Bill is from a small town in western New York.  Son of a country Baptist church deacon, he faithfully attended church every time the doors were open, hearing the Gospel often.  However, it wasn’t until he was 20 years old, at a Christian concert, that he yielded his life to Jesus Christ.  It was at that point of repentance and forgiveness that his life totally changed.  He was accepted at Miami Christian College in Florida where he prepared for full time Christian ministry.  It was there that he met Priscilla Wagler, a “missionary kid” from the mission field of Haiti.  At age 5, Priscilla received Jesus Christ as her personal Savior, led by her Sunday school teacher. She had always dreamed of being a missionary nurse and majored in Bible and Nursing, planning to return to Haiti, the land where she grew up and loved.

Upon their graduation from college, the Lord led Bill and Priscilla to serve for 6 years as the Youth Directors of Calvary Baptist Church in Bradenton, Florida. There they gained valuable hands-on church leadership experience, a vision for world missions, as well as building a team of people committed to praying for them and supporting them as they moved on to the mission field.

In 1982, Bill and Priscilla answered the call to go to the Dominican Republic with World Team Inc. to be part of a church planting team.  During their 37 years of missionary service they have been involved in a wide variety of ministries as they sought to reach the cities of Santiago, San Pedro de Macorís and beyond for the sake of the Kingdom of God. To name a few: church planting, youth and children’s ministries, camps, hosting North American ministry teams, Dominican missions initiatives, serving on 3 Christian school boards, leading community health / evangelistic projects, mother-to-mother support groups and evangelistic baseball ministries.

During their last 20 years in the Dominican Republic, Bill was the full-time Coordinator for Baseball Chapel, leading a team of 25 Chaplains who provide spiritual care to the pro baseball players in the 30 Major League Academies and 6 Winter League teams and training 50 chaplains in Cuba over the last 6 years.

In January 2021, the Stothers retired from the Dominican Republic to West Palm Beach, Florida. They continue to encourage the Dominican believers and the ministries they were involved with, via WhatsApp, Zoom and occasional trips back.  They volunteer in the their local community in a variety of ways, seeking opportunities for the Gospel.