Richard Davis Phillips has been the Senior Minister of Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina (PCA) since July, 2007. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan, and a master of business administration degree at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Prior to entering the ministry, he commanded tank units as an officer in the U.S. Army and later served as an assistant professor of leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He came to faith in Jesus Christ at the age of 30, and was soon was leading evangelistic Bible studies at the college where he was teaching. A few years later he received God’s call to enter the gospel ministry, and received a master of divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA.
After graduation he joined the pastoral staff of the church where he came to faith, Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, PA. There, Rick was mentored by the well-known Bible teacher, Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and began his calling as a weekly preacher of God’s Word. After serving at Tenth Presbyterian from 1995-2002, Dr. Phillips accepted the call to be Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church of Margate, FL. After five years there, he moved to Greenville.
Dr. Phillips describes his ministry as centring on three “P”s: preaching, praying, and pastoring. He is devoted to expository preaching, which is the teaching of whole books of the Bible week-by-week. His ministry is widely heard on the radio and the internet and Dr. Phillips is frequently called upon to speak at conferences on the Bible and Reformed theology. He further serves the church by authoring books, with over twenty-five currently in print. Among his many activities, he serves on the board and council of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, the council of The Gospel Coalition, and the board of trustees of Westminster Theological Seminary. He is Chairman of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. Together with Philip Graham Ryken, he is series co-editor of the Reformed Expository Commentary series.
In addition to the Master of Divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary, Dr. Phillips holds degrees from Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Doctor of Divinity), the University of Pennsylvania (M.B.A.) and the University of Michigan (B.A.).
Rick is married to the former Sharon Wilkey, whom he met at church in Philadelphia. Sharon is a homemaker, author, and home-schooling mother. They have an active family of five children: Hannah, Matthew, Jonathan, Ellie and Lydia.