Bayou Profile | BISHOP DELORES J. WILLIAMSTON

ARTICLE BY GEORGIANN POTTS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK

When Bishop Delores J. Williamston was a little girl growing up in Topeka, Kansas, she had no idea what God had planned for her. Even so, she believed with all of her heart that He had a plan, and she waited and trusted. After a successful military career spanning 22 years, Bishop Williamston realized that the next chapter in God’s plan for her was pastoral ministry. In a leap of faith, she quit her job and enrolled in seminary. Today she is known as Bishop Williamston, one of approximately 52 active bishops in the United Methodist Church. She is the first African-American bishop to serve the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church as well as the first African-American female bishop in the South-Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Her life has been one of adventure, but also one of purpose.

Bishop Delores J. Williamston’s life journey has not been linear. As a child, she didn’t dream of being a church leader someday. Instead, she relished the Kansas sunshine “Down Home” visiting the land that her forebearers had purchased after the American Civil War. Her ancestors had been slaves in Missouri, but over the years between the late 1860s through the 1930s they and their children purchased farmland near Ozawkie and Oskaloosa, Kansas. She was from a family of farmers and land owners who worked that land to make things better for future generations.

Farmers are well known for leaning on their faith, especially during the long growing seasons year after year. Bishop Williamston’s family certainly leaned on theirs. “My family was – and is – a family of great faith. Their faith and belief in something bigger than themselves is evidenced by their being able to purchase, and then successfully farm and retain their land in a society filled with racism, prejudice, hatred, and bias against black people,” Bishop Williamston says. “That has happened only by the grace of God.” 

“Down Home” Memories

That farm land is known in the family today – just as it has always been — as “Down Home.” Among Bishop Williamston’s fondest childhood memories are of visiting her maternal grandfather’s farm and with those who lived and worked there. Her mother Henrietta was the eldest of seven children. She grew up on the farm within a large extended family of 14. Bishop Williamston’s grandfather was the oldest boy in the group.

Both Bishop Williamston and her older brother Duane were born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. For major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, their mother would load the children and their things into her green 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, and they would go “Down Home” for a visit. There Bishop Williamston especially enjoyed visiting with the older relatives. Their mother eventually moved her family back to Kansas so that she could be near her aging family when Bishop Williamston was about 6 months old.

An especially happy memory involves the presents that Bishop Williamston’s grandfather gave the children at Christmas. “He’d purchase from the store the red knit stocking that contained an apple, an orange, hard candies, walnuts, pecans, and Brazil nuts!” Bishop Williamston’s remembers with a smile. “And one year, I received a special treat of a little red transistor radio, which I thought was really cool.”

Bishop Williamston also has loving memories of being with her grandmother, her grandfather’s second wife, Gussie Mae. The two would go to the large garden that she and Bishop Williamston’s grandfather had planted. There they would dig potatoes and pull green beans, onions, and carrots. “But the real fun was hunting for wild greens!” Bishop Williamston says. “She showed me what ‘lamb’s quarter’, ‘polk’, nettle, and ‘horseradish’ (to name a few) looked like. We would gather the wild greens, along with other garden greens, and debug and wash them to prepare for cooking.” The two would also sit on the porch and snap green beans. Though Bishop Williamston was about one year old when she lost her maternal grandmother Helen  (first wife of her grandfather, Alonzo), she imagines that she, too, would have taken her to the garden and on wild green hunting walks.

Another special time “Down Home” was a holiday of sorts, as well. It happened every September when the family gathered to slaughter the hogs. In the early 1900s, Bishop Williamston’s great-grandfather and great uncles established a hog farm. She remembers going to her grandfather’s house for the event. “The men were down in the pig pens, slaughtering hogs and preparing them for butchering,” she recalls. “It was a busy time as nearly all of my grandfather’s brothers and extended relatives would come to help with this work.”

Seeking Knowledge

Bishop Williamston’s public education occurred in Topeka, Kansas, from her elementary years until the 11th grade. She attended Topeka Public Schools, Unified School District No. 501. When she was almost 17, she made a major life decision – she dropped out of high school. With her mother signing for her because she was underage, Bishop Williamston embarked on an adventure that would continue her education and strengthen her resolve to serve and someday lead.

