Rev. Willa Rose Johnson has been with Greenwood since Resurrection Sunday, 2018.
Before answering the call to ministry, Pastor Willa worked as a faith-based organizer at the Gamaliel Foundation, where she ran campaigns to promote legislation around fair healthcare, equitable education, and the civil rights of immigrants. She moved to New York to pursue preparation for ministry. While at Union Theological Seminary, Pastor Willa was awarded the Wyn Wright Prize for Biblical Languages and the Maxwell Fellowship for Promise of Excellence in Parish Ministry. Soon after graduating, she began serving at First Corinthian Baptist Church, where she was licensed to preach and subsequently ordained into the Gospel ministry. Pastor Willa served at FCBC as Pastor for Programming & Community Engagement.
In 2018, Rev. Johnson was called to Greenwood. She is the first woman to pastor this 163 year old congregation. Pastor Willa is a gifted preacher and teacher who is enthusiastic about seeing people healed by God’s love and our world changed by God’s power.