Staff Directory

Pastor: Dr. Charles Kessler and Pat

 

Rev. Kessler was ordained as a minister in 1973 and served churches in Kentucky and Georgia before becoming a chaplain in the Navy, where he served for twenty-eight years before retiring in 2013. He began serving North Island soon after his retirement and was called as our pastor in 2017. He is married to his high school sweetheart. Pat.  They have two children, who are both currently serving as ordained ministers in their respective churches in Texas and Ohio, and three grandchildren.

Worship Leader: Ruth Wright-Harshbarger

 

Ruth was born and raised as a Southern Belle in Alabama.   She attended Auburn University, the University of Georgia, and the University of South Carolina where she studied Music Theory, Composition, and Performance. For fifty years she taught piano, voice, and drums to students from all over the world: China, India, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Canada, Brazil, and Wales.  In addition, she taught music at the Bethel Bible College in Kingston, Jamaica.  She has lived on Hilton Head Island for forty years and worked as a USPS Mail Carrier.  She serves as a member of the U. S. Ballroom Champions Team and is a Country Line Dancer, a former Mrs. Hilton Head, and as Sales Executive for the Mrs. South Carolina Pageant.  Ruth has served as a pianist across Beaufort County at various venues, events, and churches.  As Ruth would say: “May all your days be blest and keep a song in your heart.”

Pianist: Kiril Zahariev

 

iril was born in Varna, Bulgaria and began playing piano at the age of 5. He studied piano at the School for Specialized Music Training “Dobri Hristov” and graduated from the National Music Academy “Pancho Vladigerov” in 1996 in the class of Professor Stela Dimitrova-Maystorova. Kiril first came to Hilton Head Island in 1997 to compete in The International Piano Competition and loved the area. He moved here in 2000 and shortly after began serving as our pianist. North Island Baptist Church is blessed to have Kiril, his wife Jenny and her son, Constantine, worshiping with us. You can hear Kiril play every Sunday and he regularly provides special music and events.

 

Secretary: Julie Smithson

 

Julie is retired and has lived on Hilton Head Island since 2013.  She enjoys all things the Island has to offer including group exercise classes, tennis, paddle boarding and walking.