Pastor Danielle Pilgrim
The following information has been gathered from several online sources, and is therefore readily accessible to everyone on earth. Danielle Pilgrim is herself also readily accessible. Should you happen to be in the Atlanta area anytime soon, she would be more than happy to be of service. The service that she specializes in is informing people about Jesus Christ, and of His soon return.
Atlanta is only the most recent of the many milestones that have marked her personal pilgrimage (an unavoidable pun for the majority of her aspiring biographers, including this one). Pastor Pilgrim’s life’s journey is planned in such a way as to eventually arrive, after many intervening trials and temptations, at the same destination that most famous of literary pilgrims, Christian, struggled to reach. At the end of his fictional trek he is grateful to be admitted to heaven. At the end of this sentence is a link to an 1853 edition of Protestant dissenter John Bunyan’s 1678 allegory THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS.
During her installation at Berean, some prepared biographical material (“...a very powerful bio,” stated her new supervisor, Fredrick Russell) about the new pastor was read to all by Dr. James Lamb, another pastor on the Berean staff. A transcription will be provided below the Coat of Arms of Trinidad and Tobago…
Danielle Pilgrim is a native of the beautiful twin Island of Trinidad and Tobago. She came to the United States at the age of 14 where she was introduced to the Adventist Church and its message. After attending church services for over a year, she fell in love with Jesus, and decided to express her devotion to God publically through baptism. Her decision to follow Christ brought fierce opposition from a close family member, and subsequently prevented her from following through with her decision. Despite this opposition, at the age of 16, because of her deep love and commitment to Jesus she decided to follow through with her decision and was baptized during a summer evangelistic meeting.
Although Pastor Pilgrim is the only Adventist in her immediate family, she became very active in the mission of the world church. She was an active member of the Youth Preacher’s Core Movement in Brooklyn, New York. For several years she served as a Bible worker and production manager for many evangelistic meetings. In 2008 she took off a year from completing her Bachelor’s degree and served as a Bible worker for one year for the Southeastern Conference at the Waycross and Brunswick churches located in south Georgia.
Pastor Pilgrim is also a published author. In 2013 she published her first Biblical word search puzzle book. This was a project she had been working on while completing her Master Guide program. This project was designed with the intent of creating a book that is interesting, educational, and fun for young people to learn more of God and the Bible.
Pastor Pilgrim attended the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University to enhance her knowledge for ministry. While in the seminary, she served as an Intern Pastor at the Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chicago under the leadership of Pastor Leeroy Coleman. In addition to leading out on Sabbath services and revival, she led out in engaging the church in personal and community outreach.
As of last week, praise the Lord, she completed her Masters of Divinity at the seminary, and she is fired up, passionate, energized, and inspired to build up the Kingdom of God. Danielle Pilgrim’s deepest desire is to be used by the Holy Spirit to bring her family and others to Christ. It is also her deepest aspiration to equip the church for the purpose of soul-winning, and to usher in the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
At the conclusion of these remarks, South Atlantic Conference President William Winston offered additional remarks regarding the most recent reemergence of a recurrent controversy within the ranks of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as to whether women should, or should not be allowed to preach. A provision that would have enabled local divisions and conferences to decide for themselves about this issue had just been voted down at the General Conference of the church held in San Antonio. But the concept of women in ministry is important, so he encouraged the pastor to ignore detractors both inside and outside the walls of her new church home, and to simply “…shake the dust off your feet, and move on.”
President Winston’s initial interview with her while she was still attending the theological seminary had impressed him with her quality both as a person and as a pastor. The Northeastern Conference had hoped to lock her in upon graduation, but she had graciously declined, awaiting the fulfillment of a promise made to her by the South Atlantic Conference through its minister plenipotentiary, Elder William (a man so smooth that butter would not melt in his mouth, and, providentially, chief of a conference that yet remains uncompromised by scandal). As was the case with the legendary first president of the “regional” South Atlantic Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Harold D. Singleton, its most recent leader William Winston is also a “good people-picker.”
Danielle Pilgrim is a native of the beautiful twin Island of Trinidad and Tobago. She is a recent graduate of the Seventh-Day Theological Seminary of Andrews University where she earned her MDiv degree. Along with sharing the gospel through preaching, she is passionate about discipleship and evangelism.
THE PASTOR’S CURRICULUM VITAE, COPIED FROM LINKED IN–
SOME MISSING LOGOS FOR DANIELLE’S EMPLOYERS TO PLACE ON LINKED IN, SHOULD THEY CHOOSE TO BECOME LINKED–
Danielle Pilgrim is a native of the beautiful twin Island of Trinidad and Tobago [this phrase definitely sound familiar]. She migrated to the United States at the age of 14. At an early age Danielle fell in love with Jesus and accepted him as her personal Savior.
