Biography for Pastor John McWilliams
Pastor John McWilliams is a graduate of Rowan University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in teaching and a graduate of Princeton Seminary where he earned his Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in preaching.
He pastored two different congregations for a total of 21 years. The first was in New Hampshire for 9 years and the second was in New York out on Long Island for 12 years.
In 1998 he heard God’s call into mission work full time. He and his wife Barbara moved to Florida and for the next 19 years the main focus of his work was that of training pastors, Christian leaders and laypeople in various parts of the world, as well as in the United States. During that time 17 years were spent on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ and 2 years on the staff of International Biblical Training. He and his wife Barbara now live in Alabama.
As part of his mission work he traveled often to train pastors and Christian leaders in nations where they had very little formal ministry training. His travels took him often to Russia and Costa Rica. He also traveled to do the same in Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, The Bahamas and most recently Cuba. On one special trip to Central America, he ministered among the indigenous Guaymi Indian Tribes in the Panamanian jungle. He was the first U. S. pastor ever invited to preach and teach among these tribes.
His 3 trips to Cuba were particularly fruitful as God provided opportunities for the ministry team to share The Gospel, even in public, which at the time was still illegal. These trips took place on a special religious visa before general travel between the U. S. and Cuba was permitted.
A number of his training seminars have been translated and recorded in Persian/Farsi for broadcast by Word of Hope Radio into closed countries in the Middle East for pastors and Christian leaders there to hear.
He has also regularly traveled throughout the United States, teaching and preaching in various cities and congregations.
He is the author of numerous published articles and a number of songs and hymns.
He is also the author of one of the most unique papers on the subject of same-sex relationships and Christianity. It’s called “Homosexuality: Blessing or Sin? The Facts Many Pro Same Sex Christians Are Keeping Very Quiet.”
If you go to PastorJohn500.blogspot.com you can see and read the paper which has been accessed thousands of times online.
In addition he also produced a Christian video with Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Robert Maxwell called “The Medal of Honor Robert Maxwell’s Story." At the time the video was shot, Bob was the oldest living recipient of The Congressional Medal of Honor in the country.
Bob threw himself on a live German hand grenade in Southern France to save three of his fellow soldiers. In the video you’ll see Bob’s love for his country, his love for his Savior and his tremendous courage and humility. The video was designed to be an encouragement to Christians as well as an evangelical tool Christians can use to share Christ with others as a full presentation of The Gospel is woven through the video. It can be viewed on this website by clicking on the "Sermons Teachings and Videos" tab or you can find it online by Googling the words "The Medal of Honor Robert Maxwell’s Story." The same words also find it on YouTube.
During his time in Florida, through the First Presbyterian Church of Naples he also organized a ministry called “Chainsaws For Jesus." He organized teams of men and women to go into two federal disaster areas to do free chainsaw work for people after two major hurricanes. They worked one full day a week for months providing this essential work for people.
He also did the same thing working with others to organize teams from St. Luke United Methodist Church in Columbus, Georgia. They did chainsaw work for folks hit by the March 3, 2019 EF-4 tornado that tore through Beauregard, Alabama, Smith Station, Alabama, North Columbus, Georgia and beyond.
Pastor John is also the author of two books. The first is entitled Balancing Your Faith and the most recent is entitled Off Course Christianity A Spiritual Wake Up Call
Pastor John enjoys playing tennis. He is a big Major League Baseball fan. He enjoys reading, target shooting and aviation and is himself a private pilot.
His wife Barbara taught Art and Bible for 34 years in Christian schools. They have three grown children, two sons and a daughter along with three young grandsons.