MEET OUR PASTOR!

William DeShone Rosser was born in Great Lakes, IL May 30, 1973.  Accepting Christ at the age of 10, he worked diligently at Spring Hill M.B. Church, until his father, William H. Rosser, was called to pastor St. Paul M.B. Church, Millington, TN.  While attending St. Paul, Pastor Rosser became a Deacon-in-training. Soon after this training began, he accepted the call to proclamation ministry.  He was licensed to preach as a Baptist Minister in April of 1997 and Ordained in 1999.  He served as an associate minister at Oak Grove M.B. Church while residing in Orlando, FL under Pastor Arnold Cotton.  Upon returning to Memphis, he reinstated his membership at St. Paul under his father’s leadership and served again as associate minister and ex-officio member of various ministries.  He moved to the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) denomination in January of 2006 and was ordained a CME Deacon and Elder during the Annual Conference of the same year.  He served as Pastor of the Belmont CME Church in Mason, TN until 2010.  Returning to his Baptist roots, he pastored Historical Mt. Pleasant M. B. Church in Memphis, TN until August 2013 when he was called to Shiloh Baptist Church.  Dr. Rosser initiated a Scholarship Program, refurnished the sanctuary and retired the associated debt, instituted the Millennial Sunday School Class, developed Bereavement and Benevolent Policy with funding, began DVD/Blu-Ray Worship Recording Ministry, and trained and Ordained three deacons in his short tenure.  In February 2018, God called Dr. Rosser to the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Springfield, IL to serve as the Senior Pastor.
In the secular arena, Dr. Rosser is retired from the Memphis Police Department where he was a Crime Analysis officer.  He also served as Police Readiness Entry Program (PREP) Explorer Advisor and uniform patrol officer.  Prior to this, he worked for Fed Ex as a Station Operations Manager in St. Louis, MO, Training Specialist in Orlando, FL and Secretary in the Memphis Hub.
Dr. Rosser is a graduate of the University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (1997) and Memphis Theological Seminary with an earned Master of Divinity (Summa Cum Laude-2008) and Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Leadership (2012).  His doctoral project was titled “More than Just Preaching: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Development of Associate Ministers in the African American Baptist Church”.  Dr. Rosser is a graduate of the David G. Buttrick Certificate in Homiletic Peer Coaching Certification at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
His passion for Biblical Preaching has inspired Dr. Rosser to begin work on a book and several compendiums to train and inform the next generation of pastors and preachers to more effectively deliver God’s word and be more prepared ministers in the parish.  Dr. Rosser has published a sermon illustration in the African American Lectionary website and former Director of the Dr. James L. Netters Certificate in Congregational Ministry Program and an Adjunct Professor in Worship and Preaching at Memphis Theological Seminary.
Dr. Rosser has developed a program for Baptist Church Pastors to matriculate ministers from Licensing to Ordination.  He additionally has developed a compendium to effectively train and prepare the Diaconate for ministry.