As a teenager, Danielle was an active participant in the Youth Preachers Core Movement in Brooklyn, New York. For several years she served as a community Bible leader and production manager for many evangelistic events. In 2008, Danielle took a year off from completing her bachelor’s and served in two small churches in South Georgia: Waycross and Brunswick. During that season, she had the privilege of leading people to Christ, which only deepened her desire to serve the Lord as a career pastor. When she returned to New York, she was asked to serve in her home church as the first young female Elder.
Danielle is a published author, where in 2013 she published her first Biblical Word Search puzzle book. This project was designed with the intent of creating a book that is interesting, educational, and fun for young people to learn more about God and His Word. In addition she wrote a groundbreaking article in Spectrum magazine called “Church Beyond Walls.”
Pastor Pilgrim has always been convinced that God called her to pastoral ministry, and as such, she applied and was accepted into the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University to enhance her gifts and knowledge in preparation for full time ministry. While at the seminary, Danielle was very active in ministry: she served as an intern pastor at the Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church Chicago, serving in multiple capacities in that large congregation.
Danielle completed her Masters in Divinity December 2015, and was assigned as the Youth and Discipleship Pastor of the Berean Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. She made an immediate impact on the congregation and the youth of the church as a result of her passion and total engagement in both the church and broader Atlanta community.
Pastor Pilgrim started at Berean the first annual teen girls retreat, inaugurated a creative process of engaging youth in community service, begin a youth discipleship class, and facilitated high impact youth Worship services. She was also instrumental in restarting a mentoring program for young teen males. As part of her Discipleship ministry, Danielle has also put in place at Berean a new member integration process that connects [transitions would have been a better choice] new members smoothly into the life of the church.
Pastor Pilgrim is fired up, passionate, energized and inspired to build up of the kingdom of God. Pastor Pilgrim’s deepest desire is to be used by the Holy Spirit to bring as many people as possible to Christ.
Finally, Danielle also has an emerging passion for community engagement beyond the church walls, having already launched her a Non Profit organization call “Happy Feet” which focuses on providing foot products for homeless and underprivileged people.
This Pilgrim’s Journey: How One Pastor Breaks Down Barriers and Breaks New Ground
If you’d asked a young Danielle Pilgrim growing up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago whether she could envision herself becoming a pastor, the answer, more than likely, would have been an emphatic “No!” followed by a hearty laugh. Life, however, has a way of taking us places that we never imagined. After moving to the United States at the age of 14, she was introduced to the Adventist faith a few years later. Today, not only is she still active in the Church, but she is an associate pastor at one of the most recognized churches in North America, Atlanta Berean in Atlanta, Georgia. Recently, she became an award-winning pastor too.
Pilgrim was recognized as the Youth Pastor of the Year at the 23rd Annual Gospel Choice Awards in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 25, 2017. This prestigious honor has been bestowed upon many other leaders of note, and Pilgrim joins a long list of luminaries in ministry. In attendance were her fellow pastoral staff members, including Fredrick Russell, senior pastor; her family; and many members of the Berean congregation.
Prior to receiving her master of divinity degree from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, Pilgrim received her bachelor of science in community health education from City University in New York. This informs her passion for taking the impact of the Church beyond the four walls of the building, and making it felt where it matters most- where the people truly live. She has created several initiatives to effect the change needed in communities, and joined forces with others who are actively working to make a difference.
Pilgrim has also launched her own foundation, Happy Feet, which seeks to provide relief for individuals who are homeless and in need of clean/new shoes and socks. Pilgrim is also an active leader in The And Campaign, a non-denominational community organization that seeks to bridge the divide between social justice advocacy and faith-based groups.
“We have a calling to do so much more than feed the sheep that are already within the fold,” Pilgrim says. “Our commitment to spreading the Gospel means showing up in places where the Light of Jesus seldom shines. It means doing things to expose the Heart of Christ that makes us vulnerable and transparent. It means being as authentic in our service as we are in our worship. That means being real Christians, and showing real love to real people in the real world!”
With a name like Pilgrim, is it any wonder that she is a groundbreaking trailblazer in her own right? Her primary determination is simply to take Jesus where He isn’t, so that He can be fully represented and fully known for Who He is. Whether winning souls or winning awards, Pilgrim is all in for God’s Kingdom!
Frederick Bussey is the communication director at Berean Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
VALIANTLY ATTEMPTING TO SHIFT PARADIGMS: PASTOR PILGRIM’S JULY 24, 2015 ARTICLE IN SPECTRUM MAGAZINE–
A Church Beyond Walls: A Call to Surrender
“Now let’s get back to the mission of our church.” This has been one of the most repeated phrases among Seventh-day Adventists following the 2015 General Conference decision regarding women’s ordination. This phrase suggests that because we have been deeply engaged in study and discussion on women’s ordination, that this has caused us to lose focus on our mission of reaching the lost.
While our theologians have been in deep study and our church members engaged in heated debate, our attentions have been misguided from pursing our mission. And although we had tabled this discussion for several years, its reappearance distracted us from our Divine mandate found in Matthew 18:19-20. Or so the theory goes.
