Ivan L. Williams, Sr. is passionate about pastoral ministry and soul winning. He serves as the director of the Ministerial Department for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. The NAD ministerial team serves and supports more than 4,200 pastors and more than 100 ministerial directors and associates in Bermuda, Canada, the United States, and the Guam-Micronesia Mission. Prior to this, he served as the ministerial director for the Northern California Conference.

Williams was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 13, while working in an evangelistic meeting, Williams sensed God’s call to ministerial service through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In preparation for full-time ministry, he subsequently pursued educational training at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, where he graduated with degrees in Communications and Theology. He also graduated from Andrews University Theological Seminary, in Berrien Springs, Michigan, with a Master of Divinity degree, and from Claremont School of Theology, in Claremont, California, with a Doctor of Ministry degree. His project-dissertation dealt with pastoral burnout and renewal in Seventh-day Adventist ministry.

Williams’ pastoral ministry has spanned more than 24 years at many churches in the South Atlantic, Southeastern California, and Northern California Conferences. Dr. Williams serves on numerous boards and committees inside and outside of the Church striving to make a difference for Christ.

In addition to pastoral ministry, Williams also served eight years as a chaplain for the California State Assembly in Sacramento, California.  He currently serves as a United States Air Force Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) in the Maryland Air National Guard, and is the co-host of the “Ministry in Motion” broadcast which can be seen and heard on television and radio.

Williams enjoys family time, media and broadcasting, reading, preaching, barbering, athletics, sharing hope, and teaching people to live a balanced life through Jesus Christ. He has been able to be all he can be with the unconditional love and support of his Heavenly Father, his faithful wife Kathleen, and their two children, Imani, and Ivan, II.