Bruce Kelly was born deaf and raised in Orlando, Florida. He attended an oral program in elementary and then went on to attend mainstream programs during junior high and high school. After graduating from Oak Ridge High School in 1983, he went on to attend St. Petersburg Junior College in Clearwater, FL from 1983 to 1985. He then transferred to Northstar Bible Institute in Rochester, New York in order to pursue a career in ministry, and was there from 1985 to 1987. He graduated from Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, FL with a degree in Theology in 1990 . He has been married to his wife Vicki since 1986. They have three children: Paul, born in 1988, Timothy, born in 1990, and John, born in 1995. He also earned his Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Studies from Covington Theological Seminary in 2001. Vicki Kelly graduated from National Technical Institute for the Deaf under Rochester Institute of technology in New York with an Associate’s degree in Applied Science with Business Technologies in 1985. Bruce was saved at age of 13, after being witnessed to by Fred Danley on November 6, 1977. Bruce was member of Palm Springs Drive Baptist Church in Altamonte Springs, FL from 1977 to 1983. At the age of 15, Bruce surrendered to God’s calling to full time ministry while attending the Bill Rice Ranch in Tennessee. Vicki was born deaf and was saved when she was 18 years old. While attending St. Petersburg Junior College, Bruce began serving in lay ministry as a Sunday School teacher at Maranatha Baptist Church in St. Petersburg in 1984 at the age of 20. Bruce was an Evangelist from 1990 to 1993. He became the deaf pastor at Greater Portland Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon in 1994 and served there until 1997. He relocated to Georgia to become a Deaf Pastor and Missionary with BIMI in 1997. Bruce started Deaf Baptist Church of Smyrna, GA in Northwest of Atlanta in March 2001. In 2010 the church purchased a building and the renovations were completed in 2012. Bruce started the Deaf Spiritual Leadership Conference in 2001 and also an annual summer deaf camp in Florida in 2015. It is called Deaf Spiritual Leadership Camp. Bruce has been burdened to help minister in Brazil and has conducted mission work there through preaching at deaf camps and doing Deaf Spiritual Leadership Training.
They have three sons and three grandchildren and will have twin grandsons in July 2021.
