“Legacy of Leadership” with Bill McAlilly
Show Notes:
This episode is a special conversation between a father and son, two pastors in different eras of their ministerial careers. Chris is joined by his father (but not by Eddie), retired Bishop Bill McAlilly, to talk about Bill’s faith journey, his growth as a pastoral leader, and how he created and equipped leaders in his many congregations.
Bill is a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church. He served as bishop for 12 years, covering the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Religion at Millsaps College, his Master of Divinity at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Bill served in a variety of roles in many different churches and ministry settings throughout his 43 year career, and now he’s sharing his wisdom and experiences with The Weight.
Resources:
Learn more about Bill at billmcalilly.com
Follow Bill on Facebook
Listen to Bill’s previous episode on The Weight
Transcript:
Chris McAlilly 00:00
[INTRO] Leadership today demands more than technical expertise. It requires deep wisdom to
navigate the complexity of a turbulent world, courage to reimagine broken systems, and
unwarranted hope to inspire durable change.
Eddie Rester 00:22
As Christ-centered leaders in churches, non profits, the academy, and the marketplace, we all
carry the weight of cultivating communities that reflect God's kingdom in a fragmented world.
Chris McAlilly 00:33
But this weight wasn't meant to be carried alone. The Christian tradition offers us centuries of
wisdom if we have the humility to listen and learn from diverse voices.
Eddie Rester 00:43
That's why The Weight exists, to create space for the conversations that challenge our
assumptions, deepen our thinking, and renew our spiritual imagination.
Chris McAlilly 00:52
Faithful leadership in our time requires both conviction and curiosity, rootedness in tradition
and responsiveness to a changing world.
Eddie Rester 01:01
So whether you're leading a congregation, raising a family, teaching students, running a non
profit, or bringing faith into your business, join us as we explore the depth and richness of
Christ-centered leadership today. Welcome to The Weight. [END INTRO]
Chris McAlilly 01:17
I'm Chris McAlilly.
Bill McAlilly 01:18
And I'm Bill McAlilly.
Chris McAlilly 01:19
Welcome to The Weight. Today we have kicked Eddie Rester out of the room. Dad, how do you
feel about that?
Bill McAlilly 01:24
Really happy about that today.
Chris McAlilly 01:26
[LAUGHTER] I think everyone else will be happy about that, too. I'm here today with my father,
the Reverend, the Bishop Bill McAlilly, who has served for many years in the United Methodist
Church, basically at every level of the church. And we're here today. I'm excited to have an
opportunity in this format, to have a conversation about ministry and about leadership. We've
never really done this before.
Bill McAlilly 01:55
We have not.
Chris McAlilly 01:56
But I want to go back and talk about life as well, and faith, and maybe here, at the end of your
formal ministry, as you've, in the last few months, entered into retirement, maybe take this
opportunity to explore your story. And I'm really excited about the opportunity to do that. So I
want to maybe start by going back to the beginning, and maybe for folks who don't know your
story, where were you born?
Bill McAlilly 02:33
I was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Elvis Presley and I were born in the same hospital, but not at
the same time.
Chris McAlilly 02:41
What year was that?
Bill McAlilly 02:42
That was 1956. June 8, 1956.
Chris McAlilly 02:47
1956. And you're, you were born into a preacher's family, a pastor's family.
Bill McAlilly 02:54
My dad was serving the Sherman charge, which had about four churches on it, and I came
home to the parsonage at Sherman United Methodist Church.
Chris McAlilly 03:08
Tell folks a little bit about your parents, where they're from, and that part of your life.
Bill McAlilly 03:14
Sure, sure. Yeah. My father was born in Winston County, Mississippi. Grew up on a farm out
from Louisville, and my mother grew up in Union County in the Pinedale area, and my dad
came as a student pastor to a charge that my mother was a part of when she was a young
woman. And they met, and pretty soon after they met, they were married, and he finished his
undergraduate work at Ole Miss and then they journeyed over to Emory University at Candler
School of Theology, and were there for three years, and then came on back to Mississippi.
Chris McAlilly 03:57
What was it like growing up as a preacher's kid?
Bill McAlilly 03:59
I thought it was a great life, the way we lived in places like Bruce and West Point and Fulton,
Mississippi. And then when I was in junior high, we moved to New Albany, and so we we lived in
about a 50 mile radius around Tupelo, Mississippi. And it was a great life.
Chris McAlilly 04:22
Give me a memory from your childhood that you remember, just something from the journey
along the way.
Bill McAlilly 04:29
We lived in West Point. My dad was church planter. Planted Christ Methodist Church, and so I
remember the construction of that building, and I remember, then we moved to Fulton, and
there we again, were in another construction project and built the sanctuary at Fulton. And so
we had great fun. My brother and I, my brother Steve and I enjoyed playing in the construction
site. And then our neighborhood, we had a great neighborhood, great friends.
