Honoring five years of service: Thank you to Dr. Bill Houston

Joan and Bill Houston

Overseas Council (OC) is very grateful to Dr. Bill Houston, the retiring Regional Director for Africa, for his five years of outstanding leadership and contribution to evangelical theological education in sub-Saharan Africa. Bill enjoyed his teacher/training role and says the most satisfying and meaningful part has been developing trust and friendships with the presidents of partner schools, being able to come alongside them “sometimes in a pastoral way, sometimes to give ideas and always as a friend.”

During his time, Bill pioneered new initiatives through OC, such as working with leaders at a recent conference on Islamics in Africa where leaders met to design courses and a Master's degree program on “Islam in Africa” to be used in seminaries across the continent (delving much deeper into Islam and preparing leaders more extensively than existing bachelor level courses). He also says the time he spent visiting OC’s 34 African seminaries was very rich.

Bill has seen encouraging trends in the past five years:

• Curriculum is more relevant to the African context (e.g.  more schools have courses on HIV/AIDS and peacemaking);
• Faculty qualifications are improving due to OC’s faculty scholarship program;
• Some schools are more self-reliant on resources within their own country, finding local sources of funding and therefore less donor-dependent;
• Through the Institute for Excellence, there is an increasing sense of regional identity and fellowship; and
• In terms of Boards, Bill realized that the two most important areas for intervention are in the education process and governance/leadership, including strategic planning.

One of Bill’s highlights was meeting together with the entire International Partnerships team (Indianapolis-based staff and all Regional Directors) each year. He is “so impressed with the caliber of my colleagues.” Bill says one of the most important parts of his role has been to encourage the school leaders, who he calls heroes. “Many presidents are working in post-war situations of poverty, and they constantly are up against all sorts of barriers, like poverty, power outages, and shortage of resources. They know what to do – they just need help and resources to do it.”

As far as Bill’s future plans, he says, “People constantly ask me what I am going to do. Rather, a friend asked me, ‘Who am I going to be in retirement?’ One doesn’t define oneself by what he does anymore.” Bill has some writing projects and might do short-term teaching sessions at some OC partner schools. He will spend more time with his family and wife, Joan, to whom he pays tribute for coping admirably with Bill’s many absences.

About Bill – Born in Zambia, Bill moved to Cape Town as a child and completed his primary and secondary education. He went on to earn bachelor’s degrees in Geography, Sociology, Missiology and New Testament; a master’s degree in Theology; and a Doctor of Ministry degree. He has worked with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (a partner of InterVarsity) and lectured at All Nations Christian College in England and the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa (ESSA) in South Africa. While the school’s Principal, Bill led ESSA to become the first evangelical school to introduce a track in community development and a course in HIV/AIDS. Bill has always been actively involved in his local church in a variety of leadership roles. He and his wife, Joan, reside in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, and have three children and one grandchild.