Bill was appointed by Bishop Ray Owen to serve as senior pastor of Northwest Hills UMC, Austin, in June of 2000. He is delighted to be part of a gracious, hospitable and faithful congregation, a people clearly intent on sharing God's grace within the church family and sharing Christ's love in the community. He enjoys a wonderful team ministry with his staff and church lay leaders. And, he has a passion for empowering the members of the congregation in living out their vision of "Offering God's Love...Building Believers.."
Before coming to Northwest Hills, Bill served as District Superintendent of the Corpus Christi District. As a member of the cabinet of the Southwest Texas Conference he had specific responsibility for 45 churches (city, suburban and rural, ranging in size from 3400 to 25). He previously served pastorates at First, San Marcos, St. Mark in McAllen, Helotes Hills and Lakehills in the San Antonio area, San Juan-Edcouch and Brownsville (as Associate) in the Rio Grande Valley. He has been elected to serve on the 2000 General Conference and the 2004 Jurisdictional Conference delegations from the Southwest Texas Annual Conference. He also serves as the chairperson of the Conference Commission on New Church Development.
He is a graduate of Texas A & I, Kingsville and Perkins School of Theology at SMU. He served 15 years on Board of Ordained Ministry in various capacities - as Seminary Liaison, Interview Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and as Chairperson. He has been active in the Walk To Emmaus and has served as Spiritual Director of the Valley and the Hays Praise Communities and of the Conference Emmaus Community. He is currently Spiritual Director of the North Austin Emmaus Community.
Social Concerns and Missions are also a part of his ministry, having served as vice-chairperson on the Conference Board of Church and Society. While in McAllen he served on the board of Mujeres Unidas, Leadership McAllen and served as president of the Board of Directors of the Southside Community Center in San Marcos for 6 years. He also founded and was president of "Interfaith Voices," an inter-religious organization focused on building of tolerance and trust within the Corpus Christi community. He has served on the board of the Austin Area Inter-religious Ministries, an interfaith organization focused on dialogue among diverse religious faiths and common missions to help those in need (as in Hands On Housing).
He is married to Jody Glock Henderson, a career elementary and art teacher. She teaches first grade at Live Oak Elementary School in the Round Rock ISD. They share the joy of having two adult children: Linda and Bill, Jr. Linda is married to Jefferson Stewart and they have two sons, Amon and Eli. Bill, Jr. is married to Becky Julian Henderson and they have one son, Asher.
Bill's interests include photography, tennis, computers, Cyberspace, and backpacking.
