Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Hester.
Hi Billy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Grew up in Savannah, Georgia. Majored in Theatre at Valdosta State College in Valdosta, GA. After graduating in 1981, moved to NYC to pursue a career in musical theatre. Helped start a support group for actors at Marble Collegiate Church. An actress attended one of our meetings as a guest. I wanted to meet her but “chickened out.” Fortunately, two weeks later, we were cast opposite each other in the lead roles of the musical Pippin. Four years later, Cheri and I were married at Marble Collegiate Church. Today, we have 4 adult children.
Ever since I was a young boy, I had thought about going into the ministry; while I was in New York, my stepfather drowned in a boating accident in Georgia. After wrestling with that experience, I decided to stop performing and enroll at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1986. While I attended seminary, Cheri & I lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and she could still work as an actress in NY.
After graduating from seminary, I worked as an associate minister at Marble Collegiate (which is on the corner of 5th Avenue & 29th Street). After working there for 2 years & after having our 1st child, Cheri and I decided to move to my hometown of Savannah, Georgia. In moving back to South Georgia, I wanted my ministry to emphasize two things that would be unique for the South: to be all-inclusive church – especially to be welcoming to the LGBT community & to combine faith & psychology (religion & science). Growing up in the South, I knew that there was a stigma attached to therapy. So, I wanted to help people understand that faith and psychology can work together and that both can be helpful.
In 1993, I decided to take a church that was about to close. Asbury Memorial UMC was in the inner-city…it was in a section of town designated as “Area C” – low income/high crime. The church only had about 25 members, and the youngest member was 66 years old. They could not afford paying a full-time minister, so I also pastored a second church that was also about to close.
We wondered how we could get people to try the church in such a difficult neighborhood. Cheri & I decided to do the only thing we knew – theatre. We produced two musicals a year with open auditions for anyone. The shows were respectable, people came, and the church started to grow as cast members and audience members decided to try our worship services.
We don’t do as many theatrical productions since the church has grown and we’ve needed to offer more programs and ministries. However, about 15 years ago, we started doing something called, “God On Broadway.” where we combine Theology and Theatre. Every Sunday in October, we weave elements of a Broadway musical into our worship service. We use traditional shows like Oklahoma and Fiddler On the Roof. But we also use shows like Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors, Kinky Boots, and The Addams Family. We usually have sets…the choir is usually in costumes. These services are quite an undertaking and are quite powerful. My main job is to preach sermons that show how the themes in the musicals bring up theological issues. People from other churches and people who don’t normally attend church will often come worship with us for our God On Broadway Services.
The church had been doing very well, but the pandemic did a number on us. We were hurt numerically and financially. But things are starting to change and get back to normal. We had a very good series of God On Broadway Services this past October using 5 musicals for the 5 Sundays in October. They were Fiddler on the Roof, Spamalot, Hair, The Lion King, and The Addams Family.
I have a good friend who is the musical conductor for The Lion King on Broadway. He recently sent me an article he saw in a New Jersey newspaper about a church in New Jersey doing something similar to God On Broadway. The article mentioned that they had gotten the idea from our church in Savannah. That’s about the 4th of 5th church I’ve heard about in the country that is trying to do something similar to what we’re doing.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The most difficult struggle was being an all-inclusive church that was part of a denomination that discriminated against LGBT folks. Even though our particular church was welcoming and inclusive, the United Methodist denomination started discriminating against LGBT people in 1972. The United Methodist denomination had been a leader in social justice issues for many years. It was one of the first denominations to ordain women. But for reasons that are too complicated and complex to explain in this space, the denomination became more conservative. We had hopes that the denomination would change its policies and be more inclusive at the 2019 Global Conference. Unfortunately, the change did not occur. So, our congregation voted to disaffiliate from the denomination and become a nondenominational; church. I believe we were the first church in the United States to leave the denomination after the 2019 conference.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Now have two books out. One titled: WOW MOMENTS: Stories of Grace, Wonder, and Synchronicity and WOW WISDOM: Stories from the Path of Life
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Passion & Purpose
I love what I do, and part of why I love it so much is seeing how it helps people
Passion & Purpose go hand in hand.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.asburymemorial.org/
