The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon has been Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina since 1984. He preaches each Sunday in the Duke Chapel at the center of Duke's campus and directs the program of campus ministry there. He also serves as a professor in the Duke Divinity School as well as teaching his popular courses in Duke's undergraduate curriculum.

Dr. Willimon is a graduate of Wofford College (B.A., 1968), Yale Divinity School (M. Div., 1971) and Emory University (S.T.D., 1973). He has served as pastor of churches in Georgia and South Carolina. For four years, beginning in 1976, he served as Assistant Professor of Liturgy and Worship at Duke Divinity School, teaching courses in liturgics and homiletics and serving as Director of the Ministerial Course of Study School at Duke, and Presiding Minister in the Divinity School Chapel. When he returned to the parish ministry in 1980, he was Visiting Associate Professor of Liturgy and Worship at Duke for three years. He has been awarded honorary degrees from Westminster College (DD, 1990), Wofford College (D. Hum. L., 1994), Lehigh University (D. Litt., 1995), Campbell University (DD, 1997), Lafayette College (DD, 1999), Colgate University (DD, 2000) and Centre College (DD, 2001). In 1992 he was named as the first Distinguished Alumnus of Yale Divinity School.

He is the author of over fifty books. His Worship As Pastoral Care was selected as one of the ten mostuseful books for pastors in 1979 by the Academy of Parish Clergy. Over a million copies of his books have been sold. In 1996, an international survey conducted by Baylor University named him one of the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English speaking world.

His articles have appeared in many publications including The Christian Ministry, Quarterly Review, Liturgy, Worship, and Christianity Today. He is Editor-at-Large for The Christian Century. He has served as Editor and Expositor (with his wife, Patricia) for Abingdon's International Lesson Annual. He has written curriculum materials and video for youth, young adults, and adults. His Pulpit Resource is used each week by over eight thousand pastors in the USA, Canada, and Australia.

Dr. Willimon has given lectures and taught courses at many pastors' schools and at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. These include the Belden Lectures at Harvard as well as lectureships at Princeton, Vanderbilt, Pepperdine, and Oxford. In 1998, he served on the theological faculty of the University of Bonn, Germany and in 1991 he was Distinguished Guest Professor at the University of Muenster, Germany.

He has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Wofford College; Chairperson of the University Council Committee for the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale; and on the Board of Overseers for Memorial Church, Harvard University, and the Board of Christ School in Arden, NC. He serves on the editorial boards of The Christian Century, The Christian Ministry, Pulpit Digest, Preaching, The Wittenburg Door, and Leadership. He is married to Patricia Parker. The Willimons have two adult children: William Parker and Harriet Patricia.