Bishop Williamston always enjoyed reading. From her earliest childhood she had loved both listening to and hearing stories. She even had an old record player that she used to listen to Disney story records. She would also take herself to the Topeka Public Library to attend story time there. Today Bishop Williamston still loves listening to, collecting, reading, and learning stories from biblical stories, cultural stories, fables, and myths. “Wherever I go, I am listening for the story and how that story brings common ground to people who can have vastly different backgrounds but are still the same in the human experience of life,” she explains.

Bishop Williamston was always a hard worker, determined to better herself. Her first job was at Bobo’s Drive Inn in Topeka which she held for one day and then left. “I realized being a carhop wasn’t for me,” she explains. She was 14 years old, but determined. Her second job was at the old Methodist Homes in Topeka. She was there for a week before they had to let her go because she was too young. When she was 16, she worked at St. Francis Hospital. 

When she dropped out of school, Bishop Williamston was working at a local Church’s Fried Chicken and living at home. She realized that there was no future in that, so she asked her mother to support her decision to join the Kansas Army National Guard. With that support, the young woman went off to Basic Training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, and Military Occupational School at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana. With her initial duty completed, Bishop Williamston sat for the General Educational Diploma (GED) in 1982 and passed with high scores. From that first assignment as a finance specialist, she rose through the ranks to become a Senior Finance and Accounting Specialist. During the final three years of her fulltime job with the Guard, she served as the Chief of Finance and Accounting for the United States Property and Fiscal Office in Topeka. When she retired, Bishop Williamston held the rank of Sergeant First Class. She had spent 22 years in the Army National Guard as a soldier with 5 of those years in the New York Army National Guard’s finance division.

Even today, Bishop Williamston cannot recall a specific reason why she dropped out of school and went to the military. There were several, no doubt, and all the while God’s plan was at work as well. During her school years, Bishop Williamston learned that high school is not for everyone, and that some young people are not given the opportunity to question in an institutionally structured school system. Since then, she has also learned that “. . . many young minds are not given the opportunity to express what their educational needs are in order to maximize their brilliance, or they are misunderstood.” From her own experience in high school, Bishop Williamston says that dropping out in the second semester of her junior year was done out of a “. . . perceived boredom that was not challenged.”

The Church Comes Calling

In 1987 Bishop Williamston began taking classes at Washburn University in Topeka. It was a critical step along her education path as she sought a purpose for her life. By this time, she was a single parent with young son Jerome Junior. Costs became prohibitive, so she transferred to a local junior college to complete her degree in General Studies. In 1999, she transferred to Manhattan Christian College and enrolled in the Adult Leadership Program there. She graduated in December 2001 with a BS in Christian Management and Ethics.

In 2002 Bishop Williamston applied to Seminary at Saint Paul School of Theology where she was accepted and began coursework in February 2003. In May 2007 she graduated with a Master of Divinity specializing in Black Church Ministries and Evangelism. Thirteen years later, she began pursuing a doctorate. In May 2023, Bishop Williamston earned a Doctorate in Improvisational Ministry from Phillips Theology Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Looking back, it was clear God’s plan had always been at work for her.

“My decision to become a pastor was driven by the opportunities I had as a layperson serving in the Church,” Bishop Williamston explains. “I found that my pastor at my home church, Asbury Mt. Olive United Methodist Church, saw potential in my gifts as I continued to volunteer to help there.” It was when she volunteered for a children’s program and many of the children thought that she was the pastor that she heard the call into pastoral ministry.

Bishop Williamston was working for the Guard at the time and knew that she had to make a major life decision. She prayed for guidance as she contemplated her future. “I said ‘yes’ to God, quit my job, and took a leap of faith and enrolled in seminary,” she explains. As soon as she made her decision, opportunities to serve the church parttime presented themselves. Steadily she moved through the “ranks” of church work, ultimately finding herself elected Bishop. “Though I didn’t know I’d aspire to become a pastor, district superintendent, director, assistant to the bishop, or become a bishop myself, I can only say God has led my career in a spiritual sense,” Bishop Williamston says. “I availed myself to God by saying ‘Yes, Lord, send me, use me to share the love and stories of Jesus Christ. I am here. Use me’.”

Relaxing and Reflecting

When Bishop Williamston was pastoring a church in 2011, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now 15 years after that challenge she is cancer-free and grateful. That experience was a reminder that work without some play/private time isn’t the healthiest course. Her work is consuming and all-important as she leads for the Lord with love and understanding. However, rest is a necessary requirement for her to be able to do that effectively.

