education delivers Christian education to its constituency.

In May of 2024, upon being elected President of the Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of South Carolina, Rev. Dr. Jamey O. Graham, Sr., appointed Dr. Griffin to serve as Vice President At-Large. And, for the past 10 years under the leadership of Reverend Dr. Jerry Young, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., Dr. Griffin has served as the Executive Secretary (Department Head) of the Home Mission Board. His signature Bible verse is Hebrews 12:14, “Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness…”