"I resisted the calling to become a priest for a long time," says the Rev. Andrew Williams, rector of Trinity, Ware, and St. Mary's, Palmer, as he begins describing his spiritual journey.

As a student of economics, business and computer programming, Andrew hoped to become a financial planner and make lots of money very quickly. Half way through college, he said he had a moment of clarity. "I came to an appreciation," he explains. "I realized that I had been ungrateful and that I was not paying attention to the world around me. I understood that the Bible was not just stories of things that happened to other people in history; I understood that it was the story of my life and of the lives of everyone in the world."

After graduation, Andrew decided to go to seminary. "I have the ultimate goal to become an Army chaplain," he says. Attending seminary in Virginia, Andrew met his wife, Jill. "She grew up in Massachusetts, and I grew up in Virginia," he says. "We decided to start looking for parishes in either of our home dioceses when we graduated from the seminary."

The deciding factor was his visit to the parishes in which he now preaches. "These parishes really called to me," he explains. "I had a feeling that God was going to do something wonderful with these parishes, something I wanted to help with."

As a first time rector working with two parishes, Andrew is finding that there are challenges, including the fact that he is now in charge of all final decisions, from liturgical to administrative, at the churches, something he has never experienced before.

"My hope is that, as I grow in these ways and as I form friendships in my parishes, I can bring certain things to my parishioners, including an increased joy of the world and of God," he says. "I want them to appreciate that He is not just a God of Sundays, but a God of everyday."

-by Rebecca Schneider