Eden Crain Richardson ’18
Posted on: February 10, 2026
Establishing a culture of discipleship.
“Jesus not only calls us to be disciples, He calls us to make disciples,” said Eden Richardson, 2018 Christian Studies alum, who currently serves as the Discipleship Director at First Baptist Rock Hill.
In her current role, Richardson oversees the church’s women’s ministry and discipleship groups in her church. She credits NGU for having an impact on how she does ministry today.
“My time at North Greenville was really good in the sense that I really learned what it looked like to have a biblical worldview and what that look like for me then to translate that in to church and society,” she said. “I feel like North Greenville did a really good job of helping me understand those hard passages of Scripture and learning how to then teach others of what a good hermeneutic of the Bible is so that was valuable to me.”
She first felt God calling to ministry during high school and realized her passion for speaking God’s Word and ministering to women as she served in her local church.
“One of the things I fell in love with doing was teaching the Bible to other women. I love teaching, it’s one of my favorite things. I feel more comfortable speaking in a room full of people than I do sometimes being in one-on-one meetings,” she said. “My calling really took flesh at the very tail end of my senior year of high school and stepping into my freshman year at North Greenville. I feel like the Lord just further solidified what my calling into ministry looked like as He placed me around others who are also doing the same things I wanted to do.”
It was at NGU where she learned what true discipleship looked like and her passion for it deepened.
She recalls becoming friends with a few girls who were older than her and Richardson asked them to disciple her. They agreed and her relationship with the Lord grew immensely.
Along with being discipled by her peers, she was also mentored by Mrs. Ruth McWhite, who served as the director of women’s ministry at NGU during Richardson’s college years.
The discipleship relationships she built at NGU opened doors for her to in turn be a disciple maker to others on campus.
“About a year or two [after being discipled by my peers], Ruth asked me if I wanted to be over the Big and Little Program at North Greenville,” she said. “Through the Big and Little Program, I got to disciple a freshman girl and that’s what it’s supposed to be and they in turn, disciple others.”
“I experienced that disciple making disciples culture at North Greenville. Now that I’ve tasted that and I know how beautiful and effective that is, it’s how I always want it to be,” she said.
After completing her degree at NGU in 2018, Richardson continued her theological education by gaining her master’s from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2022.
To this day, Richardson is experiencing the same discipleship culture NGU instilled through her current role at First Baptist Rock Hill.
Through her position, Richardson comes alongside women in her church, helping them learn how to read and study Scripture for themselves rather than relying on Bible study curriculum.
“The only curriculum in our discipleship groups is God’s Word,” she said. “It’s been really cool getting to meet with ladies as they then invest in other ladies, so you really see that disciple making disciples idea play out.”
“Week after week, we have a Bible reading plan that goes through those hard passages of Scripture. The fruit that we’ve seen from women getting together and read those hard passages of Scripture,” she said. “It’s really neat because the Holy Spirit really is a good teacher and when you dig into His Word, He’ll illuminate His Word to you.”
Through her ministry at First Baptist Rock Hill, Richardson has seen God’s hand at work not only through discipleship groups, but also through the women’s ministry events that the church hosts throughout the year.
At the latest women’s ministry event the church hosted, more than 500 women from different ages and life stages were in attendance.
“I stepped back and said, ‘Wow God, You’re amazing!’” Richardson said.
“The culture I’m trying to drive here at First Baptist Rock Hill is the idea of intergenerational women’s ministry,” she said. “The demographic of that event was cool because our youngest attendee was 9 and our oldest was 97. I just think that is beautiful to see the body of Christ like that.”
As she continues to faithfully pursue her call to women’s ministry at First Baptist Rock Hill, Richardson’s goal will remain the same: make disciples who make disciples.
