Mel Williams, Pastor, is a native of Aberdeen, North Carolina. He completed his undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University before graduating from Yale Divinity School. He returned to North Carolina to accept a position as Associate Pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh (l969-79). Next followed an 8-year pastorate at Oakhurst Baptist Church, Decatur, Georgia (1980-88). In July 1988 he became pastor of Watts Street Baptist Church.

Mel's interests include peace and social justice. He, along with several other area pastors worked toward the establishment of the Walltown Neighborhood Ministries, Inc., a mission that seeks to address spiritual, physical, emotional, and economic needs for the people of the Walltown neighborhood. Mel is also a singer and shares his talent with Watts Street and the wider community. Mel is married to Jan, a clinical social worker. They have two young adult children, Jenna and Mark.

Diane Eubanks Hill, Associate Minister with Adults, graduated from Mars Hill College. She then completed the Master of Divinity program at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY., followed by a two-year residency in Clinical Pastoral Education at NC Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. Diane later earned a master's degree in counseling at East Carolina University. Joining the WSBC staff in 1992, Diane served as Minister with Children and their Families until June 2003 when she accepted responsibilities in adult ministries. Diane also has extensive experience as a public school counselor and as a college counselor. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor.

Diane's primary responsibility at WSBC is to encourage faith formation in adults by providing a variety of opportunities for growth, service, and community. She enjoys helping members, new and seasoned, find their places of service within the congregation and community. She also focuses a good bit of her ministry on strengthening the ties between the church and its senior adult members. In addition, Diane is available for pastoral counseling with WSBC individuals and families.

Diane is married to Dennis. They have two young adult children, Mary Elizabeth Hanchey, an attorney, and Andy Hill, a student at Appalachian State University.

Kelly Sasser, Minister with Children, Youth, and their Families, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served as Minister of Youth and Outreach at Mountain Grove Baptist Church in Hickory, NC (1992-94). While attaining a Masters of Divinity degree from the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, he served as Minister with Youth and Children at Hunton Baptist Church in Glen Allen, VA (1994-1997). After seminary, Kelly moved back to North Carolina to serve as Minister of Youth and Family Life at First Baptist Church, Morganton, NC (1997-2003). Kelly joined the staff at Watts Street in September, 2003.

Kelly's ministry goals include helping young people experience the grace of God, to grow as followers of Jesus, to discover their own unique gifts and abilities, and to begin to give of themselves in Christian service and witness. Other interests include the ideas of Christian community, servant leadership and the inward/outward journey. Kelly is married to Elizabeth. Favorite pastimes include hiking, playing basketball, listening to music, watching movies and enjoying pineapple/banana milkshakes at Cook-Out.

Lawrence Speakman has had a long career as a choral and orchestral conductor, professional singer, church musician and teacher. He is a 1978 graduate of Westminster Choir College where he toured as a member of the 40 voice Westminster Choir, singing under the likes of Mehta, Ozawa, Bernstein, Shaw and Boulez, and studied conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt and Dennis Shrock. He also attended Temple University where he majored in voice performance and will soon complete a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from East Carolina University . He spent 9 years as a member of the 30 voice The Philadelphia Singers, using his home town of Philadelphia as his base as a professional soloist. Larry moved to the triangle in 1989 to become Director of Music Ministries at White Plains United Methodist Church. In 1991 he co-founded The Concert Singers of Cary which quickly established itself as one of the major symphonic choirs in the area, performing with The North Carolina Symphony, the Raleigh Symphony and The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. He has served as chorus master for The North Carolina Opera Company, been a guest conductor of the Raleigh Symphony and sings as a member of The Vocal Arts Ensemble of Durham under Rodney Wynkoop. Larry is a former member of the music faculty at Cary Academy and has previously served as music director At First United Methodist Church in Morganton, NC and First United Church of Christ in Quakertown PA.

Tom Bloom, Church Organist, is a native of Montrose, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate education at The Pennsylvania State University where he was an organ student of June Miller and served as organist for the Lutheran Student Parish and the Catholic Chapel Choir. Tom held several organist positions in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough before becoming WSBC's organist in January 1998.

Tom is active in the Durham-Chapel Hill Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, having served many years as secretary, and most recently as Dean. Tom is also very much interested in Christian spirituality, particularly in the areas of Sabbath and simplicity.

In addition to his musical interests, Tom is associated with a Chapel Hill firm as comptroller.

Michelle Old is a Certified Social Worker.  She worked as a Member Service Coordinator for the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA) for several years, traveling across the state providing technical assistance to local rape crisis centers. Her training on the intersection between domestic violence and sexual violence has included national conference workshops and trainings. Her work included organizing legislative advocacy for women with Women United, and the Legal Advocate for the Durham Crisis Response Center.  She is also the creator of Durham County’s first free Legal Clinic as well as redirecting their Legal Advocacy Program to assist victims of sexual and domestic violence through the criminal and civil court processes.  Most recently Michelle created and facilitated North Carolina’s first statewide Task Force (R.I.P.P.L.E.) to address Human Trafficking.

 

Michelle works approximately 10 hours a week at Watts Street assisting in developing and implementing safety guidelines for our children and volunteers who work with them.  She also supervises and provides childcare during church events plus coordinating and training volunteers.