The late Rev. Dr. Michael E. Williams was senior pastor at West End United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee before his retirement last year. He earned a PhD in oral interpretation from Northwestern University. He was also the author of numerous articles, stories, poems, and books and was general editor of The Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible, a 13 volume series from 1992-2007, and in 2017 the CEB The Storyteller’s Bible. A poet, pastor, teacher, playwright, and frequent guest-speaker and workshop leader at regional, national, and international events, Michael Williams was a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro TN and taught at the National Institutes of Storytelling.