Bill Williamson has served Concord Baptist Church, west of Bruce, as pastor for more than 13 years.
A native of Shelby County, Alabama, he graduated from Samford University where he met his wife Jackie. He attended seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and then became pastor of a church in Madison, Tennessee, just outside Nashville, where he stayed for 41 years.
“I wanted to stay one year longer than Moses,” Williamson said with a smile.
When he retired, his son-in-law Michael Waldrop, who had served as minister of music in the Madison church, was pastoring Pittsboro Baptist Church. He later became director of the Calhoun Baptist Association.
“Michael got me to preach for him one night when he was at Pittsboro,” Williamson said. “Some from Concord heard me and asked if I would come supply for them the next Sunday. That led to an invitation to become pastor.”
During his time at Concord the church has undergone a major building project including a new sanctuary.
“You could feel the vibrations anytime someone walked across the floor,” Williamson recalled of the old church when he first arrived. “I said one day in church I hope we can build a new building. These are wonderful, talented people here and they made it happen.”
They hired Terry Martin to build the new church and never borrowed a dime throughout the project.
“Our faith has increased through this process,” Williamson said.
They held church in the fellowship hall during the building process and brought in portable buildings for Sunday School rooms.
“Our goal this year was to finish in our seventh year –that’s the Biblical number of completion,” Williamson said. “We still lack some landscaping and building the front steps.”
The sanctuary, however, is stunning with views from the large windows of the countryside from high atop the hill where the church sits off CR 235.
“We’re very proud of it,” Williamson said.
The church averages near 60 every Sunday and has more than 120 members.
Williamson answered the call to preach “in his heart” when he was 14 years old.
“I didn’t tell anybody at church, but I remember in high school one of the counselors asked me what I was going to study (in college) and I said I’m going to be a Baptist minister. By the beginning of college I had made a full commitment and was licensed by my church and they started a mission and asked me to be the pastor. I was pastoring at 19.”
“I pastored a church in the seminary that was close to Fort Knox,” Williamson said.
“I never remember a time when I wasn’t in church. I had wonderful pastors who took an interest in me when I was young.”
Williamson has returned the favor. During his decades as a pastor, he has had 28 to enter the ministry, including his son-in-law.
“This is a sensation I could never shake,” Williamson said. “I can’t imagine wanting to.”