{"id":25537,"date":"2025-07-05T01:15:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T01:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=25537"},"modified":"2025-07-05T01:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T01:16:24","slug":"dewey-and-melissa-williard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/dewey-and-melissa-williard\/","title":{"rendered":"Dewey and Melissa Williard serve as Annual Conference onsite coordinators for the fifth time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onsite coordinator is not a thankless job, but it can be invisible. Each year\u2019s coordinators are listed in the Annual Conference booklet, and their work is celebrated by the Annual Conference director, and receives applause. But it is an essential and largely invisible task!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Dewey and Melissa Williard, the onsite coordinators for this year\u2019s Conference in Greensboro, agree that that the hardest part of the task is putting their teams together. <\/strong>The onsite coordinators are responsible for recruiting and directing the many local volunteers who make Conference possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And during the Conference they have to be ready to handle the unforeseen. It is an exacting and rewarding task, one they have performed five times. On one occasion the Conference they organized for never took place because of the pandemic. On another occasion, when San Diego canceled out on the Brethren with no warning, and the Conference was moved lock, stock, and barrel, to Greensboro, their work was squeezed into scant weeks instead of months and years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dewey and Melissa Williard. Photo by Glenn Riegel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

One thing has proved true throughout, as Dewey emphasized. Chris Douglas, the first Annual Conference director with whom they worked, assured them during their training, \u201cYou are going to see where God works in ways that people who just come to Conference may not.\u201d Time and again, they have seen God\u2019s hand in the way things worked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a team, the two bring different strengths to the process. \u201cDewey just knows a lot of people in the district. He knows who to call. He takes on that primary responsibility,\u201d said Melissa of her husband, who is an accountant. \u201cOnce we\u2019re here I can go around and see what people need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe has that educational background,\u201d Dewey responded. Melissa taught elementary education and was also a school principal. \u201cShe\u2019s always worked as a hospital volunteer, and also in customer service, so she has a lot of strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both have found that many people are ready to serve, as they pulled together their volunteer teams. \u201cThat was the beauty of the job, hearing people and what they enjoyed doing, and finding that good match.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dewey recalled that the first time they served he called 23 people to help with early childhood activities before he got a yes. But once they had a core team it was possible to get some to repeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melissa believes that the most stressful days are not during Conference, but in the preparation before it begins. Chris Douglas was always there to help, however, and since then, the current director Rhonda Pittman Gingrich \u201chas picked up and done the same. We\u2019ve always had help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the best volunteers weren\u2019t able to help the first time they were called. Dewey recalled, during the early days of the pandemic, a young woman who had just learned that her college graduation had been canceled, and it was unclear if she\u2019d be able to serve in Brethren Volunteer Service, who yet worried that if she didn\u2019t say yes to helping with Conference that year she\u2019d never have another opportunity. Dewey assured her that saying no on that occasion did not disqualify her. \u201cWhenever you are able to serve the church, the church will be ready for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Williards live in Winston-Salem, N.C., and belong to Fraternity Church of the Brethren. They have been married 31 years and have 2 adult children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been blessed,\u201d Dewey said about the onsite coordinator work. \u201cIt has been hard work, but we\u2019ve been so blessed. And that\u2019s the thing we take away every time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Frank Ramirez is a retired pastor and a volunteer on the Annual Conference Press Team.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n