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Salvation Army Captain Tomeker Reshell Williams learned the school of hard knocks early as a child growing up in New Orleans in an abusive home with parents both suffering from alcohol and drug addictions.
She was surrounded by turmoil and darkness, but the impressionable Williams yearned for something more.
“I was not doing well at all,” Williams recalled. “I had a desire for more and did not want what New Orleans had to offer.”
At the age of 15, Williams said she befriended an individual who invited her to attend one of the local Salvation Army churches.
“They gave me a way out,” Williams said. “Personally, the Salvation Army has saved my life. They showed me that God had plans for me.”
Williams said the church’s pastors took her under their wing and were able to share the light and love of Christ with her at a desperate and much-needed time in her life.
Now, as the new core officer and leader of the Orangeburg Salvation Army, Williams says she hopes to share this love and joy with those she ministers to at her new home in Orangeburg.
“I think we need to continue to be a source of light,” Williams said, noting there are a number of people in Orangeburg who need the help the church has to offer. “My prayer and deepest desire is that we can continue to be a source of light.”
Williams said this source of light will come from the knowledge the Salvation Army is there to provide both physical and spiritual nourishment for the community.
Williams assumed the leadership of the Salvation Army June 26 upon the departure of Captains Phillip and Glenda Priest.
She comes from Charlotte, N.C., where she served as the Salvation Army divisional evangelism and adult ministries secretary.
The Priests finished a three-year ministry in Orangeburg June 24 and left for Statesville, N.C., as part of the traditional changing of the guard in church leadership.
Williams says she arrives to Orangeburg with the intention of carrying the torch left by the Priests and building on the foundation they have set in place with the various outreach programs such as “Soup, Suds and Salvation,” in which individuals can receive a hot meal, have their clothes washed and hear the Word of God.
Williams said she would also like to see all the programs in place – for couples, for youth, for men and for women – grow and expand.
“I am ready to jump in and become a part of those things,” Williams said, expressing her desire to have an open ear and mind for the suggestions of others and where they want the Orangeburg Salvation Army to go in the future.
Williams, who is currently a single mom of 4-year-old Trinity, says as a single mom she foresees the leadership role as a challenge that she is willing to take on and one that she will also bring to the community.
“I will have to depend on those in the community to step up and help,” she said. “We are a community agency and it is about giving back to the community. It is going to be hard, but I am ready for it and more than willing with everybody’s help we can do it.”
In the meantime, Williams says Trinity is excited about starting school at Marshall Elementary School.
A native of New Orleans, Williams attended Dillard University, where she says she struggled.
In the summer of 1995, Williams joined the Salvation Army and went on a mission trip to Jamaica for a short time before coming back to the States.
Williams then went back to college at Jefferson State Community College in Alabaster, Ala., a city about 20 miles south of Birmingham. There Williams would receive her associate degree in education in 1998.
Following graduation, Williams said she felt strong call to full-time ministry and so she went to the Southern Territorial Salvation Army College for Officer Training in Atlanta and was ordained in 2000.
After a brief mission trip to Kenya, Williams received her first appointment as an officer in McComb, Miss. She stayed in McComb for about three years before assuming the Charlotte position.
Thus far, Williams describes her first couple of weeks in Orangeburg as an enjoyable yet hectic experience as the church is in the middle of its summer camp activities for the youth.
“I like Orangeburg and I love a small town,” she said. “It is not hard to get used to. People are very friendly. I have been out in the community and just having some small talk with the people I have come into contact with.”
T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.