Bill McAlilly 05:03
And I remember one of the distinct memories I have in Fulton was every Sunday night. We still
had Sunday night church back in those days, and my dad would call on some of the young
people to offer the evening prayer, and we were all grabbing the "Upper Room" before church
to make sure if he called on us, we'd have a prayer to pray.
Chris McAlilly 05:26
That's great. I wonder what, what did you in observing his leadership as you reflect back as a
kid, just kind of watching your father in that in that role. What are some of the lessons that you
learned, good, bad or otherwise?
Bill McAlilly 05:46
My father is what I would have would call a practical theologian. He didn't have much use for
theology if he couldn't put it to some good use in the local church. And he was very committed
to the local church, and he was, he was always visiting, always reaching people who had not
made a connection to the church or to Christ. And he prided himself in growing the Sunday
School attendance and membership attendance in every place he served. And he treated every
person as a person of worth, regardless of whether they were the the most prominent person in
the community or the person that was in the greatest need. And I learned a lot about how to be
with people of all walks of life from him.
Chris McAlilly 06:39
He was funny. That's one of the things that I remember about him, and that was a part of his
ministry. And so, one of the jokes that somebody along the way told me is that he asked, you
know, Mississippi, we have a lot of kudzu and one time he went around said, how do you get rid
of Mississippi kudzu? And the punch line was...
Bill McAlilly 07:10
Sprinkled Jack Daniels on it, and the Baptists will eat it down to the root.
Chris McAlilly 07:14
Which is funny, and it says a lot about him. One, he wanted to be known, I think, as a human
being first. And I see that in you as well. That's been something that I think you've valued in
ministry, is not the pastor is set apart from the community, but a member of the community
and was a part of kind of the way that you approach things.
Chris McAlilly 07:38
I also think it says something about where Granddaddy grew up, you know. I think he grew up
in kind of a Mississippi dirt farm, in a community where there weren't a lot of religious options.
Bill McAlilly 07:50
Right.
Chris McAlilly 07:51
But one of the... He had a distinct... He wanted to distinguish himself from a kind of
fundamentalist, uneducated, I mean, in his mind, brand of of Christianity that I think he would
describe as perhaps narrow minded.
Bill McAlilly 08:12
Yeah, that's right.
Chris McAlilly 08:15
He, you know, he discovered in Methodism, a tradition that was, perhaps, that valued and
educated clergy, that valued... I mean, he took with great pride going to Emory University and
getting a master's degree and that was, that's a part of the family story as well, and your
trajectory, too. I wonder just, I'd like to maybe, how did your faith develop through time? Is
there some distinct memories as you were becoming a person of faith in the church, either in
elementary school, or even as you moved to New Albany and got into high school? What are
some of the memories that are of your faith formation?
Bill McAlilly 08:59
Yeah, well, I remember my third grade Sunday School teacher, Miss Ann Gibbs, probably most
prominently. She, I'm sorry, Miss Ann Stubblefield. She was a Gibbs. She was, she married
Malcolm and was Ann Stubblefield. And many people across North Mississippi will remember
the Stubblefields. And she was always a prominent member, a friend of our family, and she was
very faithful in her walk with Christ. And then later, as I grew a little bit older, my boy scout
master was Billy Bonds McElroy, who was also a member of the church, and I began to see
these adults in my life who were also faithful church members and Christians in their daily walk.
Bill McAlilly 09:50
When I was 13, eight going into the eighth grade, we moved from Fulton to New Albany, and
there, that was a very profound moment in my life, in that I was in a new place and trying to
find my way as a teenager, and the church became the centerpiece of my life. And I remember
very well Joanne Jernigan was one of our MYF leaders, and Joanne sort of took me under her
wing when I was an eighth grader. And then there was a family in the church who were older,
but were very, very faithful people, Clyde and Mary Hall, and they were friends with my father,
and we would, on Sunday nights, go up to their home after church and visit. And they were
very instrumental. Mrs. Mary, at the ripe old age of 85, took over the the MYF one year because
no one else was willing to do so.
Chris McAlilly 10:56
So there was an 85-year-old woman who was leading the youth group. That's amazing.
Bill McAlilly 11:01
Yeah, and so, you know what I like to say is, there's no excuse. There's no retirement in the
Christian faith.
Bill McAlilly 11:09
That's fantastic.
Bill McAlilly 11:10
But you know, you begin to see their footprint across North Mississippi: Camp Lake Stephens,
Wood College back in the day.
Bill McAlilly 11:18
For those that don't know what's Camp Lake Stephens?
Bill McAlilly 11:20
Camp Lake Stephens is our conference camp in Oxford, where that you know, I can't talk about
my faith journey without talking about having started going to camp when I was eight years
old, until I graduated from high school, and then later spent two years summers working there
as a college student. And it was probably there that my call to ministry, my understanding of
Christianity, my walk with Christ, found its its footing and its purpose.
