Our Pastor

Rev. Dr. Demetrius K. Williams
 

Dr. Demetrius K. Williams was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and comes from a tradition of Baptist ministers. Baptized as a youth, he made a public confession of Christ at age of eighteen. Receiving his call to ministry in 1981, licensed in 1982, and ordained in 1988, he has over 43 years of ministerial experience. He has served as senior pastor of the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Dorchester, MA and as interim pastor at the Beecher Memorial UCC church, New Orleans, LA. Returning to Milwaukee after the Katrina Hurricane, Dr. Williams served as Assistant Minister at Community Baptist Church of Greater Milwaukee (CBCGM) under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Roy B. Nabors, and in January of 2009 he was called as the second pastor in its history.
 
Dr. Williams received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Comparative Religion in 1986, a Master of Theological Studies (M.T.S.) in scripture and interpretation in 1988, and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in pastoral care and counseling and scripture and interpretation in 1990, both from Harvard Divinity School. He completed a Doctor of Theology degree (Th.D.) in New Testament and Christian Origins also from Harvard Divinity School in 1997.
 
Dr. Williams was formerly an Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies and Director of the Religious Studies Program at Tulane University, New Orleans, where he taught from 1996–2006. Since relocating to Milwaukee in 2006 after the Katrina hurricane, he has served as an Adjunct Professor in theology at Marquette University and as an Adjunct Professor at the Central Baptist Theological School in Elm Grove, WI. He currently teaches at UW-Milwaukee as an Associate Professor in the Global Studies Department (Comparative Literature program) and in the Religious Studies program.
 
Besides service to the faith community, Dr. Williams has written numerous articles in New Testament Studies and in African American Biblical Interpretation. His first book, “Enemies of the Cross of Christ”: The Terminology of the Cross and Conflict in Philippians, was published in 2002. His second book, affirming women in the preaching and pastoral ministries, “An End to This Strife: The Politics of Gender in African American Churches, was published in 2004. In 2012 he co-edited a volume titled, Onesimus Our Brother: Reading Religion, Race and Culture in Philemon, James A. Noel, Matthew V. Johnson & Demetrius K. Williams, editors. His latest publication is titled, The Cross of Christ in African American Christian Religious Experience: Piety, Politics and Protest (2023). He is currently working on his latest project, Black Preaching: White Backlash, Black Indifference—Hope for the Future (Orbis, 2026).
 
Dr. Williams is married to the former Robin R. Rucker, and they have two adult children –
Demetria “Taylor” and Demetrius “Kelvin” II.