By Yvonne Kanyl, Student Writer
For Mitch Williams, how to connect to Christ as easily as we do to Wi-Fi is the fundamental question of his Power Pac talks at Union College this weekend. He’ll speak for Family Worship at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and both the 9:15 a.m. and noon services at College View Seventh-day Adventist Church on Sabbath.
“We are living in a time when everyone connects quite well through cyberspace,” said Williams, who pastors the Pleasant Hill Adventist Church in the San Francisco metro area. “It seems our primary relational connectivity is based mostly on whether we have strong Wi-Fi. But what if in our eagerness to connect with everyone, everywhere, we are missing the ultimate connection with the One who is always with us? How can we be sure to make Jesus our first and ultimate connection each and every day?”
As a self-termed “lukewarm” Christian most of his life, Williams never imagined that he would become a pastor. His parents joined the Adventist church when he was a child, and his father actually transitioned from being a sheet-metal worker to pastoring a church. Little did the younger Williams know that he would follow the same path.
He first earned a degree from Pacific Union College in business and marketing and co-founded a medical business that became the largest of its kind in the industry. He and his partner eventually sold the business, but for an extended period of time, Mitch said he was controlled by money. Then a higher power intervened and in 2004, God called him to full-time ministry. Williams will share his story as part of his talk at Family Worship on Friday evening.
Williams is a proud husband and father of four daughters ages eleven, fifteen, fifteen and twenty. “In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with all my women,” he remarked. “I also enjoy travel, history and running, but not like Jonah.”
He hopes his message will encourage students to connect to the spiritual WiFi. “I have seen first hand the power, miracles and influence of Jesus through prayer,” said Williams, based on his experience living life both with and without Christ. “I want to encourage Union College with the power of prayer!”