Molly Williams

Molly Williams, lay delegate from the West Plains Annual Conference, reflects on how God has guided her life and prepared her for leadership in unexpected ways.

My name is Molly Williams, and I was honored to be a lay delegate from the West Plains Annual Conference at the convening General Conference of the Global Methodist Church. I was an unknown person in the West Plains Conference and the fact that I was even elected was remarkable. God has done so much in my life to prepare me for General Conference and I sense that it is just the beginning of what He is doing (both in my life and in the Global Methodist Church).

It has been clear that the Lord has been orchestrating things my entire life. Through the Lord’s provision, I started working at a Christian camp in New Mexico following my graduation from Asbury University. I worked there full-time for nearly nine years in which time my husband, Chad, and I had our four beautiful daughters. Chad was the stay-at-home dad during that time while I worked in the office of the camp. The camp was an hour away from the town we would go to for groceries, church, and doctor’s appointments. While that wasn’t typically a problem for us, it became problematic when I got pregnant with my third daughter and had concerns about my ability to make it to the hospital before she was born. That was early in 2021 and since Covid was still a big deal at the time, staying in town with friends wasn’t an option. The hospital would not allow me to be induced before 39 weeks unless medically necessary, so I just had to wait for the baby to be born and trust that God would take care of us. We spent a few nights in a hotel, but that became old and expensive, so we decided to trust God and go back to camp. I spent many nights in tears praying that God would get me to the hospital on time and that my daughter, Maggie, would be safe and healthy.

God, in His wisdom, answered part, but not all, of that prayer. When I was 38 weeks, I went into labor and left for the hospital within minutes. We were about halfway there when Maggie was born in the car! I praise God that we were both healthy. Because my husband was (understandably) speeding, he was stopped by a policeman who ended up following us. After Maggie was born, the cop was able to get an ambulance to meet us on the side of the road within a few minutes.

When I became pregnant with baby number four, I was determined not to repeat the adventure I had with Maggie. Our pastor, Kelly, and his wife were close friends and agreed to let us stay with them while we waited for the birth of our daughter. My labor with Rebekah ended up being longer than any other labor, but God used the 2.5 weeks we lived with our pastor to deepen our friendship with him and his family and give us some much-needed rest before the baby was born.

A few months after Rebekah was born, we started to feel a call to leave the camp. Many factors played into our decision, but we were ultimately pushed into action by our strong desire to ensure our daughters grew up actively involved in the church. The nature and location of my job at camp meant that we could only attend church every other week at best. I started to resent my job when I had to work in the office on Sunday mornings. My husband has a degree in Youth Ministry, so he decided to apply for the youth director position at our church which had been vacant for a few months.

We prayerfully approached this decision after seeking advice from Kelly and other trusted friends. Chad was offered the job that fall, and he agreed to start part-time in December while I wrapped things up at the camp and then in April, after the church voted to disaffiliate from the UMC and join the GMC, he transitioned to full-time, and we moved to Alamogordo where the church was located.

When all this was happening, I accepted the fact that I would have to put my career on hold so I could support my husband and do what was necessary to raise my children in the church. When Chad first accepted the job, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I felt God telling me to wait on Him. Early in this process I learned that the Treasurer of the church was thinking about retiring and she even told Kelly that she would retire the next day if I wanted that job. I initially rejected the idea because the job was only two days a week and I knew I would quickly get bored. I finally decided to apply for the job, but I was brutally honest in my interview about my concerns about my satisfaction in that role. In April I started my part-time job. Just as I anticipated, I was unhappy only working two days a week, but God knows my heart and provided for me. Shortly after I started my new job, the pastor at a GMC church in a neighboring committee asked if I would be willing to be their Financial Secretary one-day a week. And because God is gracious and kind, the current Administrative Assistant at that church is my former boss from the camp and a dear friend. She also happens to be Kelly’s mom!

A few months later I started to get bored again, and I found myself wishing I could work more than two days a week at my main church. I thought I was just being selfish and unhappy with my circumstances,

but when our Music Director quit unexpectedly less than a week later, I realized that the feeling was God preparing my heart for more. Kelly asked if I wanted to increase my hours so I could handle the worship arts administrative tasks, and it was an easy “yes”! I was then working four days a week between the two churches, and I was much more content with my career.

