Pastor Kim Wright was honored with the 2025 Irving C. Lambert Outstanding Urban Ministries Award on Friday, June 27, 2025, at the 140th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church. She was recognized for her more than three decades of transformative ministry in one of New York City’s most vibrant and underserved neighborhoods.
For more than 35 years, Wright has lived and ministered in Spanish Harlem, blending pastoral care, prophetic leadership, and community development into a deeply incarnational expression of the gospel. As senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection—a congregation she re-planted in the Covenant in 2012—she has led with boldness, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to justice. At the same time, she has served as executive director of the Booker T. Washington Learning Center, an educational hub offering after-school enrichment, summer camps, college prep, and support for children on the autism spectrum.
Wright’s personal story is marked by healing and redemption, shaping a theology rooted in presence. Trained by the late Rev. Leroy Ricksey, a Harlem icon of faith and advocacy, Wright inherited a legacy of street-level ministry—and soon began carving her own path. Whether offering spiritual guidance to families or fighting systemic injustice, she has focused on lifting up people who are the most vulnerable.
During her tenure as general secretary of the United Chaplains of the State of New York, Wright oversaw the licensing of more than 3,000 civil clergy, deploying them throughout the five boroughs to serve in schools, hospitals, and correctional facilities.
Her pastoral peers speak of her with profound admiration. “Kim is a living witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ,” Howard Burgoyne, superintendent of the East Coast Conference, said. “She has been gifted to serve in ministries of care, compassion, advocacy, education, and shepherding. It is most fitting that the Covenant Church recognizes her life of service with this award.”
Michael Carrion, founding pastor of Promised Land Covenant Church in the Bronx, added, “I see no other candidate as committed, as called, as surrendered to the Potter than Rev. Wright in my community and context who would be as deserving of this honor. She has emptied herself to serve the least of these and has never looked back. I celebrate my sister, friend, and colleague being this year’s recipient.”
To the delegates, Wright said, “I’m humbled and honored to be standing here before you today. I have been supported, encouraged, loved, and well cared for in the Covenant as I serve in one corner of the universe.” She added, “This award is not just a milestone for me. It is a reminder of my calling, and I pray it is a reminder of yours. Every day I think to myself what the Word says: If you see your brother and sister have need and you shut up your bowels of compassion against them, how does the love of God dwell in you?” (1 John 3:17, KJV).
In presenting the award, Ramelia Williams, director of ministry initiatives for Love Mercy Do Justice, said, “At the heart of our evangelical identity is the call to make Christ known through word and deed—proclamation and praxis. Today, we honor a leader who embodies that mission. Our denomination is strengthened by those who live out the gospel with integrity and passion. Today, we give thanks for such a person.”
