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#196: Discipleship at Sanctuary Covenant Church with Pastor Edrin Williams

Pastor Edrin Williams on discipleship in a black-led, multi-ethnic church in North Minneapolis, and the people still forming him as a pastor.

What does discipleship look like when the pastor is still growing too? Pastor Edrin Williams leads Sanctuary Covenant Church in North Minneapolis, a congregation that is black-led and black-centered by design and multi-ethnic by conviction. He joins Terri Elton and Alicia Granholm to talk about the Sanctuary Five, the church’s discipleship rhythms of connect, grow, serve, give, and invite, and why he believes formation happens as people share life together more than in any classroom.

Edrin also talks about his own formation: the pastor friends he meets with each month, the therapist who helps him stay whole, and the sabbatical he spent with friends who knew him before he was a pastor. Along the way, he reflects on following two well-loved pastors, leading through 2020, forming faith across generations, and why pastors of small and rural churches can trust that their faithful work matters.

Resources Mentioned:

Sanctuary Covenant Church
Matthew 25 (“the least of these”), referenced in Pastor Ephraim’s founding vision
Paul’s speech in Athens (Acts 17), which Edrin alludes to when describing people drawn to faith through service

Related Faith+Lead Podcast Episodes:

#148: Cruciform Leadership: Why Church Leaders Need the Cross More Than Success with Nicole Massie Martin
#189: A Cross-Cultural Church, Practice by Practice with Aaron and Ayana Teter
#191: Inside the Discipleship Program Reaching Unchurched Young Adults with Rachael Wooldridge

Featuring

Edrin Williams

Lead Pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church, Minneapolis, MN

Rev. Edrin C. Williams is Lead Pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church, an urban, multiethnic congregation on West Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis. Raised outside Charleston, South Carolina, he moved to Minnesota in 2005, earned his M.Div. at Bethel Seminary, and joined Sanctuary as youth pastor before being named senior pastor in 2019, following founding pastor Dr. Efrem Smith and Dr. Dennis Edwards. Sanctuary describes itself as Black-led and Black-centered while committed to a multiethnic, multigenerational congregation reconciling people to God and one another, with North Minneapolis as the geographic and spiritual center of its mission.

Hosts

Terri Elton

Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Leadership, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

The Rev. Dr. Terri Martinson Elton began teaching at Luther Seminary as an adjunct instructor in 2004 before becoming the director of the Center for Children, Youth and Family Ministry in 2008. In addition to her continued work with the Center, Elton accepted the position of associate professor of Children, Youth and Family Ministry in 2010 and associate professor of Leadership in 2014.

Prior to her call to Luther Seminary, Elton served as an associate to the bishop in the Saint Paul Area Synod where her responsibilities included working with congregations, leadership development, First Call theological education and youth and family ministry.

Elton holds a B.A. degree in communications from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. (1986). She earned both her M.A. (1998) and Ph.D. (2007) degrees in Congregational Mission and Leadership from Luther Seminary.

Alicia Granholm

Senior Director, Faith+Lead, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

Dr. Alicia Granholm is senior director of Faith+Lead at Luther Seminary and a leadership and church consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She helps pastors and leaders engage culture to make a lasting impact. For nearly two decades, she has trained, equipped, and empowered followers of Jesus to engage their local communities by contextualizing the Gospel and its application. Alicia compassionately crosses cultural boundaries having lived, studied, traveled, and served in 25 countries on six continents. Alicia has a Doctor of Strategic Leadership, Global Consulting (Regent University), M.Div. (Bethel Seminary), and M.A. in Teaching (University of St. Thomas).

About Pivot Podcast

Join us on Pivot Podcast, where we journey beyond church-as-usual to discover how God is reshaping ministry for today’s world.

Each week, we dive into conversations with innovative leaders and practitioners who are navigating four game-changing pivots: shifting from quick fixes to deep listening, from membership to discipleship, from rigid models to creative ministry ecosystems, and from clergy-centered leadership to unleashing everyone’s gifts.

Whether you’re a member of the clergy seeking fresh inspiration or a volunteer stepping into new leadership territory, Pivot Podcast equips you with the insights and practical wisdom to follow Jesus into a faithful future.

Through their work with diverse cohorts of preachers, they’ve discovered that the most compelling sermons aren’t necessarily the most polished – they’re the ones where preachers have learned to listen deeply to both God and their congregations. Learn practical tools for gathering meaningful feedback, understand why vulnerability matters more than ever in preaching, and discover how shifting from evaluation to understanding can deepen your sermon’s impact. Plus, hear why reimagining God’s agency in preaching might be the key to unlocking more powerful proclamation.

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