I  CARE Inc.

Flying missionary is proudest of accomplishments on ground

BY LOUIE VILLALOBOS  Yuma Daily Sun, Yuma, Arizona
Dec 30, 2002

Ray Williams has landed his plane in nearly every state in Mexico . But he's most proud of what he and his wife Carol do after they land.

Since 1973, Williams has been president of I CARE Inc., a nonprofit organization that he said is committed to spreading the word of God while it helps the citizens of five continents, including Africa and Europe , improve their lives.

I CARE has a working relationship with several hospitals, clinics, schools, churches and children's feeding centers throughout the world, Williams said.

Williams and his wife have personally started 32 churches and trained or ordained 151 pastors who have in turn planted 600 churches. One of the churches in Africa operates a leper colony.

"If you live long enough you can get some things done," he said. "We've been doing this for almost 37 years."

For most of those 37 years, Williams has been working out of Yuma , where he is also pastor of The Great Commission Christian Center. He also sits on several local boards and is a member of a local Kiwanis Club.

The Mineral Wells, Texas, native moved here 26 years ago when his father returned to the area to start Wimpy's Chile Bowl, a local restaurant that has since closed.

Williams graduated from Yuma High School in 1962 before attending Phoenix College from 1964 to 1966.

It was there he first got the idea to do missionary work. While attending a service featuring a missionary worker from Tijuana , Baja Calif. , Williams said he kept getting the feeling that the man was pointing at him.

So after the sermon, he walked up to the man and a friendship blossomed. Soon after, Williams and his wife were working at an orphanage in Tijuana .

After a short time there, he and five local teen-agers started I CARE's first of what would be 50 or 60 churches in the Baja California-Sonora , Mexico , area.

"We just began to see the need," Williams said. "And Mexico was easily accessible."

After living in Mexico for 11 years, Williams said he and his wife decided to move back to Yuma for one year to be with family.

But after finding it better to provide their children a stable living environment, they never left.

"Our intention was to move to Guatemala ," he said. "But all these years, we've commuted to Guatemala and lived here."

Though not every church he and his wife has started remain under the I CARE wing, Williams said they do keep in contact with him.

He said he tries to be in Europe and Africa once a year and Mexico City three times a year. He also makes several trips to other parts of Mexico . During each trip, Williams said his goal is to make sure the lives of the people he helps improves.

"As people are instructed in righteousness, their thinking is different and their lives are better managed," he said. "People whose lives are touched by both education and Christianity generally live a better life."

Williams said he can't say with certainty how much longer he will continue his work. But he does believe his work will continue through his many friends stationed throughout the world.

He said he will continue to help as many people as he can for as long as he can with the belief that he could have done more.

"When you have a sense of calling, you want to help everybody," he said. "But the truth is you can't help everybody, but you have to help somebody."

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Louie Villalobos can be reached at lvillalobos@yumasun.com or 539-6858.

Contact:  O Ray Williams    928-783-1124

PO Box 1000    Yuma, AZ  85366-1000