How Raphael Warnock Got His Start In Harlem

HARLEM, NY — Years before he took over the pulpit at a storied Atlanta church, rose to prominence and won election to the United States Senate, the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock was a youth pastor in Harlem.

Warnock, who defeated Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Tuesday to win one of Georgia's two Senate seats, was raised in Savannah and first came to New York in the early 1990s after graduating from Morehouse College.

Here, he became a youth pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church, the historic institution on 138th Street once led by the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

During his 10 years at Abyssinian, Warnock was promoted to assistant pastor and got his first taste of the spotlight. In 1997, he was quoted in the New York Times after joining a coalition of nonprofits opposing then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's effort to force welfare recipients to work for their benefits.

"We are worried that workfare is being used to displace other workers who receive respectable compensation," Warnock told the Times. "We are concerned that poor people are being put into competition with other poor people, and in that respect, we think workfare is a hoax."

.@ReverendWarnock is a son of GA through & through, but I’m proud that he spent some of his formative years in the district I represent: ministering at Harlem’s @AbyssinianBC & studying at Morningside Heights’ @UnionSeminary. He’s going to be a great addition to the senate! pic.twitter.com/KJLK2LfeWf
— Senator Brian Benjamin (@NYSenBenjamin) January 6, 2021

At the same time, Warnock attended the Union Theological Seminary, the Christian institution in Morningside Heights affiliated with Columbia University, where he earned a Master's in Divinity in 1994. Even after leaving New York, he retained his ties to the seminary, where he completed a Ph.D. in systematic theology in 2006.

Warnock left New York in 2001 to take the reins at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore. After his departure, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts, the longtime senior pastor at Abyssinian and a prominent figure in Harlem, told the Baltimore Sun that the future was bright for his former understudy.

"He's one of the brightest and most intelligent and academically prepared young clergymen in the country," Butts said. "He's a forceful leader, very serious about the issues that impact especially the African-American community. He's one of the more thoughtful preachers of his generation."

Since 2005, Warnock has been senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, formerly led by Martin Luther King Jr. In November, Warnock returned to Abyssinian — virtually — to deliver a guest sermon for the church's 212th anniversary.

Mayor Bill de Blasio paid tribute to Warnock during his Wednesday morning news conference, celebrating the likely victories of both Democratic candidates in Georgia and noting Warnock's Harlem ties.

"He has served New York City and New York City has put an imprint on him, and that is for the good of all," he said.

Congratulations @ReverendWarnock! pic.twitter.com/pmFso9m3Ol
— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) January 6, 2021