Bill O'Brien

Ministry description:

Bill O’Brien was born in Ft. Worth, Texas. He holds a liberal arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University and a Master of Church Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His alma mater honored him with a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1981.

O’Brien is Co-Director of BellMitra Associates. BellMitra exists to equip leaders for transformative action and netweave communities of shared vision. Through this entity he conducts workshops in Horizon Mission Visioning and Conflict Transformation.

O’Brien was appointed as missionary to Indonesia in 1962 where he served for two terms in the field of music and the arts, as well as teaching in the Baptist seminary and directing radio-television work for Indonesian Baptists. In 1976, Bill joined the administrative staff of the Foreign Mission Board. His work there spanned almost fifteen years, including nine years as executive vice president.

In 1991, O’Brien became the founding director of The Global Center at Samford University and missions professor in Beeson Divinity School. Bill served for six years on the board of directors of The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and also served as a senior associate of the Evangelical Fellowship of Missions Agencies located in Atlanta. He was president of the American Society of Missiology for the 2003-2004 term. He serves as regent emeritus on the Board of Regents of Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, Washington.

O’Brien retired in June of 2000. His wife, Dellanna O’Brien, was executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union, SBC from 1989-1999. Since retiring, O’Brien teaches each fall at the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Washington, D.C., and currently serves as an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University in the field of missions.

O’Brien co-authored Choosing A Future for U.S. Missions, published by MARC in 1998, and wrote Challenges Confronting Baptist Missions in 2003 for The Baptist History and Heritage Society.

In retirement, O’Brien lives in Frisco, Texas. Bill serves as the program director of Compassion Frisco and facilitator for the Bridges of Hope network, created to work among the tsunami survivors in Aceh, Indonesia.

He joined the board of The Mission Society in 2009.