Rev. Richard Willsea

Wendell Richard Willsea III was born on February 14, 1971, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. When he was four years old his parents relocated to central Arkansas. In 1989 he graduated from Searcy High School, where he played football, ran track, and sang in the chorus.

Richard Willsea attended college at Concordia – Seward, the University of Central Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. Prior to his college graduation, he married Stephanie Morgans on December 17, 1994.

In the summer of 1996, he began his studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. During his third year of seminary, his vicarage was at West Portal Lutheran Church in San Francisco, California. After his graduation from seminary in May 2001, Pastor Willsea received his first call to The Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was ordained and installed on June 17, 2001.

He and Stephanie have three children: Nicole, Richard, and Lauren. He was installed as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church on June 1, 2010.