William Purinton

William Purinton of Saint Joseph, Missouri, a special assignment missionary with One Mission Society since 2011, was involved in theological education in South Korea from 2003 until 2020. After returning to the U.S and beginning pastoral ministry with the Missouri Annual Conference (UMC) and online teaching at Columbia International University (South Carolina), his field of vision and commitment has gone global.

William is committed to a three-fold ministry: (1) theological education in the Wesleyan tradition and global contexts, (2) preaching and teaching in churches to foster Christian conversion and character, and (3) academic research and writing in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition.

After a radical conversion experience with the Jesus Movement in Kansas City, William joined the U.S. Army and served two tours in South Korea as a chaplain’s assistant. With the help of the GI bill, he completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas in religious studies. Next, he studied missiology at Nazarene Theological Seminary and church history at both Lincoln Christian Seminary and Christian Theological Seminary, earning three master’s degrees. It was in his missiology classes at NTS that William clearly heard the call to mission, studying under the mentoring of pioneer and veteran Nazarene missionaries. Finally, with a desire to be prepared for a teaching ministry in theological education, William earned a Ph.D. in historical theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

His ongoing passion is to form Wesleyan theologians to transform the world with the Gospel. As a founding faculty member, William continues his commitment to the Wesleyan-Holiness Summer Study Program in South Korea, a combined ministry of One Mission Society, the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, and Seoul Theological University.

In addition to trips to South Korea, William’s mission field includes ever-expanding locations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, where his former students are now leaders in theological education.