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Bishop Preston Warren Williams II currently serves
as the presiding prelate of the 7th Episcopal District
(South Carolina) of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church. He is Chairman of the Board of Allen University
in Columbia, S.C., a member of the governing board of
Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and
from June 2006 to June 2007 served as President of the
global Council of A.M.E. Bishops.
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In July of
2000, Bishop Williams was consecrated as
the 119th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church. His first appointment was in Central Africa
where he presided over the 17th Episcopal District which
encompassed the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(Zaire), the Congo Brazzaville, Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda and Malawi. Under Bishop
Williams’ expert leadership the 17th District grew from
7 annual conferences to 16, from 24 Presiding Elder
Districts to 86, and from 150,000 to 250,000 members
with a total of 1,040 churches. This astronomical
increase in membership required the 17th District be
split into two separate parts forming a new 20th
District.
In 2000,
at the time of his election to the Episcopacy, Bishop
Williams served as the Senior Pastor of Allen Temple
A.M.E. Church in Atlanta, Georgia. |
There he partnered with the Housing and
Urban Development Authority and Herman J.
Russell, Inc. and jointly generated a 15
million dollar renovation of more than 600
apartment units throughout the Atlanta metro
area. For 16 years he served as pastor of
St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Atlanta, where he
raised more than a million dollars to
renovate the church’s sanctuary, build a
Family Life Center, and purchase a 33-unit
apartment complex for homeless mothers and
children. While at Trinity A.M.E. Church in
Atlanta, Bishop Williams’ congregation
purchased a million dollar complex which
served as additional classroom space for
Atlanta’s Public Schools. Whether at
Paradise A.M.E. Church in Jefferson, GA, St.
Mark A.M.E. Church in Athens, GA, Bethel
A.M.E. Church in Augusta, GA, or St. Mark
A.M.E. Church in Atlanta, GA, Bishop
Williams invariably led his congregations in
the purchase of land, the renovation and
construction of new facilities, and the
expansion of church membership and ministry
deep into the heart of the community.
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While in Africa,
Bishop Williams continually encouraged both
clergy and laity to pursue higher education,
and made it possible for many to study in
classrooms throughout Central Africa and
abroad. Bishop Williams also played a
supportive role in both the election of
Reverend Paul J. M. Kawimbe as the 121st
Bishop of the A.M.E. Church, the first
native Zambian to hold that title, as well
as the formation of the African
Jurisdictional Council which was created to
address the issue of indigenous African
leadership within the A.M.E. Church.
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After Africa,
in July of 2004
Bishop Williams was appointed as the
Presiding Prelate of the 7th Episcopal
District, which encompasses the entire state
of South Carolina. A grass roots preacher,
in his first year he physically visited 552
of the more than 600 A.M.E. Churches
throughout South Carolina. A lettered
theologian, Bishop Williams' top priority
for the ‘New South’ is education and so he
developed a Christian Education Board which
is in the process of producing a Christian
Education Curriculum Guide designed to
uplift and standardize the theology being
taught by all A.M.E. Churches statewide. A
spiritual shepherd to millions,
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In July of 2005
Bishop Williams partnered with Governor Mark
Sanford’s Department of Juvenile Justice in a collective
effort to provide South Carolina's at-risk youth with
support and services designed to maximize their
potential as positive and productive members of society.
A guardian of all children, throughout the summer of
2005, Bishop Williams' 7th District of the A.M.E. Church
teamed up with the Department of Social Services and
provided thousands of underprivileged children
throughout South Carolina each day with a free state
sponsored summer lunch. A star on the rise, from June of
2006 to June 2007, Bishop Williams served as president
of the world-wide Council of Bishops, which placed him
at the apex of A.M.E. hierarchy.
Bishop Williams is a
champion of political and social action, economic
empowerment and business development. For 19 years he
served on Atlanta’s Board of Education as President,
Vice President, Chairman of the Superintendent Search
Committee, and Chairman of the Finance Committee where
he was involved with the management of a 430 million
dollar budget. He served on President Jimmy Carter’s
Inaugural Committee and is a member of the NAACP, Free
and Accepted Masons and The Urban League.
An experienced statesman,
Bishop Williams has acquired over 40 years of entrepreneurial
expertise. He owned an Insurance Agency, which partnered with Allied
Health Agencies to provide financial support services for the
communities in which he lived and worshipped. For eight years he
served as Treasurer of the 6th Episcopal District, which encompasses
the state of Georgia. Bishop Williams served as a board member as
well as Comptroller of Finance for Turner Theological Seminary in
Atlanta, GA which, through his financial guidance, built a 2 million
dollar administration office and student dormitory. Bishop Williams
also served as a member of the General Assembly of the World Council
of Churches and in 1997 was chosen as the State of Georgia
Distinguished Churchman.
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Bishop Williams
attended Morris
Brown College and Southeastern University; earned a Master of
Divinity degree from Turner Theological Seminary Interdenominational
Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia; he attended the Yale
University Divinity School in New Haven Connecticut and earned his
Doctorate Degree from Wesley Theological Seminary at American
University in Washington, D.C. He has received several honorary
degrees, including: Doctor of Law, Daniel Payne College, Birmingham,
Alabama; Doctor of Humane Letters, Lee Theological Seminary,
Jacksonville, Florida; Doctor of Humane Letters, Morris Brown
College, Atlanta, Georgia; and Doctorate of Divinity, Turner
Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia and Jackson Seminary, Little
Rock, Arkansas. |
Bishop Williams is a gifted
preacher,
teacher, leader, and social activist.
He is often sought
after for his power to illuminate Biblical scripture.
Bishop Williams is married to the former Wilma
Delores Webb of Leeds, Alabama, and they are the
immensely proud parents of four children: Arnold
Andre, a physicist; twin daughters Wilma
Priscilla, a chemist, and Stella Jacinta, a
geologist; and Prestina Delores, a television
news anchor and reporter. |
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