Chris McAlilly 11:51
I think that there are camp people and those that don't understand camp, you know? I mean,
just in general, that I've observed that we grew up going to camp. Some people don't. So I
wonder, maybe talk about that. How did your faith find its footing in a camp environment?
Bill McAlilly 12:07
Well, in those days, you know, there was some very intentional faith formation going things
going on in the out of doors. You were being exposed to nature, and you were reflecting on the
way God was seen in nature. And then as a teenager, we had a very active conference youth
ministry, and Ed Woodall was our conference youth leader. And we had two retreats every year,
one in the fall and one in the spring. And if the doors were open, we were going to be there.
And then my the summer of my before my senior in high school, senior high camp, my lifelong
friend John Moore was my camp counselor, and John... And David Carroll, who was also a
lifelong friend who also was United Methodist clergy and I were cabin mates in John's cabin.
Bill McAlilly 13:04
And it was John who one night the last, I think it was the last night of camp, actually, he said to
me, "Bill, I wonder if you and David have begun to reflect on the fact that God may be calling
you all to full time Christian ministry?" And that sort of set me on a trajectory of reflecting and
praying about that. My senior year, we came home from camp that summer, and one of my
friends, Jane Massey, and I started a Bible study in her backyard before school started on one
week night, and that kind of shaped my early opportunity for leadership in the church.
Chris McAlilly 13:49
You had other roles in high school in terms of, you know, I think about football. I think about
sports as something that shaped you significantly and into college. I wonder if maybe, what did
you gain from the experience of playing football?
Bill McAlilly 14:10
Well, that's a great question. A lot of hard work, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, a lot of
disappointment at times, frustration, but also a drive to succeed. I was a bit competitive.
Perhaps you gained your competitve edge out of your own family of origin. I was not early, very
successful in sports. I had to work very hard to have an opportunity to be one of the key
players on the team. And I did eventually become one of those, and then had the opportunity
to go on to college, played Division Three ball at Millsaps. And again, that was learning
persistence, hard work, and hard work pays off and but also the value of the team. I've got
friends that I played ball with at Millsaps who also are very faithful Christians, and we are still in
touch today.
Chris McAlilly 15:26
Yeah, that's great. I think that sports, it both gives you an opportunity to learn about kind of full
body formation, you know, and in a community, and, you know, you have individual and group
dynamics, and, yeah, there's opportunity for success and failure, and you learn how to fail and
and that not be the end of the world. You learn how to work hard and have opportunities for
success. I think all of that is, you know, a part of your experience. One thing I wanted to pick a
thread that I think is there, that I think has continued through your life, is this kind of
entrepreneurial dimension of starting a lawnmower business. So I wanted to pick that up before
we get on to college and all.
Bill McAlilly 16:17
Yeah, so my brother and I started a lawnmower business when we were in Fulton. And we had
an ad in the newspaper, "Wanted: Yards to mow. None too large, none too small, and call this
number." And so Steve and I bought a Yazoo lawnmower. We borrowed $300 from the bank
when we were 10 and 11 years old. My dad co-signed, and we paid that off, and we made a
little money, and worked very hard, and we were glad when we were able to lay that down and
go do some other things.
Chris McAlilly 17:02
That was more something that you were encouraged to do than something you desired to do?
Bill McAlilly 17:06
Well, you know, my dad thought hard work was good for boys and kept us out of trouble.
Chris McAlilly 17:12
Do you think you... Are you grateful for that experience?
Bill McAlilly 17:15
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, we had a trailer we pulled our equipment on, and Mom
and Dad would drive the trailer to wherever we were mowing, drop the trailer. We'd go do the
yard, and then come back and get the trailer and take us to the next spot.
Chris McAlilly 17:27
What do you think you learned from that experience, just that stayed with you?
Bill McAlilly 17:33
Well, you know the funny, one of the funny things about that is my brother Steve always made
me go ask for the money after we had finished the work. And so I learned how to talk to people
and say, you know, "this is what we've done, and we're ready to be paid," and that kind of
thing. So I learned to be a businessman early on.
Chris McAlilly 17:53
Right.
Bill McAlilly 17:53
And so it was... Man, it was, you know, you could kind of work your own hours, work in the
morning, then go to the pool in the afternoon. So it was all good.
Chris McAlilly 18:04
What about, so you you go on to college. And what years were you in college?
Bill McAlilly 18:09
I was there at Millsaps from the fall of '74 till the spring of '78 graduated in 1978.
Chris McAlilly 18:18
So you're a preacher's kid, just pristine, you know, never gotten into trouble all the way
through? You were just perfect?
Bill McAlilly 18:24
Yes. I was a perfect person. Yes, never, never made any mistakes. Always in church.
Chris McAlilly 18:31
I remember you saying in a sermon one time that you drank enough beer to sink a small fishing
trip. Is that right?
