Meet The Pastor
Rev. Dr. Bill Ury
Dr. Bill Ury is the lead pastor at Elizabeth City Evangelical Methodist Church. He was raised in Taiwan as the son of missionaries. He earned a B.A. degree from Asbury College in History. Beginning his M.Div. degree in Israel, he studied for a year at the Institute of Holy Land Studies on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. After completing his M.Div. at Asbury Theological Seminary, he went on to receive a Ph.D. in Systematic and Historical Theology in 1991 from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. While there, he and his wife, Diane, served as associate pastors in a Chinese-American Church in Chinatown, New York City. After graduate work he began to teach Systematic and Historical Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary, where he had the privilege of serving for twenty three years. Reverend Ury is an ordained elder of the Evangelical Methodist Church International.
Dr. Ury has been the host of American Family Radio's broadcast “Hour of Holiness” since 1997. This ministry can be heard on over 200 AFR radio stations across the United States every Sunday morning, and is available on podcast at hourofholiness.com. Beyond writing various articles on biblical and theological themes, he is the author of Trinitarian Personhood, The Bearer: Forgiving as Christ, and co-author of In His Image. Since 1979 Bill has served as an evangelist, conference speaker and lecturer across the USA, and internationally. In 2012 the Urys moved to Elizabeth City, North Carolina and are serving here as pastors in the Evangelical Methodist Church. His wife, Diane is involved in women's ministry and is pastor to the Young Adults. The Urys have four children: three daughters, JoAnna, Maddi, and Meredith, a son, Seth, two sons-in-law, Matt and Blake, and two grandsons, Ryland and Griffin.
Bill's calling and personal desire is to incorporate sound, rigorous Christian, biblical and theological thinking with pastoral care and personal compassion. He preaches the Word faithfully and boldly, desiring that all come to know the reality of the Triune God's nature of holy love and His desire to pour His Life into the lives of people. Bill longs for people to experience Jesus Christ, to know Him deeply, and become His faithful disciples by continual dependence upon and filling by the Holy Spirit. This is the only life that will bring meaning and satisfaction. His desire is that this church be a place where people are filled with the fullness of the Life of God, so that they can take Jesus creatively into every sphere of living, making disciples here in this area and around the world.