Student Associate Pastor

Hello! My name is Brian William, and I am preparing for my third year in the Master of Divinity program at Garrett-Evangelical as I am preparing for my field education placement at Wheadon UMC. I am originally from Corvallis, Oregon where I grew up, our family lived for two years in Malawi, Africa when I was in middle school, I went to college at Washington State University in Pullman, and I worked in Washington until I moved to Evanston to begin seminary. I am blessed enough to be married to my best friend, Monica, who currently teaches English to refugees in Chicago. She will be starting seminary at Garrett-Evangelical next month, so we will have two seminarians in the family!
While growing up, my family attended a Presbyterian Church, United Church of Christ, the Scottish Presbyterian Church (while in Malawi), and the United Methodist Church, so I’ve been a part of several of the mainline denominations. During middle school and high school, we were involved in the First UMC in Corvallis. I remember the church constantly struggling with ethical issues. Because citizen-initiated ballot measures are encouraged in Oregon, each year Oregonians go to the polls to make important decisions about rehabilitation vs. punishment for criminals, civil rights for gays and lesbians, doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia, medicinal marijuana use, minimum wage and labor-related issues, environmental protection, etc. And each issue was discussed within the church. Although I was not old enough to vote at the ballot box, I was a full member of the church and could participate in the discussions fully. I remember the pride I felt when I was able to vote with the church to take a (unanimous) stand against Measure 9 in 1992, the first statewide attempt to prohibit so-called “special rights for gays and lesbians.” These discussions over the years helped form my faith and helped me recognize that my faith does require me to act in certain ways when interacting with others and the world.
Yet it was not only the forum for discussing ethical issues that made the church a home for me. I was given the opportunity to preach at the special youth-led Sundays, songs I wrote were sung by the church choir (something which continued into my college years), I was a camp counselor for five summers, and I was a part of several mission trips. While in college, my faith continued to grow as it was nourished by Bible study, fellowship, study, covenant groups, urban mission trips, and worship at the campus ministry and the local church in Pullman.
Since starting at Garrett-Evangelical, I have found myself asking new questions of my faith and of the church. I have struggled to understand better who and what the church is. What makes us different from other groups? How does the fact that we serve the risen Christ affect how we act as a church and how we understand ourselves? I have been asking what it means to serve others as friends (as Jesus tells his disciples in John 15). We live in a country that almost forces us to act as strangers to everyone we know, including even friends, family members, and our fellow Christians Are we even able to serve another as a friend instead of a stranger? I have also been looking at what can be learned from the different parts of the church. Instead of writing each other off as is so often the case, what can so-called conservative and so-called liberal churches teach one another and learn from one another? These are a few of the questions I have been asking lately. I am certain these questions and others will continue to be on my mind during the coming year. I am looking forward to finding a few answers, coming up with a few more questions, and learning in the midst of all of it!