Bill McAlilly 18:38
Fishing boat. That's probably a little bit of an exaggeration. I didn't really drink any beer till I
became a Kappa Sig at Millsaps.
Chris McAlilly 18:51
[LAUGHTER] What about, you know, I think... I wasn't in a fraternity. I played soccer for a
couple years and didn't join the Greek system, but a lot of people do. And I, you know, I think
for folks who don't, they kind of, you know, see from the outside that it's a very, very tight knit
community. And for the folks that go and pledge and are part of it, it becomes a really
important part of their identity and formation. What do you think is the value of that kind of
community for a kid in college?
Bill McAlilly 19:24
Well, it gives you a group identity, and it gives you a place to belong righ out of the gate. And
you're thrown into a mix of people that, you know, most of whom you don't know at the outset,
and you have to learn how to get along with folks, and some you might not like very much. And
yet you have rituals, and you have traditions, and you have things that bind you together. You
do hard work together, you do projects for the good of community together. And you know, it's
a lot of fun, a lot of laughter. Yeah, and there's a bond that gets created between young men at
an early, early age that generally sticks with you. I would say that, you know, there are a
couple of guys that that I'm still very close to who were in my fraternity.
Chris McAlilly 20:23
Did you have leadership roles in the fraternity?
Bill McAlilly 20:26
I was one of the officers and was involved in, probably early on, first couple of years, leading
some of the pledges and their training and that sort of thing. But I was, later I was what was in
Kappa Sig family was called the Grand Master of Ceremonies, which was the person that cared
for the ritual and the initiation ceremonies and so forth. So it's a little bit like being a pastor.
Chris McAlilly 20:57
I wonder, I want to move forward into, you know, some of the things that come. But I wonder,
before we move beyond your childhood and adolescence and your kind of early formation, I
wonder if there's a story of adversity or challenge. You know, I think we're shaped by the good
experiences in our life, but we also get shaped by some of the hard things. Is there some
adversity or some challenge that you had to overcome as a young person, that you think was
instrumental in shaping who you are and and what you went on to do?
Bill McAlilly 21:31
Yeah, that year, when we moved to Fulton in the eighth grade, was very difficult.
Chris McAlilly 21:39
When you went to New Albany.
Bill McAlilly 21:41
I'm sorry, New Albany. Yes, when we went to New Albany it was very difficult, and I was bullied
as an eighth grader by a guy named Harold who had maybe failed a year or two, and he was
more mature, older, larger boy, and made fun of me in the locker room and picked on me and
that sort of thing, and that really did begin to make me think about how I wanted to treat other
people. So I sort of made a commitment to myself that I would never be like Harold and that I
was always kind of looking out for the underdog and the guy that was picked on or left out. Or,
you know, I went in the lunch room and looked for the table where somebody was sitting by
themselves, and go sit with them, that kind of thing. So it really did probably more... That one
experience more than probably any other shaped my call to ministry.
Chris McAlilly 22:40
There was a guy, I think the other thing that I think about when I think about you telling stories
about your childhood is friendship. You know, I think that a consistent theme for you has always
been friends, friendship. Friends are really important to you. And you mentioned, I think his
name was Ricky. Tell me about Ricky. And then I also think that's part of one of the more
difficult things you had to deal with as you came into adulthood, was when you lost him as a
friend. Maybe tell your journey of friendship, because I think that, I just think that for adult men
in leadership of any kind, particularly Christian leadership, I think friendship is a really
important thing to cultivate, and you've done that well. Maybe tell the story of Ricky.
Bill McAlilly 23:29
Yeah, Ricky and I moved to New Albany the same year, the same summer, and so we were the
new kids on the block in eighth grade and on the football team and that sort of thing. And so
we naturally gravitated toward each other, and so we became best friends. He played on the
offensive line, as I did. He played one guard, I played the other, and we worked hard together
in the weight room and on the field and all of those things. We socialized together, double
dated together, all of those kind of things. And we just hung out together. He was faithful in his
church, in the Baptist Church, and I tried to be faithful in the Methodist Church. And we, we just
had a great, great friendship.
Bill McAlilly 24:18
He went to the Air Force Academy for a couple of years, and then later decided he did not want
to continue in that direction. And so he came home, went to Mississippi State, and I
reconnected with him, because Lynn was at Mississippi State, and we would go and see each
other then, and then I go off to seminary. He goes, comes back home. He was working
business. He was in the Mississippi Delta when I was serving in the Mississippi Delta. And so we
would see each other fairly often during those early years. And then, tragically, he was, at 28
died in a tragic automobile accident, and so there remains a lot of grief for us around the loss of
Ricky at an early age. And it was kind of the first real wake up call to me that, you know, life
doesn't last forever.
Chris McAlilly 25:15
Right.
Bill McAlilly 25:16
Yeah, so.
