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By William Webster

Q: Where are you from originally?
A: I was born right here in Phoenix, Arizona, at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Phoenix has always felt like home to me, even though I didn’t exactly have the most traditional childhood. My family moved around the country quite a bit when I was growing up, and I honestly never attended the same school for more than a year at a time.
Looking back, I think that experience shaped me in ways I didn’t appreciate when I was younger. I had to learn how to walk into a new room, meet new people, figure things out, and make friends all over again. I think that’s probably where my personality comes from today. I’ve always said, “I’ve never met a stranger, just a friend I haven’t made yet.”
It turns out that being the new kid everywhere eventually became pretty good preparation for working with just about everybody.

Q: Before you became involved in ministry and outreach, what did your professional life look like?
A: My career path has been about as unconventional as the rest of my life. I spent about ten years working in I.T., which taught me a lot about problem-solving, patience, and figuring out how to make things work when they really don’t want to work.
From there, I moved into the financial and insurance industries. I became licensed to sell life and health insurance, and I also became a licensed mortgage officer and college loan officer.
I learned a tremendous amount from those careers, and I’m grateful for the opportunities they gave me. They provided stability, professional experience, and a lot of lessons about dealing with people from all different walks of life.
But eventually, I realized that having a successful career and having a meaningful life aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Q: So what changed?
A: Faith.
There was a particular Bible verse that completely changed the way I looked at the people around me. Jesus says, “What you did unto the least of these, you did unto Me.”
I had read Scripture before, of course, but something about those words hit me differently. I started thinking about what it actually meant to live that out instead of simply believing it.
In 2019, my wife, our two sons, and I started doing outreach together. We didn’t have some huge organization behind us or a big budget. We started by simply using the trunk of our car.
We would gather whatever we could, prepare food, find people who needed help, and go out and serve them.
It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t complicated. But it was real.
And somewhere along the way, I realized that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

Q: Was it difficult to walk away from established careers to pursue ministry?
A: Absolutely.
It would have been much easier to stay where I was. I had spent years building those careers, developing professional skills, and establishing myself.
But eventually, I had to ask myself a pretty simple question: What am I actually being called to do with the life God gave me?
When the opportunity came to serve as Director of FOCUS Phoenix, I took a leap of faith.
I didn’t see it as simply accepting another job. I saw it as an opportunity to dedicate my life to something bigger than myself.
FOCUS Phoenix is a ministry of the Orthodox Church, and that distinction means everything to me. The Orthodox faith changed my life in ways I never could have anticipated, and being able to serve the Church while serving people in my own community is something I consider an incredible blessing.

Q: What does FOCUS Phoenix mean to you personally?
A: It’s people.
It’s easy to talk about homelessness, poverty, hunger, or people struggling in our community as statistics. But once you actually sit down with somebody, hear their story, learn their name, and look them in the eyes, those statistics disappear.
You’re not helping “the homeless.”
You’re helping John.
You’re helping Mike.
You’re helping somebody’s son, somebody’s brother, somebody’s father.
And sometimes you’re simply helping a person who has had a really bad season in life and needs someone to remind them that they’re still worth something.
That’s what keeps me going.
I don’t believe we’re called to fix everybody’s life. Sometimes we’re simply called to show up.

Q: You recently earned your degree. Tell us about that.
A: I earned my degree in Psychology in 2026, graduating with the Highest Distinctions. I’m also incredibly proud to be a member of the National Honor Society and Phi Theta Kappa.
Going back to school was important to me because I genuinely love learning. Psychology also makes a lot of sense when you look at the work I do. You can’t spend your days working with people who are experiencing difficult circumstances without wanting to understand people better.
But education, to me, has never just been about putting letters after my name. It’s about becoming better equipped to serve people.
If I can learn something that makes me a better husband, father, mentor, director, or friend, then it’s worth learning.

