Parker Williams is currently preaching and leading worship at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Poplar Bluff, but his journey toward ordination is just beginning.
What he describes as a “very long process” also marks the “culmination of well over a decade of preparation.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree in ministry with an emphasis on psychology and counseling at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, Williams is now only a few months away from completing his master’s degree in Theology and Anglican Studies from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California.
“This has been a long time in the making,” Williams said. “The majority of my life has been leading to this.”
In the Episcopal Church, Williams is currently in the midst of the “discernment process,” which involves eight months of regular meetings with a committee that reports to the diocese bishop.
After that process is complete, he will begin an 18-month postulancy, analogous to a medical residency, a more formal period of ministry formation.
Although he has been involved with Holy Cross for many years, he may find himself moved around to different congregations during this period.
“It’s an opportunity to be formed by other people in ministries,” he said of the process.
In the Anglican tradition, the steps that follow will be ordination first as a deacon, and after that, a priest.
“Because a deacon’s primary role is as a servant, this teaches us that priests are servants first,” Williams said.
He took on his current leadership role at Holy Cross in early 2020, just before the COVID pandemic struck and caused so many churches to suspend in-person gatherings and move to virtual worship, a transition he oversaw.
“I feel like I’ve been pruned for this season,” he said of the experience. “It’s been a season of checking in on everyone.”
He praised the ability of the church’s core congregation to move from traditional to virtual worship.
“We have a highly incarnational tradition,” he said. “In-person worship is very important for us.”
Holy Cross plans to restart on-site worship soon at its historical location on Main Street in Poplar Bluff.
Williams says that whatever path his future sets him on, his heart remains committed to Poplar Bluff and Holy Cross Church.
“A calling isn’t found but formed,” he said, “and it’s been formed here.”
“I hope to see Holy Cross into a new generation.”