Chris McAlilly 25:20
Mom's big part of the story through all of this, you know? So you meet Lynn. You know, you
don't have to tell the full story of your relationship, but you know, when you were at Camp Lake
Stephens, you meet mom. That's the story. I'll tell the story because I've heard it before. So you
meet mom at Camp Lake Stephens. You guys become pen pals, or you wrote letters?
Bill McAlilly 25:42
Not really. She came to Fulton over Christmas holidays after I'd met her at camp that summer.
Chris McAlilly 25:48
Okay.
Bill McAlilly 25:48
That first, that Christmas of 1969 or so, or '68 I guess it was.
Chris McAlilly 25:54
To see a friend.
Bill McAlilly 25:56
See her friend, Natalie from camp, and then, lo and behold, the following June, we moved the
New Albany, ended up going to church with her.
Chris McAlilly 26:05
Yeah, there you go, so. And then you guys dated through high school. You end up asking her to
marry you at the end of college. And then you guys moved to Georgia, and you go to seminary,
and you know the person that you talk about a lot through the years is your mentor at
Gainesville. I wonder if you maybe tell the story of not just going to seminary, but particularly
your experience being formed and shaped at Gainesville. Yeah.
Bill McAlilly 26:35
So I believe in the providence of God probably stronger than any other doctrine that I have in
my faith journeys. And I say the providence of God has been kind to me as our faith journey
developed over time. We landed in New Albany, where I met my wife. I go to Millsaps. I end up
working in a church as a student, as a youth pastor at Broadmeadow, and that was a
providential moment. And then I'm home after I graduate, working, trying to save a little money
before I got married. And the summer after my senior year in college, I get a call from Jimmy
Thompson, who was senior pastor at Gainesville First United Methodist Church, and wants me
to come interview for a role on his staff. And like, Okay, why not?
Bill McAlilly 27:37
And so I go over there, and I'm over there for a weekend in late May, early June, and he offers
me the job. And Jim was like the most creative, dynamic leader I'd ever met. He's an excellent
preacher. He's an excellent administrator, program leader, and he took me under his wing. And
I would say that I learned as much at Gainesville First in three years as I learned in the three
years I was in seminary. I learned how to do church, how to lead a congregation. You can look
back on just about every church I served, and there's something that I learned in those three
years that showed up in my ministry along the way.
Bill McAlilly 28:31
Jim was deeply compassionate. He was very forgiving when I would make dumb rookie
mistakes. And he's just a prince of a human being, and we called him Big Jim. He was a big
man, but he was as kind and compassionate as any human being I've ever known.
Chris McAlilly 28:53
What are, beyond his kindness and compassion, his patience with you as a young leader, what
would you say are one or two things that stand out about his leadership, or just kind of
observing and kind of being apprenticed to him as a Christian leader?
Bill McAlilly 29:15
He had vision. He took a church that was a downtown church in Gainesville, Georgia, and
relocated the congregation from the center of town to the edge of town, and he had a vision to
buy property that was on Lake Lanier. So here you have this fabulous congregation that has a
dock on Lake Lanier that the kids can use every summer. They had a lakeside service.
Bill McAlilly 29:44
And he was a storyteller. He would write. He was very gifted as a writer, and he would always
write us a story at Christmas that was unique and tell that at the Christmas Eve story service.
But he also, he had a number, there were a number of us on staff, young associate types. And
he was very careful to make sure we had opportunity to learn and lead in our settings, although
he did not let us preach very often. He liked to preach. He did all the preaching.
Chris McAlilly 30:27
I want to shift in the second half of the conversation not to just your formation, but your
ministry. We talked about your life, a little bit about your faith, your formation. Perhaps, you
know, before we talk about... You could get... I don't want to get... We could talk for 30 minutes
to an hour about each specific place that you served. Maybe the first thing I would ask you to
do is just talk about your appointment. So just kind of quickly run through the places that you
served from the end of seminary until your retirement, and the number of years you served.
Bill McAlilly 31:06
Okay.
Chris McAlilly 31:07
Just kind of run through that real quick.
Bill McAlilly 31:08
Well, I came out of seminary, went back home.
Chris McAlilly 31:10
At what year?
Bill McAlilly 31:12
1981. And I was associate pastor at First United Methodist Church New Albany. So I was there
three years. You were born there. And then.
Chris McAlilly 31:23
I do not remember, but I have heard, yeah.
Bill McAlilly 31:25
You were. I remember. February 3. And so we had good time there. James Price was senior
minister, and we worked well together.
Chris McAlilly 31:36
You moved from there to Lambert.
Bill McAlilly 31:37
Lambert, Mississippi. We were there for two years, and I was asked at that time by BF Lee, who
was the district superintendent of the Senatobia District at the time, to plant a church in
DeSoto County. And the first time he asked me, I said, "No, I don't think so. I'm not sure I'm up
to that." And then he came back a few months later, and our spirit had been moved by the
possibility. And we revisited, and he invited me to be a church planter in 1984 and so we
moved to DeSoto County, Lynn, you and I.