Q: You’re also a writer and poet. Where does that come from?
A: I’ve always been a creative person.
I’m an avid writer and a published poet. When I have free time, I might be drawing, writing music, working on something I’ve written, or just finding somebody who needs a helping hand.
I’ve always enjoyed creating things, whether that’s putting words together, putting a melody together, drawing something, or finding a solution to a problem.
I think creativity and service actually have something important in common: both require you to look at the world and imagine that it could be different.

Q: What does life look like outside of FOCUS Phoenix?
A: My family comes first.
I’m a husband and a father, and one of my favorite things in the world is being involved in my sons’ lives. If I’m not working on something with FOCUS Phoenix, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find me coaching one of my boys.
Baseball, basketball, football—you name it.
I’ve spent plenty of time on the sidelines, at practices, in dugouts, and wherever else a dad is supposed to be. Those moments are some of the most rewarding parts of my life.
And then there’s coffee.
I’m always looking for a new local coffee shop to support. I enjoy finding the little independent places that are trying to make something special happen in the community.
So if you ever can’t find me, there’s a decent chance I’m either at a ball field or drinking coffee somewhere I’ve never been before.

Q: You’ve had a pretty diverse life. How would you describe yourself?
A: I’m just a guy who has been incredibly blessed.
I’ve had different careers. I’ve moved around. I’ve gone back to school. I’ve raised a family. I’ve taken some pretty big leaps of faith. I’ve made mistakes, learned from them, and kept moving.
But there’s another part of my story that taught me what it really means to fight.
When I was 14 years old, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma, Stage 4. I went through four bouts of obliteration radiation treatment, and at that age, I had to learn what it meant to face something that no child should ever have to face.
Then something happened that I still can’t explain medically. The nodules in my lungs simply disappeared.
The radiologist who was involved in my care was an Orthodox Christian himself. He told me not to question such a blessing because he had no medical explanation for what he was seeing.
For me, it was an unexplainable miracle from God.
So when I say I’ve been a fighter my whole life, I mean that literally. That experience changed me. It gave me an appreciation for life that I don’t think I could have learned any other way.
It also gives me an even deeper desire to fight for other people who may be suffering from illnesses similar to what I experienced, especially people who don’t have the means or resources to receive the medical care they need. I know what it feels like to be young and facing something that seems bigger than you. I know what it feels like to need hope. And I know what it means when somebody chooses to stand beside you.
The older I get, the more I realize that the things we think are important aren’t always the things that matter most.
A job title doesn’t matter nearly as much as the people you helped.
A paycheck doesn’t matter nearly as much as the memories you made with your family.
And success doesn’t mean much if you can’t look back and say that you used what God gave you to make somebody else’s life a little better.

Q: If you had to sum up your philosophy on life in one sentence, what would it be?
A: That’s easy.
“I’m too blessed to stress, because every day above dirt is a gift from God—so appreciate it accordingly and live it to the fullest.”
I really do believe that.
Every morning we wake up is another opportunity. Another opportunity to love somebody, help somebody, laugh with somebody, learn something, make a memory, or simply be grateful that we’re here.
We spend so much time worrying about tomorrow that we forget what a miracle today actually is.
So I try to enjoy the ride.
I try to serve when I can.
I try to be a good husband and father.
I try to leave people better than I found them.
And most importantly, I try to remember that whatever blessings I’ve been given were never meant to stop with me.
They’re meant to be passed on.

Q: And if someone were meeting you for the first time, what would you want them to know?
A: Don’t be afraid to say hello.
Seriously.
I’ve never met a stranger—just a friend I haven’t made yet.
Life is too short to walk past people without seeing them. You never know what somebody is carrying, what they’ve been through, or how badly they might need someone to simply acknowledge that they exist.
So say hello.
Start the conversation.
Buy somebody a coffee.
Coach your kid’s team.
Feed somebody who’s hungry.
Help somebody get back on their feet.
Go to church.
Call your mom.
Hug your kids.
And when God gives you another day above dirt, don’t waste it.
You’ve been given a gift.
Live accordingly.