Welcome - Pastor Henry Greenidge

Last Sunday, June 20, outgoing Senior Pastor Efrem Smith and Wiley Scott, chair of the Elder Board, announced the hiring of Pastor Henry Greenidge to serve as Interim Pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church until a new, permanent Senior Pastor is voted on by the Covenant Members of the Sanctuary.

Pastor Greenidge is uniquely qualified to serve in our setting. He planted one the first multi-ethnic churches in the Evangelical Covenant Church more than 20 years ago. He won the Irving C. Lambert Award, which honors excellence in urban ministry, for his work as pastor of Irvington Covenant Church in Portland, Oregon.

Greenidge guided the founding of Irvington Village, a Portland retirement community in which 70 percent of the 104 units were reserved for Medicaid recipients. When it opened in 2002, ECC President Glenn Palmberg said, “When God called Henry into Covenant ministry, he called him for more than local ministry. Henry has made an impact on the entire Portland community. He has emerged as a real leader. The Covenant Church is proud to have someone so beloved and respected in Portland.“

Covenanters also have been blessed through his participation in worship teams that ministered at pastors’ conferences, denominational annual meetings, and the Feast. Paul Lessard, who played alongside Greenidge, referred to him as the “pastor emeritus” of the worship teams.

Greenidge also served on the Book of Worship Commission and has served on the executive board of the North Pacific Conference.

Greenidge’s passion for community ministry formed as he watched his father, who was a pastor, minister to the residents throughout South Bronx, New York. Greenidge earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Nyack Missionary College in Nyack, New York. He studied youth ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and became an ordained minister in 1975, receiving a ministerial license from the Covenant in 1988.  

He began his professional career as a music teacher in Rockland County New York, teaching elementary and then Junior High school, and then became Music director for Tom Skinner associates for seven years. He then founded and produced the music group Soul Liberation.
Soul Liberation was the inspiration for the Soul Lib festival that happened every year for several years At Park Ave. United Methodist church in South Minneapolis.

Pastor Greenidge has served as an inspiration and model for multi-ethnic church planting to our own founding Pastor Efrem Smith. When he became available for this position, he came highly recommended from within and outside our church.

Pastor Greenidge currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Kathy. He will be coming to the Twin Cities for the Worship Together event at River Centre on July 27th, and will be publicly introduced to Sanctuary on Sunday, July 4, 2010. He will begin serving in his role as Interim Pastor at Sanctuary immediately. 

Please join us in welcoming him to the Twin Cities and the Sanctuary.