Meet the Pastor

Meet the Pastor

Pastor Richard "Rick" Williams

Born on January 8th, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The son of Richard "Willi" and Ann Williams. He has one brother, Robert "Bob" and his wife Susan, currently of Dairyland, Wisconsin. The family moved frequently during Rick's early childhood until they settled in Bayfield, Wisconsin when he was in sixth grade. He graduated from Bayfield High School. Following High School, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he served for a little over 4 years, being discharged in 1978. He then worked for two years for the U.S. National Park Service in Little Sand Bay. In November of 1979 he became a fulltime firefighter/medic for the Ashland Fire Department. He left the department in 1997 as a Lieutenant/Paramedic and ran his own business, Superior Computer Service for several years before being hired as Information Technologies Director at Select Benefit Administrators. In 2002, he and his wife June started Eagle Administrators, a third party administrator for health insurance programs. Together they ran that company until 2013. While working at those jobs Rick also served in the Minnesota Air National Guard, retiring in 2002. He also attended extension classes from Concordia University Mequon and received the Church Workers Certificate following 3 years of classes. Rick and June became members of Zion Lutheran Church in 1997. Rick has held a number of positions in the congregation including president of the congregation and serving on the board of elders. Rick first served Zion in a ministerial capacity as a licensed lay deacon following the retirement of Pastor Larry Steckling and the vacancy service of Pastor Steve Hyvonen. In 2013, Zion Lutheran Church called Rick to service and asked him to become their SMP Pastor. Rick was accepted into the SMP program and became SMP vicar at Zion in September of 2013. He completed his studies through Concordia Seminary in St. Louis the summer of 2017. Rick married his wife June in 1997 and between them they have ten children, 26 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. Both Rick and June feel blessed to be able to live, serve and work with the people of Zion.