On the day before classes began, Rev. William Lamar IV reminded students of their importance during a time of national challenges as he spoke during Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel services on August 17, 2025. Rev. Lamar is the senior pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. Using the ninth verse of the second chapter of Job as his foundational text, he focused not on the eponymous central character, but his wife, who questioned Job's insistence on continuing to practice his faith.

"Do you still persist in your integrity?" Job's wife asked. "Curse God and die." 

The book of Job describes his epic journey. A faithful and vocal servant of God, Job was highly blessed with wealth, position, and a happy family. To prove the loyalty of Job, God allowed him to be tested, and a series of tragedies befell him. He lost his wealth, his health, and his first ten children were killed as a wind destroyed his house. After burying the children, his wife, in anguish, asked him why he wouldn't just abandon God and give up on life. Job continued to serve God, though he did question why God would allow harm to come to those who loved him. Ultimately, God restored Job's blessings and added to his abundance. 

Lamar recognized that people in many communities today are also exasperated, as hard fought gains and protections are seemingly removed in rapid fashion and the marginalized seem to be collateral damage. He urged those in the Howard community to approach the contemporary challenges with love and ingenuity and to not be afraid to challenge the power of the status quo, even in theological circles.     

"Imagination is enough to change the world," he said. "If we will nurture our imagination, where there is silence, where there are blank pages, we can write together a different kind of future."

Prior to pastoring Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Lamar was managing director of leadership education at Duke University Divinity School. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University having earned a degree in public management with a minor in philosophy and religion and a certificate in human resource management. Lamar earned the master of divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, in 1999.  He has published articles in the Washington Post, Christian Century, The Anvil, The Christian Recorder, The Afro-American Newspaper, Divinity Magazine, and the Huffington Post.  He has been featured on The Takeaway and the Huffington Post Live. 

Rev. Lamar is married to Dana A. Williams, Ph.D., dean of Howard University's Graduate School.