Bill McAlilly 32:21
We were given the names of, oh, a dozen or so people who had expressed an earlier interest
through a survey that they might be interested in being a part of this church. I went back and
visited with all those people. None of them panned out to be interested in the new church, and
so I invited some of my friends to come up on a Saturday, and we did a canvassing of a couple
of neighborhoods, and we began to find folks that were willing to say, Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
And so in August, September, well, the Sunday after Labor Day, actually, in 1984, we had our
first service, and from that, the church grew.
Bill McAlilly 33:04
We built a building, and I was there four years. Church grew to about 400 members in four
years. And then my bishop, Bob Morgan, said, "I need you to move," and he said,
"I want you to go to Philadelphia, Mississippi," which was county seat church, and it was
not what I wanted to do. Was not interested. Thought it was a bad idea, and yet we went and
turned out to be a very positive experience. Great place for our family, great neighborhood for the
kids, for you and Laura, and we were there four years.
Bill McAlilly 33:42
Again, my bishop calls me and says, "I want you to go to St. Matthews in Madison," which I
wasn't terribly excited about that either, but we went, and the church had about 600 members,
and in six years we went from 600 to 1200, built a sanctuary. And and then, and I guess that
would have been in 2000, we were asked to go to Tupelo First Church, and it was going to be
your senior year. Laura was going to eighth grade. Seemed like a terrible time for my children,
but that was what was being asked of us, and we all agreed to do it. We went and had six good
years in Tupelo, and then Katrina hit.
Bill McAlilly 34:36
And at this point in time, our church in Tupelo had been invested in rebuilding the parsonage of
Bay St Louis after Katrina, and the bishop asked me to go and be the district superintendent of
the Seashore District after Katrina. So we did that, and spent six, six busy and hard years
helping the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast and our churches. And then in 2012 the Mississippi
Conference had nominated me to be an Episcopal candidate for the Southeastern Jurisdiction.
And so we go to Lake Junaluska in July of that year, and I was elected to the Episcopacy and
assigned to the Tennessee, Memphis area, National Episcopal Area, which was at that time, two
conferences. And during that time, we merged the two conferences over those 12 years. And
then I retired on September 1, 2024.
Chris McAlilly 35:42
How many years did you serve from the time you came back to Mississippi until you retired?
How many years was that?
Bill McAlilly 35:49
Let me see 2024, 1981, that's 43 years. 43 years.
Chris McAlilly 36:02
I have tons of questions, but I think one of them is, let's just talk decade by decade. In your first
decade of ministry, what do you remember about that time? What were you afraid of? What did
you hope for? You know, what lessons did you learn? Another way to say it would be, if
somebody's listening to this and they're in their first 10 years of ministry and they're struggling
to kind of navigate that time, what encouragement would you give? You can answer it either
way.
Bill McAlilly 36:39
Well, that was a different time, of course. And I would say, don't be afraid of being an associate.
You learn a lot. And then don't be afraid of launching out and following where the bishop sends,
because they they're looking out for you in your best interest and what's best for the church.
And I was, I was blessed. In 1984 when I was asked to plant a church I needed to risk and trust
God to hold me in a space of unknowing. And so part of that, part of that willingness to do that
was somewhat of a way for me to grow in my own faith journey. And it was a marvel. It was a
marvelous experience. And we made, we did hard, hard, hard, but also met some fabulous
people who were willing to be partners with us in ministry and join us in the journey.
Bill McAlilly 37:57
So, I think, and then I was young, very young, when I was asked to go to Philadelphia, and
there was a lot of question about was I really up to the task of this big church that they were
sending this young whippersnapper to. And that was a challenge, because it was so very
different from what we'd been doing in the new church, and it was a more established
congregation. And there were a lot of challenges staff wise. We had some real challenges there.
I had to learn quickly how to be a senior pastor with staff, and I had to be willing to ask people
who were seasoned ministers for help when I didn't know the answer. And so I would say, don't
be afraid to ask for help. Yeah,
Chris McAlilly 38:52
I love that. So, one, don't be afraid to take risks. There is an opportunity there to grow in faith
as you,"I needed to trust in God," you said. I think that's an incredibly important lesson. And
then when you get to a moment where you're stretched and you're facing challenges, don't be
afraid to ask for help. I think that's also really, really wise.
Chris McAlilly 39:17
Move to the second decade, you know, so at this point you would have been in ministry,
moving into St. Matthews probably. And that would have been kind of mid career.
