About Dr. Williams

Dr. J.L. Williams was born in Greensboro, NC, graduated from Asbury College with a pre-med major, from Duke Divinity School with a Master’s of Divinity degree in comparative world religions and from Luther Rice Seminary with a Doctor of Ministry degree in contemporary counter-Christian cults. Dr. Williams is the founder and former CEO of New Directions International (NDI), a non-profit 501(c)(3) Christian organization that began in 1968 in Burlington, NC. He served there until his retirement from NDI at the end of 2009.

In the fall of 2009 Dr. Williams accepted a position with Carolina Evangelical Divinity School as the Professor-at-Large for Missions and the Director of the School of Global Missions.

In January 2010 JL began serving with Impact of Hope International as President of International Missions. He was already serving as a Board Member of IOH and the new position enables him to continue supporting mission partnership projects around the world.

Dr. Williams and his wife Patt live in Burlington, NC, have four married children and 12 grandchildren.

The Mission of Impact of Hope International

It was Dr. Williams' privilege to help found Impact of Hope International (IOH) as a 501(c)(3) tax deductible ministry to support his friend and mission partner, Murli Menon, from India. Dr. Williams also serves as an Impact of Hope board member. The reach of Impact of Hope has now expanded to include a number of strategic domestic and International partners and projects. We invite you to join us in making an "impact of hope" in the lives of needy people around the world through the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. Your support and participation in this ministry is most appreciated.

New Directions International Ministry History

During the early years, New Directions International, led by Dr. Williams and his wife, Patt, was an interdenominational, interracial, evangelistic singing group of high school and college students. They were pioneers in using contemporary Christian music to share their faith in churches and “in the market place”, i.e., schools, prisons, street corners, malls, beaches-anywhere they could find an audience. Traveling on weekends during the school year and throughout the vacation months, they ended each summer with a cross-cultural mission trip. Those intense and varied experiences of discipleship, practical evangelism and mission outreaches became the training ground for many young men and women who went on to actively minister in various denominations and para-church organizations. Eventually, the focus shifted from American teenagers and college-age young people to national pastors and Christian leaders in the Third World.

Today, New Directions International, based in Graham, NC, concentrates on the training and support of Christian pastors and laymen in some of the most remote and needy areas of the world. Dr Williams still keeps in touch with former NDI alumni and will feature news and contact with them in the Alumni section of this website.