Our Staff

Meet our Pastor

Chad Kelly

Pastor Chad Kelly seeks to spread his enjoyment of the beauty of Christ to others who will, likewise, seek to spread their enjoyment of the beauty of Christ to others!

Chad has been in ministry for 28 years and pastored here at East Ellijay Baptist for the last 7 ½ years. He completed his B.A. in Bible with a Pastoral Ministries Minor at Columbia Bible College in 1993 and an M.A. Old Testament from Columbia Biblical Seminary in 1995. He later completed his M.Div. Equivalency through Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Chad and his wife, Betsy, have 6 children – 2 daughters and 4 sons. Chad enjoys turkey hunting, as well as hiking high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with Betsy.

Meet our Youth Pastor

Trey Rogers

Pastor Trey is extremely passionate about working with young families and students, and helping them navigate life with Jesus at the center of it all.

Trey, 26, was born and raised in Hayesville, NC— and was called to preach at age 14. He is a fourth generation Baptist Minister. After graduating from Hayesville High School as Senior Class President, Rogers earned his B.A. in Religious Studies, with a focus in Christianity and the Standardization of the Protestant New Testament Canon from Young Harris College.

While at YHC, Rogers served as Youth Pastor of a local church, and also as Lead Tutor for Religious Studies and Philosophy. After this, Trey served in various capacities in churches across Western NC, including a Senior Pastorate, Youth & Children’s Pastorates, an Instructor for Upper Level Education at a local Christian school, and as a Worship Leader.

In 2018, Trey married the love of his life, Julianna, who also graduated from Young Harris. Juli has experience as a Church Secretary, Choir Director, and as a Teacher in the Christian School system.

Trey enjoys: (1) Preaching, (2) Playing piano & guitar, (3) Announcing football games, (4) Hiking, and (5) Collecting rocks and leaves from around the world.