Pastor William Stell Found His True Calling and First Boyfriend at Seminary

Be the Bridge: Connecting the LGBTQIA+ Community and People of Faith

William Stell is a gay pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Bordentown, NJ. He's a writer for HuffPost and Patheos and has presented on "sexual ethics" at the recent Q Christian Fellowship conference.

When William entered Princeton Theological Seminary, he'd just come out as gay and had no specific intention to become a pastor. But at orientation, he met his first boyfriend, and by the time he graduated, he felt the calling to be a minister. Before studying at Princeton, William lived and worked in the country of Jordan at a school for Deaf and Deaf-Blind children. Although his familial roots are Presbyterian, William was raised in a black Baptist church, and he has spent significant time in Methodist, Catholic, non-denominational, and other church traditions.