William, Cecelia, and Magnolia at their home in Pittsburgh, Atlanta.
Cecelia and William on a lobster boat in Portland, ME.
Background
Being the youngest of three raised by a single mother in the actual desert of West Texas, my childhood involved a lot of dirt clod fights, watching storms roll in, and running barefoot through dry pasture land. Among other things, our mom instilled in us a love of reading and the importance of God; two things that have profoundly shaped my life. I was baptized at the age of seven, though my faith truly came to life in high school. Not aware parallel gospels existed, I decided to compare the differences between the four gospels. Through this act of nightly scripture study, God began to become a tangible part of my life in a way I had not yet experienced. At 17 I preached my first sermon, and by the time I went to college, I thought ministry might be in my future. This hunch was confirmed through experiences during and after college while I worked at St. Paul United Methodist Church. In 2016, Cecelia and I moved to Atlanta, Georgia where I attended Candler School of Theology and began our lives together as newlyweds.
Aside from my basic seminary studies, my interests included asset-based community development, the balance of tradition/ritual and innovation/contextualization, and the use of technology in ministry. My time in seminary was remarkable, but my time outside of seminary was just as impactful. Cecelia and I lived in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, a low-income 97% minority neighborhood, and learned firsthand about systematic racism and intentional disparities. We also learned what it means to be good neighbors, the beauty of asset-based community development, and the critical role of the local church in transforming lives. After seminary, Cecelia and I moved to Georgetown, Kentucky and I became the 10th pastor of Faith Baptist Church.
While we were sad to leave our home in Atlanta, Faith Baptist proved to be a wonderful congregation. They are kind, smart, loving, and earnest in their pursuit of God. During my time as Senior Pastor, we navigated questions on how welcoming we will be for people in the LGBTQ community, our church’s role in the community, and the everyday questions of a church in the 2020s. Perhaps the highest compliment I can give them is that I will forever be thankful that Faith was the congregation I went through COVID-19 with.
William meeting Rep. John Lewis and Sen. Corey Booker after preaching at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.
Beliefs
Central to my faith is the belief that Jesus Christ is a real historical person who died and was resurrected. The acceptance of Jesus as human and divine is one of the few theological issues I consider immutable. Jesus’ mission was and continues to be reconciling the world to God. Through a relationship with Jesus, we encounter the divine and are transformed. This transformation has the potential to change the world around us as we reflect the love of Christ and draw people closer to God.
I am a proud Baptist, strongly affirming the four basic Baptist beliefs of soul freedom, church autonomy, religious freedom, and the authority of the Scripture. To this end, I associate myself with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. My positions tend to be moderate, and I regularly acknowledge that no one, including myself, has it all figured out. Above all, I hope to love God, love others, and make disciples of Jesus. That is really all that matters.
To learn about my ministry philosophy click here.
William with an alpaca. Yes, it’s real.