Bill McAlilly 39:32
Yeah, I would have been 34 so, you know, St. Matthews was a relocated church that had moved
from the city of Jackson into the suburbs of Jackson to the Madison community, and it built a
building, and it was not a particularly attractive building. It was not very exciting place to look
at from the outside. And I followed a gentleman who was near retirement and beloved pastor,
and so I was essentially the second pastor in a new congregation, and they had hopes of
building a sanctuary, and it wasn't time to do that. And so I had to sort of temper their anxiety
or their expectation that I was going to come in and do that quickly.
Bill McAlilly 40:30
But we eventually did that, and I began to learn what it was to begin to move into midlife. And I
continued to find out how to deal with conflict in congregations and with staff and but yet, there
were people that I was able to have on my team that were... I brought, who is now one of my
dearest friends, Laura Owen, who was 10 years my senior, to be my associate. And so I was not
afraid of having people that were older, wiser, or smarter than me on my team. And so that was
a gift that I learned in that season.
Chris McAlilly 41:17
One of the things that I know just from knowing you, is that during that time you had some...
And I think this is just... I see this happen for folks in different vocational paths, especially when
you choose that path, when you're young, where there was kind of a, I don't know, like a fork in
the road, where you had different passions. You had different desires that you were exploring
one of those being the kind of pastoral counseling side of things. There were desires that you
had in that direction. And even, you know... I mean, talk about that, about kind of exploring,
here's one path. It's more of executive leadership and at scale, and then there's also kind of
this kind of pastoral care dimension. Just talk about how you navigated that, explored it, and
kind of where that led it.
Bill McAlilly 42:12
One of the one of the aspects of my ministry over time was that it seemed like people are
always showing up at my office door for counseling, and I somewhat had a natural affinity for
that. Didn't have much training in seminary, a little bit. Could have gotten more, didn't. And
yet, over the course of time, that seemed to keep happening. And so I was seriously
considering pursuing a Master's in counseling. Took a few courses and and yet couldn't quite
figure out whether I should put my hat on one side of the house or the other. And what I
learned was that, over the course of several years, that was just going to be part of who I am
and my ministry, and if I move too far in one direction or the other, the other vocation, whether
it was preaching or leading a church or counseling, one would pull me back to the center. So
what I learned, one of the great gifts of that season for me, was that the skill set that I acquired
in the counseling training served me extremely well as a leader and an executive in the church.
Chris McAlilly 43:41
If there's someone maybe in the second decade of of a career, and they're kind of at that point
where they're feeling stuck and they're struggling to determine, "maybe I screwed up at the
beginning and I charted out on a trajectory that is the wrong one," and they begin exploring
other other opportunities, or other passions and desires. I think that's incredibly normal. I think
it's a very regular part of of a person's vocational journey. What encouragement would you give
to folks who are navigating some of those questions? Have fears, have desires, have passions
and are trying to get unstuck?
Bill McAlilly 44:22
Good question. Be willing to explore and ask questions. Find somebody that you trust to talk to.
Don't be afraid to ask hard questions. Get back in touch with what brought you to the vocation
that you chose to start with. There obviously was a reason you chose that path and get back in
touch with, as we like to say, your first love. If you ultimately decide that you want to throw
your heart over the fence for something else, don't be afraid.
Chris McAlilly 45:06
I mean, that's a good word. So I guess now you're 25, 25 years into the into the gig, and you're
now in a senior pastor, role of a larger church, and moving into kind of more of a ultimately
larger scale, more management responsibilities. Talk about that part of your journey, kind of
the journey to Tupelo and away from Tupelo into kind of a management ,executive style role
over many churches.
Bill McAlilly 45:50
Um, yeah...
Chris McAlilly 45:54
What did you learn from that part of the the journey?
Bill McAlilly 45:58
Well, you know, Tupelo was was a fabulous place to be to learn, great music, great worship,
great team to work with. We didn't always get it right. We had a few hiccups along the way, but
ultimately, we were able to build a team that helped us move into some important places. I was
sent there at a time when they were in the end of a 10-year-long range planning season, and
they were at a decision making point about whether to execute the long range plan that had
been established and build a 30,000 square foot addition or or not. And I was, having just built
a building, a large building, in my prior appointment, I was not eager to bite that off again, and
so I was slow to engage in that. And finally, a person came to my office said,
"When are you going to do this?" And I thought, oh, I guess I better do it.
Bill McAlilly 47:09
And so we started. And you know, I learned a lot about management there, of dealing with
staff, large staff, and people coming, people leaving, recruiting new people, training new
people. But I was always thinking about Jim Thompson in the background, and what would Jim
people. But I was always thinking about Jim Thompson in the background, and what would Jim
do, and how would Jim lead this group of people, and what were the practices I learned back in
Gainesville, Georgia that would apply to Tupelo, because they were very similar churches. And
so that was a rewarding experience. It was challenging. We were, I think, faithful and fruitful.
And in those years we had, there were some huge challenges that, looking back, I wondered
how we got through them, but we did.