Bishop Williamston has several hobbies that are important “relaxers” for her. She crochets prayer shawls, knits, does scratch art and paint-by-number, and often does needle punch. She is also an avid bicyclist and enjoys both road and trail rides.

Travel beyond where her bike can take her is also part of her routine. “One of my favorite places to travel is to see the shows and dine in Las Vegas, Nevada,” Bishop Williamston says. “I like the area because the weather is warm, and it is a place where I can see the potential for ministry. I also enjoy the beauty of being outdoors to recharge my batteries.”

Bishop Williamston would also love to travel further afield when time permits. Ghana, Cape Town, New Zealand, Japan, San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle on her bucket list. A cruise on the Danube is also tempting.

Family is always on her heart. Bishop Williamston loves seeing her son and his family (he has 5 children plus 2 bonus kids) who live in Kansas. Her maternal family still lives in Kansas while her paternal family (distant relatives) are in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She has one maternal brother and 5 paternal siblings (3 are deceased and the 2 others live in the Chicago area). 

    These days Bishop Williamston’s constant companion is Odin, her canine buddy — the Episcopal Pup. Odin is a 4-year-old Shin Tzu, and he travels with her to attend church. His favorite hangout, according to Bishop Williamston, is Dogtopia where he has lots of playmates.

Thoughts Turn Toward Tomorrow

  Bishop Williamston believes that the biggest challenge of pastoral ministry today is how to continue to provide a substantive presence for the congregation amidst constant change. The pandemic created deep changes in how churches could reach out. “We have had to learn how to build meaningful relationships when fewer people have real-life conversations and texting hides or misconstrues our emotions,” Bishop Williamston says. “Regardless of your generation, the digital universe challenges us all to continue to learn, adapt, and grow in how we reach people, especially for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Bishop Williamston credits the many mentors during her life for her success, and she is grateful for their guidance and support. Some of them are still living, while others have passed away. “I can still hear all of them saying to me the same advice,” Bishop Williamston says. “They said, ‘Be you. You cannot be anyone else and succeed. Be authentic and genuinely who you are. That is what you have to offer’.” She has never wavered from that advice.

Through the years, Bishop Williamston has received a number of awards that reflect her service and leadership qualities. In the Guard she was awarded the Excellence in Government Accounting for the United States Property and Fiscal Office. In seminary she won the Whalen Blackman Award from the former Kansas East Conference. Bishop Williamston was named Distinguished Alumnus of Saint Paul School of Theology in 2024.

Today Bishop Williamston has many responsibilities as Bishop and handles them all well. She is an episcopal leader in the United Methodist Church. In that role, she serves as a chief shepherd of congregations, laity, and clergy who serve in the United Methodist Church. “My words, thoughts, perspectives, life stories, experiences, and interactions all matter even more when I share in preaching, teaching, and leading in the community. People are listening, watching, observing, wondering, hoping that this episcopal leader is authentic, genuine, and has some real gumption,” she says with a smile. “As United Methodist bishops, we serve as shepherds of the whole denomination of the United Methodist Church, though we may have one or more episcopal areas. So what we do, say, and how we lead as a Council of Bishops matters in the United Methodist denomination.”

Among the responsibilities that Bishop Williamston is most involved in is as a member of the board of Strengthen the Black Church for the 21st Century. According to Bishop Williamston, this organization works to “. . . strengthen Black congregations that will transform communities through leadership development, and discipleship-making systems, revitalization, and real-time social justice ministry.”

Bishop Williamston is also the president of the board for the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women of the United Methodist Church,  and she serves as the Council of Bishops Liaison to the Disabilities Committee of the Unite Methodist Church, The Association of Ministers with Disabilities, The United Methodist Congress of the Deaf and The Death and Hard of Hearing ministry of the United Methodist Church, and works to ensure that advocacy is happening for these ministries in the United Methodist Church. Certainly, Bishop Williamston’s personal life experiences have made her imminently qualified to speak to these challenges in the broader Church and congregations.

When asked recently what her favorite Bible verse was, Bishop Williamston responded that she had several that encourage her. One is Psalm 27:1 – “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid”? The other is Isaiah 41:13 – “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” Both are important reminders for us all.