Rev. Bill Clark - Senior Minister

Reverend William L. Clark was called to serve as the 22nd settled minister of First Parish in Lexington Sunday, May 1, 2004.

Rev. Bill Clark joined First Parish in Lexington after five years as minister of the Henry David Thoreau UU Congregation of Fort Bend County, Texas. The Thoreau congregation grew from 68 to 142 members and held its first successful capital campaign during Rev. Clark's ministry and is well on the way to completing the construction of its own building.

Rev. Clark graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1999 and was ordained on May 16, 1999 by First Parish, Brewster in Brewster, MA where we worked for two years as an intern minister and as the Youth Minister.

Before entering the ministry, Rev. Clark had a twenty-two year career in working within the deaf culture. He was a teacher of deaf children, a teacher of ASL, an interpreter and a speech and language therapist. This work led him to Unitarian Universalism In 1989, when he became the sign language interpreter at the Universalist Meeting House in Provincetown, MA. His involvement with the Provincetown Meeting House grew rapidly and Rev. Clark felt the call to ministry:

"The AIDS pandemic was a devastating experience to this small town, the Universalist Meeting House, and to me personally. As I witnessed the death of an entire community of my friends and watched the congregation of the Universalist Meeting House struggle with overwhelming waves of despair and sadness, my grief moved me to action. I decided rather than to be a mere witness, I had to be a participant,a participant in the healing process. With that decision, I became a volunteer with the AIDS Ministry program. It was through my involvement with the AIDS Ministry that I first heard the call to ministry. This call became louder and clearer as my volunteering took precedence over my employment. When I began to feel my volunteer work with the church fulfilling me more than my paid position as an interpreter, I applied to seminary and answered this call."

Rev. Clark's ministry is one in which the congregation and minister work together to live out their common values in an authentic shared ministry where congregation and minister each accept their personal responsibility in doing the ministry they have been called to do.

"Everyone has gifts to offer their community and the world. And the place where the needs of a community meet the gifts of its members is that place called ministry." Rev. Clark's goal is to help members of the congregation to discover and implement their personal and congregational ministries.