Bill McAlilly 48:15
Early in ministry, I never thought that I wanted to be a district superintendent. That was not
something that I was thinking on my horizon, that I really wanted to engage in, having seen my
dad do it, I just wasn't sure that was something I wanted in my wheelhouse. But after Hurricane
Katrina came and we had gone down there several times to help in the rebuild, I began to feel a
call, mostly to the rebuilding of the church on the Gulf Coast, and the only way to... And I
basically told the bishop. I said, if you need me in any capacity on the coast, I'm willing to
come. And she, Bishop Ward, Hope Morgan Ward asked me to be the district superintendent.
Bill McAlilly 49:07
We moved into a house that had five feet of flood waters, about 65% complete. So that within
of itself was a challenge and a commitment on my wife Lynn's part to be willing to join me in
that partnership. And there were people coming in from all over the country to be on work
teams. They were staying at our churches. It was hard work. It was not easy, but our pastors
were resilient, and some of them we helped relocate out of the Katrina zone, into other places
in the state, and that was a part of it. And then there were people that were willing to come and
join me in that rebuild.
Bill McAlilly 49:52
And I began to think I discovered I had a knack for that work. In particular, I had a knack for
appointment making and seeing the whole and where we could deploy leadership in our best
places. And that was kind of a fun part for me, and rewarding, and I was able to bless some
people who were pastors and gave them more experience, more opportunity to serve in a lot of
different places.
Chris McAlilly 50:24
I am recognizing we're kind of coming to the end of our time. And so I think what I'm going to
have to do is I want to have another one of these conversations that's just focused on your
Episcopal leadership, okay? And so we'll just have to put a pin in the hat and come back. I want
to explore that in a little bit greater detail, just because it's the most recent experience. But as
we're kind of wrapping up this, this section of conversation really about your your life, your
faith, your formation and your pastoral leadership in the local church, primarily, and then in
some management roles towards the end of your career, what are, if you had to distill, we
talked about several of them, but if you had to distill, what are two or three things that that you
think are through lines that served you well in your Christ-centered leadership and in your
pastoral ministry? What would you lift up?
Bill McAlilly 51:31
Local church is important, and if disciples are going to be made, they're going to be made the
local church not going to Annual Conference session or the General Conference session. People
matter, and people's lives are sometimes fragile. Always respect the stories of people that they
bring to the table and listen carefully for what they're telling you. You'll learn something. And
God is still at work. If the church wasn't, God wouldhave killed it a long time ago. And grace
abounds.
Chris McAlilly 52:22
I think those are good words. The one, the phrase that we talked about at the very beginning,
before we hit record, was a mission statement that came out of your church planting
experience,"offer Christ to a hurting world." Sometimes you'll say, "offer the hope of Jesus
Christ to a hurting world." And I've heard that phrase my entire life, and I think you know, as I
reflect on what I gained from getting to observe up close your leadership at every level, it's that
you've done that for people across the state of Mississippi and across the region. And I've
gotten to benefit from this long conversation that we've had about about life and faith and
ministry.
Chris McAlilly 53:19
In this context, I'm grateful for an opportunity to express my gratitude to you for all the ways in
which I've been shaped by you as a person and as a leader and as a pastor. Incredibly grateful
for that. And as you said earlier in the conversation, you don't retire from the kingdom of God,
and so you're still scheming up and thinking of ways to do that. What are you currently doing
right now? If somebody wanted to connect with you, what's your current work look like?
Bill McAlilly 53:59
I'm doing some coaching, executive coaching of leaders. I'm also doing some consulting with
congregations, helping them think about their mission, vision, and values and what their future
might look like. I have a little opportunity that I'm marinating on, as we say, creating a center
for pastoral formation that may come to fruition down the road, but primarily right now, I'm
coaching and consulting.
Chris McAlilly 54:29
If somebody was interested in connecting with you and maybe deepening their conversation, or
maybe kind of getting out of that unstuck place and conversation with you, where would they
find?
Bill McAlilly 54:39
You know, LinkedIn and Facebook, and you can find me, email me at billmcalilly.com.
Chris McAlilly 54:53
That sounds good. I'm grateful for the time today, Dad, and we'll have to come back another
time. I do, I want to explore what you learned as an Episcopal leader and in your work in
Tennessee and across the southeast and around the world, but for today, we'll set it down.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Thanks for the conversation, and as always, we're
grateful when Eddie's not on the podcast. So Eddie, thanks for not being here.
Bill McAlilly 55:25
Yeah, thank you. Eddie. Bless you.
Chris McAlilly 55:27
Thanks for being with us on The Weight.
Eddie Rester 55:31
[OUTRO] Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, the best way to help us is to like,
subscribe, or leave a review.
Chris McAlilly 55:37
If you would like to support this work financially, or if you have an idea for a future guest, you
can go to theweight podcast.com. [END OUTRO]