About

My name is Sammy Williams and for 25 years I have served as pastor of Northminster Church in Richmond, Virginia

Here’s how I entered the world of blogging:

For my twentieth anniversary as pastor, my church gave me a three month sabbatical leave. A generous grant from the Lilly Endowment provided funding for some amazing adventures. One of the requirements of the grant was that I communicate regularly with my congregation, so with the help of Kiere, my tech-savvy friend, I learned to blog (you can check out the sabbatical blog here).

Here’s a sketch of who I am:

A native of South Carolina, Sammy Williams graduated with honors from Clemson University (1973), where he competed on the collegiate debate circuit for four years and was twice winner of the Trustees’s Medal, awarded annually to the best public speaker in the student body. He earned the Master of Divinity (1977) and Doctor of Philosophy (1981) degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. His areas of concentration for the Ph.D. were preaching and biblical studies. While a student at Southern, he received the Luther Rice Scholar Award and the Clyde T. Francisco Preaching Award.

Sammy is married to Lynda Weaver-Williams who also holds M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Seminary. They served as co-pastors of the Caledonia United Presbyterian Church in Moorefield, Indiana (1975-79) and as co-pastors of Goshen Baptist Church, Goshen, Kentucky (1979-86). Lynda serves on the religious studies faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Sammy has taught “The Ministry of Preaching” at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. He has done post-graduate study at the Servant Leadership School in Washington, DC, where he served on their discernment team.

Sammy joined the Baptist Ministers Conference of Richmond and Vicinity in 1991, as its first caucasian member.

Sammy and Lynda are parents of two sons: Aaron and Free.