We disregard the fact that on any given Sabbath or weekday (whether in the heat of a women’s ordination debate or not), less than half of our church bodies participate in consistent community outreach. The truth is, our decline in being mission-focused has not been a result of the discussion on women’s ordination or because of any other agenda item that has arrested our attention. The decline in fulfilling our mission is a result of us not being totally surrendered and “living with a self of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul” (Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”). The fulfilling of our mission has never been contingent on the items on our church board agenda; neither has it been stopped by laws signed by legislators. The fulfilling of our mission has been and is dependent on our complete surrender to the will of our Savior.
In Romans 12:1, Paul urged his audience to “present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” This is translated in other versions as, “spiritual service of worship.” To present ourselves as sacrifices means surrendering the right to ourselves to God. This means that we no longer hold possession of our will, but God replaces our will with His own.
We know that it is God’s will that we live mature and holy lives (Matt 5:48, Rom 12:1). But beyond His desire for us to live purely, God’s ultimate will is that all men and women be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4, Rom 10:13).
The prevailing questions as stated by Paul (and I paraphrase here) are, “How then can men call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). As Christians, our primary calling is to preach and proclaim the gospel of God. In “My Utmost for His Highest,” Oswald Chambers writes pertaining to Paul, that “he was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose – to proclaim the gospel of God.”
I am convinced based upon the word of God that our congregations are graying, our youth are leaving, and our engagement in mission is declining because we have not surrendered our wills, biases, perspectives, and ideologies to God. The fact remains that the call to surrender precedes the call to revival and reformation. It is only by daily surrendering our wills that our churches can be revived, our communities survive, and our mission thrive.
We are misguided when we think that attending church services is enough; when we think singing in the choir is enough; when we think that taking positions in the church to serve each other is enough; when we think passing out tracks once a month is enough. The call to surrender is the call to take our worship beyond the church walls. It is the appeal to make our hearts God’s home, our minds His mind, and our hands and feet His instruments.
Our intentions – as good as they may be – are not enough when our immediate non-believing families, co-workers and surrounding church communities are dying as a result of being disconnected from their Savior’s love. We cannot take pride in the fact that our church is different and peculiar because, as one pastor said, “If our difference isn’t making a difference then we are just being weird.” Ellen G. White, in “Desire of Ages,” states in reference to the children of Israel, “they hoarded the living manna, and it had turned to corruption. The religion which they tried to shut up to themselves became an offense. They robbed God of His glory, and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction.”
Is it possible that we are following in the footsteps of Israel? We certainly cannot discount that as a worldwide church we have exerted a lot of effort to feed the poor. We have also created many programs and processes to reach the lost. But, there comes a time when we have to ask ourselves the very daunting question, “am I doing enough?”
It is evident that God uses our programs and ministries as conduits to reach the lost but is it enough? I believe that God is waiting for all of us collectively, but even more so, he is waiting for each one of us individually to recklessly abandon ourselves to Him so that he can do for the world what he has done for us. It is when we surrender ourselves completely to him that he can use our lives and not just our programs to “bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for captives and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:1-2). This is the idea of a church beyond walls, where those that make up the body of Christ are daily surrendered to God and take a piece of heaven with them wherever they go. This is our mission: constant worship through total surrender. Our daily lives bearing testament to a wonderful Savior.
It was this type of reckless abandonment that embodied the life of the disciples and the first century church. There were distractions, yet they fulfilled their mission. There were introductions of false doctrines yet they were still persistent. They studied their bibles daily, they witnessed faithfully, and they baptized thousands consistently. They were truly a church beyond walls and their lives were the epitome of mission. God is calling women and men, boys and girls, preachers and laymen, to consistently fulfill the mission of our church. So today I invite you to join me in answering the call put forth by Chambers of daily surrender; abandoning your will for God’s will, and “living with a self of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul.”
Danielle Pilgrim is [was] a student at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on the Campus of Andrews University.
THE ADMINISTRATOR’S INEXPERT MINI-BIO OF FRESHLY-MINTED PASTOR PILGRIM FROM DECEMBER 20, 2015-
Pastor Pilgrim is a native of Trinidad and Tobago. Her family relocated to the States when she was 14, where she was introduced to Adventism. She was discouraged from becoming an Adventist by a close family member, but eventually made the commitment when she was 16. She was active in missionary work at her new church, and spent a year (2008) as a Bible Worker in Waycross, Georgia. I seem to recall President Winston mentioning that she was an Elder at her church in Brooklyn while still very young, a kind of prodigy. She was also heavily involved with the Pathfinders. She received a BS in Community Health Education from the City University of New York. She is the published author of an educational puzzle book. She commenced attendance at Andrews University. While a seminarian, she interned at Shiloh Adventist Church in Chicago, and also served at the Grace Place in South Bend, Indiana. Just last week she completed her Masters of Divinity.
