By Toni Terrell
The Answer Editor-n-Chief

Behind every strong church ministry is a stronger church administrator, and Greater St. Paul Church of God in Christ in Las Vegas is no exception. Estralita Williams is the ‘make-it-happen’ administrator behind the glue that keeps the eastside church moving.

Always behind the scenes of the ministry, Williams is stashed in an office across from the main sanctuary of the church, where her father Bishop Carruth Hall has served as pastor for 37 years. But her low profile does not prevent her from ministering to people every chance she gets.

“I have dedicated my life to teaching the Bible and training others to teach in order to nurture and encourage Christians to live for Christ’s sake,” said Williams, who has worked in the church as a departmental Sunday school superintendent, a Sunday school teacher and administrator for 36 years.

“It is my prayer that I can help church teachers and leaders to understand the value of their ministries as teachers of the Word of God,” she said.

“Although working in the church sometimes has no monetary benefits, it is my desire to have teachers and leaders focus on the spiritual benefits and the mere joy of working with people. Watching a young child learn his or her first Bible verse, a teenager proclaim salvation or an adult develop a spirit-filled life – to me there is no benefit that can compare,” said Williams, an instructor for the Nevada COGIC Jurisdictional CH Mason Bible College.

Born the third child of five children to Bishop and Mother C Hall, Williams has learned to apply her Bible knowledge and her quest to always look for the good in circumstances at all times. “One of the hardest things about being an administrator is dealing with different personalities,” she explained. “But I think I learned that best at home first. As the middle child, you get a lot of fall out so you must have a duck-back mentality.”

As an alto with her siblings in the famous Hall Sisters singing group, Williams said her shake-it-off way of thinking pushed her to be the ‘fixer’ in the family, and the one who was willing to do extra to keep things together. “It is funny now, but when I look back on things, I was the one who caught it all – the oldest ones picked on me and the youngest ones blamed me – so I just did what I needed to do to keep the peace,” she laughed.

Now considered the ‘Dear Abby’ of the church for the youth, Williams embraces her ‘glue-like’ spirit and uses it to minister. “I try to encourage people to be cool, even your demeanor can say a lot about who you are. As a leader, you have to have broad shoulders, a constant smile, and a servant’s attitude,” said Williams, often called on to conduct seminars and trainings for church secretaries and administrators.

“I try to be truthful with people but I’m not going to criticize somebody and not try to help – you have to offer people solutions,” she said. “The church should be a place of refuge. You should be able to come out and not feel stressed. People come to church because they need their spiritual and mental needs met. They come for peace and joy, as leaders we have to be supportive and leave those bad attitudes at home.”

Holding on to the motto ‘accept people as they are and not as you wish they would be’ keeps the Sunday school training manual author grounded in her approach toward people. “I try to always be conscious of me,” the 53-year-old single mother of one said. “I am constantly doing self-examination to make sure I didn’t say something wrong or project the wrong spirit. I will apologize in a situation almost every time.”
Armed with a bowl of chocolate on her desk as the first step to diffuse an issue, Williams aims to please – sometimes to a fault. “I never want people to be upset or unhappy. I know it’s going to happen, but I try to make sure I wasn’t the one causing the situation.”

Keeping a peacemaker’s attitude came from wisdom, according to the youth mentor. Williams says her main influences over the years have been her grandmothers, who poured into her both spiritually and physically. Her desire is to have the same effect on the youth of today. “I don’t know where we lost it – the morals and the values – I’ve been trying to figure it out,” she admitted.

“But our youth are losing the work ethic, the respect and all the things we grew up with long ago. It is up to us as parents, church leaders and just citizens in society to teach our youth. Everyone has a responsibility. If we catch it now, they still have a chance,” she said.

Whether it is the youth, church administration, auxiliary leadership training, Bible teaching instruction and all other Christian education, churches seeking an expert are encouraged to contact Williams for help. Her Bachelor of Science Degree in Christian/Religious Education and her many years of experience undoubtedly qualifies her to assist in any area of ministry.

Nevertheless, if you simply have a problem at Greater St. Paul Church of God in Christ, 2929 Cedar Ave in Las Vegas, Bishop Hall will tell you “See Estralita, she’ll fix it.”