In February of this year, Kelly came into my office and told me he wanted to talk to me about something “church-related, but not job-related”. Unsure of what that meant, I sat down to listen to what he had to say. Kelly encouraged me to put my name forward as a potential delegate to the convening General Conference. I knew about the upcoming conference, and I was very interested in it, but before that moment, I had not considered the possibility of being a delegate. I felt far from qualified and I was fairly unknown within the West Plains Conference. I went home to discuss the possibility with Chad, and with his blessing, I self-nominated for the position. I was shocked when I was elected to be a delegate in April!

Once I started attending delegation meetings, I felt overwhelmed and underqualified. I listened as brilliant people had elegant ideas of what the episcopacy should look like, and I realized how unprepared I was to be in that discussion. I was honored just to be with such incredible people, so I sat quietly and learned as much as possible. I was prepared to go to General Conference and quietly vote my conscience while those around me voiced their opinions. When it came time to give our top three legislative committee choices, I knew I wanted to be on the Finance Committee because of my accounting degree and my experience handling finances for two Global Methodist Churches. Other than that, I was open to any committee except the Episcopacy and Superintendency Committee, as it focused on the role and election of Bishops, an area where I felt others were more qualified. Naturally, I was placed on that very committee, leaving me questioning God’s plan and feeling nervous about my effectiveness in that environment.

Prior to our first committee meeting, our West Plains delegation head, Ron, wisely warned us not to agree to be secretary of our committees because it is a very demanding job. I took that to heart and went into the first meeting determined to elect someone else to that role. As we were electing the chair and vice-chair, I felt a stirring in my heart to be secretary, but I wasn’t confident about it and didn’t particularly want the responsibility. I prayed and told God that if He wanted me to do it, He could make it happen and I would follow, but I was not going to actively pursue that position. Shortly after I finished praying, a complete stranger nominated me to be secretary, and I (reluctantly) agreed. Since I was the only person crazy enough to agree to it, I was unanimously elected. Again, I was left asking God what He was doing.

Upon arriving in Costa Rica, it quickly became evident that God had placed me in that role for a purpose. The work was demanding, just as Ron had warned, but it was the type of work that I am good at, and I enjoyed every moment of it. Listening to everyone else in the committee enriched me, and I now possess a deeper understanding of the episcopacy than I ever imagined. God used my talents to allow me to play a small leadership role in this historic moment of the church. I am still amazed at how everything worked out; when I agreed to be a delegate, I could not have imagined all that the Lord was planning to do through me.

One of the other delegates from the West Plains Conference, Bill, is Kelly’s dad and was the Director of the camp most of the time I was there. He was also placed on the Episcopacy committee, even though it was not one of his top three choices, which ended up being a huge blessing because I had someone to walk back to the hotel with after our late nights. I often felt like he was my “babysitter” because he so patiently waited for me to finish my work each evening. Spending 10 days with him has been an additional blessing from God. God keeps putting that family in my life and I am incredibly grateful for the influence they continue to have on me and my family.

I have sensed a calling to be more involved with the Global Methodist Church for a while now. I have been trying to discern if that means I need to be more involved at the local church, annual conference, or general church level. There were several moments during worship at General Conference where I sensed God asking me to follow Him, wherever He may lead, and I made a commitment to do that. I’ve had multiple people in my life tell me that they believe I will be more of a leader in the Global Methodist Church as time goes on. I’m still unsure about what is ahead of me, but I intend to follow through with the commitment I made to God at General Conference. When my pastor approached me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to preach one Sunday in February, my answer was an immediate “no” because that is far outside of my comfort zone. But as I was lying in bed one night, God reminded me of my commitment, and I told my pastor the next morning that I am willing to do it.

I’m still unsure about my future career plans, but I have seen God work things out in my life that didn’t make any sense until I followed for a while and then looked back at all that He had done. I trust that by the time the next General Conference is here, there will be so much more about my life within the GMC to share. I am excited to see what the future holds!

God has been so faithful to me. There have been two different times in my life when a stranger found me and told me that they felt God telling them I was going to do great things in my life. Once was when I was in high school, and the other time was at Annual Conference in 2023. I left both of those encounters wondering if it was true and what I could possibly do that would cause a stranger to tell me that. I still don’t feel like I’ve done great things, but I sense that God is up to something big in my life and in the life of the Global Methodist Church. I am honored to be a part of such a spirit-filled movement!