Today we’d like to introduce you to William Givens.
Hi William, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am currently a black Pastor in the township of Buckhead, Atlanta. I grew up in Dublin, Georgia. Dublin is a small town of roughly 16,000 people in the southern part of the state. I currently live in Atlanta, GA, with my wife and our four children. Atlanta is the capital of our great state, and it is home to nearly one million people. With life slower than it has ever been over this past year, I have had the opportunity to reflect on my transition from rural South Georgia to the ever-increasing Atlanta, GA. In my reflections, I assessed 1990’s Dublin to be a small town with a lot of small-town thinkers. However, those small-town thinkers were full of big-time love. In stark contrast, there are a lot of big-city thinkers here in Atlanta, and they make a lot of big things happen. Unfortunately, here in the big city, there is a major shortage of love and compassion.
Since my move to Atlanta well over a decade ago, my aim has been to incorporate the best attributes from these two realities into my day-to-day living. In short, my goal is to be a big-city thinker with a lot of small-town love. The desire to fuse these two worlds together started when I began to travel internationally. On my first trip abroad, I began to notice that people were different from me: their culture was different, their language was different; their facial and body features were different; their thought patterns and behaviors were different… everything about them was different. None of these differences were good or bad; they were simply different. It was my immersion into these differences that forced me to love and think bigger. As my capacity to both love and think expanded, I knew that it was time for me to make a shift. My shift led me from the corporate world to seminary and then to Buckhead Life Church, where I presently serve as Senior Pastor.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have faced three consistent obstacles on my journey thus far: small thinking, race, and age. Others placed each of these three obstacles in front of me. The small thoughts placed in front of me by others were expressed through phrases like “that has never been done before,” “that dream is too big,” and “that is going to be too expensive.” The racial obstacles were expressed through more vivid phrases, like “Boy, I think it’s time we teach you a lesson,” “I don’t like you because you’re black,” and “I will not be at a place with a black man in leadership over me.” Additionally, phrases like “we need someone more seasoned” or “more educated” or “experienced” were also used to dissuade my personal progress. Though all of these obstacles were verbal in nature, I have learned that negative verbal expressions have the ability to produce mental impediments, and mental impediments can create physical inabilities.
That being said, the most difficult thing for me to overcome happened when I realized that the understood subject in each of the aforementioned phrases was “you.” I was always the understood subject. When the aforementioned statements were made, the authors were saying, “William, you have never done anything great before and that dream is too big and too expensive for you because you’re too black, you’re too young and you don’t have enough experience or education.” At times, these words were difficult to hear and hard to overcome. However, by the grace of God, I chose to receive my definition from the words of God rather than from the negative words and limiting thoughts of others. Most importantly, through the consistency of all of these obstacles, God has taught me how to love BIG, think BIG and forgive BIG.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a congregation, in March of 2020, we were forced to reimagine how we do church. Like many other churches, we went from small group gatherings to no group gatherings to virtual group gatherings. Though we now are having large group gatherings again, the initial months following March 2020 were difficult, and they placed a high demand on us to increase the usage of our creative thinking skills. A part of that creativity meant that we had to respond to the nationwide events that took place in our country during the Spring and Summer months of 2020 and address the mounting racial tension in our own community.
Our response included a Reconciliation Service. For this service, we invited racially diverse leaders of our community, like Alveda King and Thomas Hammond, to our church to join our efforts, to help us provide leadership to our collective communities and to cast a non-violent vision for the Reconciliation that we want in our world. The purpose of this service was to bring people together from different backgrounds and walks of life and to provide them with a safe space to forgive, heal and reconcile. We also gathered together to charge the Body of Christ to rise up, love and lead a non-violent change for good. In the times in which we live, there is a dire need for good leadership. Our Reconciliation Service was our first step of leadership. In an effort to continue taking steps in the necessary work of Reconciliation, in addition to Pastoring the people of Buckhead Life Church, we are taking this message of love and non-violent reconciliation on the road.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
My personal motto is impact culture, change the world. When I left Dublin, GA, all those years ago, the only thing I wanted to do was change the world. Over time, my desire to change the world has not changed; however, the need to see positive change in our world has drastically increased. I believe that through BIG love and BIG thinking, we can be the change that we want to see in our world. In order to see this change come into being, we must work together and learn to communicate our differences with respect for one another and with greater regard for human life and property. Non-violence is our only way to a brighter future. Non-violent, respectful communication and collaboration between two or more people or groups is possible; however, it is only possible when you and I make a decision to be the change that we want to see and then act accordingly.
If these words resonate with you, I invite you to join our peaceful, non-violent movement at www.heis.life. To find out more or to invite the movement to your church, community event or town hall meeting, log on to www.heis.life and click “invite the movement”. Additionally, if you would like to support the movement through prayer and financial partnership, or if you would like to volunteer at our next Refuse to Hate event, register online at www.heis.life. At HEIS, our singular focus is to see the Body of Christ unite together as One (John 17:21). If you believe in Reconciliation and you believe that it can be achieved non-violently, you are not alone; we are in this fight with you. Make the decision to join us today and we will update you on the Reconciliation progress being made, send you regular words of encouragement, and let you know about the latest events and merch available to you. Lastly, as you are going, remember to love BIG and think BIG and you will Impact Culture and Change your World.
Contact Info:
- Email: heisoneness@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.buckheadlife.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buckheadlifechurch/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buckheadlifechurch
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buckheadlifeatl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE28R3SAAcoMUPiudFTbhSA
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/buckheadlife
Image Credits
Surina Stone – Personal Photo Raeann Beckham – Additional Photos Stephen Raj – Logo
