Baptists of Arkansas: Quantel Williams

Quantel Williams grew up in the Brazos Bottom of Branchville, Texas. Quantel is a two-time graduate of East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Religion with a concentration in Christian Education and Youth Ministry in 2018. Quantel recently finished his Master of Arts degree in Theological Studies this May. He decided to press on and pursue a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership at Regent University. In addition, Quantel has been a licensed and ordained minister of the Gospel since 2014.

The Lord called Quantel to Arkadelphia, Arkansas in 2018 to work at Ouachita Baptist University. He currently works in Student Development as a Resident Director and Adjunct Professor in the Pruet School of Christian Studies. Quantel also juggles the responsibility of being the Youth and Young Adult Minister at Greater Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. When he is not doing ministry in his downtime, he enjoys going on hikes, biking, and doing carpentry work.

“My grandmother, Eula Faye Williams, has had the biggest impact on my life. She is a godly woman. One thing I can say is that we didn’t have much, but we had God and each other. When I did not know the Lord, my grandmother was the one praying for me to come to know him. I believe it was her prayers that kept me off the streets and kept me from doing things that didn’t glorify the Lord. I remember when I was a teenager, my grandmother would wake up at the oddest times in the night and pray out loud to the Lord. One night I heard her and got up, peeked in her room, and saw her clasping her hands praying for her family, her children and her grandchildren on her knees beside the bed – she was praying for God to break generational curses and chains that had the family tied. It kind of reminded me of a time in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas were praying at midnight, and all of a sudden the prison began to rock and chains came loose. My grandmother showed me prayer works. She prayed for these family chains to come loose. A lot of spiritual  formation took place under her roof  because she was a praying woman.”

As I think back on the years, I remember we were a poor family, and I wanted to go to college and make something of myself. I didn’t know where the money would come from. I have seen God provide in my life by allowing me to go to East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) – I received some scholarships, but going to a private, Christian university requires money. Each semester, I did not know how I was going to pay for my classes, and every semester I’d start heading to the business office ready to tell them to drop my class schedule because I couldn’t pay for it. Yet every single time they told me an anonymous donor paid the remainder of my bill. Even when I did not know where the money would come from, God made the provision for me to stay at ETBU. Even further from that, I was able to continue my education and do my graduate studies there and God provided every cent for that.”

Quantel Williams, #BaptistsOfArkansas