B.A., Morehouse College, 1985, J.D., Boston College, 1989, M. Div., Harvard University, 2002. A native of Albany, GA, Bill, after graduating from Morehouse with a degree in Political Science and Accounting, served on the staff of the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control for the U. S. House of Representatives.
Afterwards, he continued his interest in Law School, where he emerged as the National Chairman of the Black Law Students Association, in the wake of increasing minority presence in the profession. He served first as a Judicial Law Clerk and then as Assistant State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. While in these positions, he was involved in ameliorating the plight of juvenile delinquents and developing preventive programs and assistance for the development of supportive environments. During this time, he was called to the ministry and began ministering through public policy issues. Finally, prior to his entry to Harvard, he served as Chaplain, Counselor and Teacher at The Baraka School, a school for inner-city male youth based in Kenya, East Africa.
While a student at Harvard Divinity School, Bill served as a Consultant to the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives’ Race Project. This project addressed structural racism and how it affects the disparate outcomes within communities of color. Bill specifically focused on the disparate outcomes within the area of Criminal Justice/Neighborhood Safety. All of these experiences were instrumental in his overall study plan at Harvard that of Pastoral Ministry and Community Building with an emphasis on addressing public policy issues facing urban environments. Bill’s study plan resulted in the publication of his thesis, Springs of Life-Giving Water: African American Ministries’ Role in the Public Square. Since Bill’s departure from Harvard, he has served as the Co-Chair of the Harvard Divinity School Black Alumni Network and recently as a member of the Dean’s Council.
Subsequent to Bill's Harvard experience, Bill served as Interim Director of the Third World Center (A Center devoted to providing advocacy, support, and additional resources to students of color), including serving as an Assistant Dean of the College and Associate University Protestant Chaplain for Brown University, including direct Pastoral responsibilities to Imani Jubilee (the Protestant Worshipping Community in the African American tradition). Bill served as Program Manager for Project Longevity of New Haven. Project Longevity is an initiative that seeks to reduce shootings and homicides in New Haven by targeting group(s)/gangs(s) for purposes of engagement, including the development of alternative life plans as well as intensive law enforcement. Further, Project Longevity seeks to develop effective and sustainable working relationships among Law Enforcement, Community, and Service Providers that change social norms and practices for better outcomes. Most recently, Bill served as Director, Black Church Studies and Lecturer, Supervised Ministries at Yale Divinity School, providing director and oversight that assist the institution, faculty, and students in the experience, exposure, and engagement of the theological perspectives and practice of faith among Africans and people of the African Diaspora.
Presently, Bill serves as Pastor of Springs of Life-Giving Water Church (The Springs), an American Baptist Church in New Haven, CT. As the Pastor of The Springs, Bill seeks to assist individuals in viewing and developing each life experience as empowering and directional for their purposed lives as they become all God intends. In line with his assignment, Bill is also the CEO of WLM Ministries, Inc., a non-profit devoted to providing consulting services for the development of community and faith-based initiatives with a specialty in the areas of Criminal Justice/Neighborhood Safety, Community Building, Youth Empowerment, Social Justice, and African Diaspora Collaboration.
Bill is also engaged as the immediate past President of the American Baptist Churches of Connecticut (ABCCONN) 2019-2020; a Commissioner for the Baptist World Alliance’s Justice and Freedom Commission; Consultant for several Brazilian faith-based communities and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), particularly the empowerment of Afro-Brazilian communities; a member of Kingdom Association of Covenant Pastors; a founding and steering committee member of New Haven 828- an organization devoted to bringing Pastors and Para-Church Leaders together for prayer and the formation of collaborative initiatives to address social ills of our communities; Advisory Board member for New Haven’s Juvenile Review Board; member of New Haven’s Reentry Initiative Roundtable; and member of New Haven Community Violence Response Group.