Morristown pastor receives $50,000 award for community investment

MORRISTOWN — The Rev. Sidney Williams is always committed to solving problems in the community, even if it means putting the needs of others ahead of his own.

His selflessness and skill in finding solutions to those problems has earned him national recognition and an award that will further advance his local charitable efforts.

Williams, pastor of the Bethel Church of Morristown, was named one of four recipients of the Locke Innovative Leader Award from Wesleyan Impact Partners, a Texas-based nonprofit that invests in local ministries. The award is given annually to "spiritual entrepreneurs who envision new ways to serve their mission field," according to the Wesleyan website.

"We are bringing investors, borrowers, and philanthropists together to create a better world," said Wesleyan President Lisa Greenwood. "Together, we are investing in leaders and congregations who are helping individuals thrive and communities flourish."

Williams and the three other award winners from New York, Texas and Minnesota will be officially recognized in a livestreamed event on the Wesleyan website at 8 p.m. Sunday, April 30. The recipients will receive $50,000 cash stipends and be invited to participate in group discussions to facilitate more ideas for leading ministries.

The nomination was serendipitous for Williams, who forfeited his pastor's salary during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the church from laying off other staff members. In October, a fire destroyed the parsonage where Williams his wife Teresa and their four children had lived for the past 12 years.

"We were basically homeless, and I had sacrificed my compensation," Williams told the Daily Record in an interview at the church Tuesday morning.

The family relied on donations from the public and eventually moved into a home in Morris Township. With the Locke award, Williams can now feel more comfortable about his decision to forgo payment.

"You don't do it with an expectation like there's going to be an immediate reward for your sacrifice," he said. "The amount of this award essentially substitutes, if you will, what I gave up."

Williams said he and Greenwood, the Wesleyan president, got to know each other in a series of webinars for religious leaders during the pandemic. She invited him to speak at a conference in Texas and later nominated him for the Locke award.

Williams received the nomination for his "Fishing Differently" model, a phrase that became the title for his book that helps church leaders make an impact in their communities.

Williams, who worked as a venture capitalist before becoming a pastor, sees parallels between the two fields in determining how to benefit society.

"You have people who have a sense of call, a call of duty, to solve a particular problem, but they don't have enough resources to do it," he said. "So they need investors and partners to do that."

Williams welcomes community members of all backgrounds to help the Bethel Church give back through initiatives like the Table of Hope mobile food pantry. The congregation is predominantly Black, he said, but its outreach efforts mainly benefit Morristown's Hispanic population through volunteers who are mostly white.

"It doesn't matter where you're located. It doesn't matter how many members you have, but what problem are you trying to solve?" Williams said. "Every city's got a ton of problems, and you just have to figure out which of those problems you think you can attack and what particular gifts and graces you bring to that work."

Williams introduced the Fishing Differently model in 2008 at the Wharton School of Business, where he obtained his master's degree. He was encouraged to share the same message as a pastor, which brought him to South Africa as a missionary for 18 months. He came to the Morristown to lead the Bethel Church in 2010 and has remained in the community ever since.

Williams said it was "pretty nice and unexpected" to be honored with the Locke award, which validates his methods to improve Morristown. While other churches focus on converting people to their particular denomination, he and Bethel Church are committed to solving problems first and foremost.

"That's basically what I've been teaching people," Williams said. "People like the message, and they like the result."

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Morristown pastor receives $50K award for community investment