Will Stephens

What you'll find here is my work, my background, and writing shaped by life's back roads. The resume, a sampling from my portfolio, and my blog, Ain't No Tellin', ... are all part of the same story.

Ain't No Tellin ...

Ain't No Tellin' ... What All I Learned from my Grandmaw
April 17, 2026My maternal grandmaw passed in 2022, three and a half months shy of her 101st birthday. She packed a lot into her century-long life. Born in 1921, when Amelia Earhart bought her first plane, and Einstein won the Nobel Prize, she wasn’t known worldwide, but in my neck of the world, she impacted a lot of people.A couple of her earliest memories are riding in a horse-drawn wagon taking cotton to the cotton gin, and of her Dad being the only one around who made Molasses. Other fond memories revolve around the family getting their house and grounds ready to host ice-cream parties for the young people from church. To prepare for one, her papa limewashed the tree bases all around the property, a sort of homegrown white paint that brightened the place up, with the tiny lime crystals sparkling in the setting sun. Mamaw said that all sorts of people showed up after her papa sent out invitations by word of mouth.With her life, she wrote The Gospel According to Grandmaw. A woman who loved her flesh and blood family and her washed-in-the-blood family.As she grew up, her church family played a large role in her life. She and her family assembled often with the saints who worshiped together in a one-room, white clapboard building perched high in the prairieland west of Saltillo, Mississippi. And, according to her, on any given Sunday, the elders and their wives all sat in the amen corners nodding with approval when the preacher told the straight truth of the matter—whatever the matter was. My mamaw once said, “Our family started our lifestyle in the Lord’s house.”My grandmother not only talked the Christian lifestyle; she walked it sincerely. I sat down with her one day when she was 97 and asked, “When did you become a Christian?” She said, “I was eleven years old.” Then she described her baptism surrounded by saints, horses, and cattle on the shore of a large lake in the middle of a tree-lined pasture. After the preacher buried the old and raised up the new, she came out of the water and lived as a faithful Christian for 89 years.It was also church where she met a young man who, after some time, would come to her house and ask, “Will you be my bride?” She said, “I guess so. I never did tell him I would, but I did.” My grandmaw snickered after she shared that and then put her hand over her mouth, almost as if to shush herself. They were married for 65 years. They struggled financially. And they struggled emotionally when their first child was stillborn. They lived through the depression, World War 2, and segregation.One of her adult children took to the bottle and became an alcoholic. Unbothered by any potential stone-throwers, she ministered to her son, showing tireless grace right up until the moment he walked back into the church building one Sunday years later and gave his life back to the Lord. What a turnaround he made.My grandmaw also ministered to us when my biological father decided to run off with the latest flavor of the month for good. He never came back home. Thank God we had grandmaw to teach us what faithfulness and reliability looked like.When Grandmaw's mother became ill and was in the winter of her life, she offered to be her nurse. She would later do the same for her husband—serving as his caregiver until he passed.She also cared for the young. One of her favorite memories was driving a church bus around the neighborhood, picking up little children on Sunday mornings, and taking them to Bible school. She’d talk about smiling kids in raggedy clothes getting on the "joy" bus.For most of her life, she worked. For 35 years, she owned her own flower shop. And honestly, she was one of the best missionaries I’ve ever met. Her flower shop was a mission field.No one came there for flowers without being asked questions like, “Where do you worship?” to get a conversation going. Or “Would you like to go to church with me?” She never left her faith at home while she went to work or out in town.If you asked her, “What’s your favorite thing to do?” She’d say, “Going to the church house and seeing all of the Lord’s people—if I can’t hug somebody, a handshake or a wave still means so much. To sit there and listen to the Lord’s Word together."I’d imagine most Southerners would claim that mamaws are just flat-out national treasures. And, besides Grandpaw, who else could offer you years of hard-earned, hard-learned wisdom filled with warm love at the center like your grandmother?We nicknamed her “Granny Go-Go,” since she ran circles around us on most any given day.My grandmaw was a servant, a Gospel seed-planter, and a loving mother and grandmother. A woman who had great faith and trusted in the Lord when times got hard, and money was tight, who would say, “Everything will be alright if you’re right.” Which meant, “right with the Lord.”I asked her once, “What do you think you’ll say on your 100th birthday?” She said, “I would say, thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to become the age I am today. Thank you for taking care of my family. Thank you for your forgiveness. Now, I surely don’t have all that much longer, but I would love for you to still guide my family so we can all be together someday in heaven.”Yeah, ain’t no tellin’ how much I learned from my grandmaw.

2026

Ain't No Tellin' ... What All I've Learned from Wrestling

April 13, 2026

It may come as a surprise to some of you that I'm sort of into wrestling. I'm not the biggest fan of the sport, but I'm intrigued, so much so that I've participated in several matches myself. But, to be honest, I'm not talking about wrestling or 'rasslin' as I heard it pronounced when I was a kid. I'm not talking about the school sports or the WWE. I'm talking about wrestling as a metaphor, and I'd bet you a big bundle that we've all participated in these kinds of matches at some point in life.In a figurative sense, how many times has life thrown you into the ring and tossed you around like a rag doll? Oh sure, you tried to fight back, but you felt overmatched. And most likely, the reason would be ... you weren't ready. You hadn't been given any heads up.You've been in the ring of an inferiority complex, or you've wrestled with feelings of envy and jealousy. Maybe you've tried to pin down the occasional fit of anger in your life, but your temper has won more than you'd like to admit. Have you ever wrestled doubt? Doubting yourself? Doubting whether others really care about you.Here's the thing about wrestling, though. It can make you stronger, that is, if you put up a fight. And in the long run, you build up stamina. Because you can be sure life will sling you into more wrestling matches the longer you live. Wrestling with some things will also get you to thinking, asking yourself things like, "Am I in this fight because I'm selfish?" or "Am I in this fight because I'm at a low point in life right now?" "Am I wrestling with feeling inferior because all the facts prove that's true, or are my emotions louder than the truth?"I know life's wrestling matches have helped me reexamine my priorities. They've also humbled me when I've realized I can't wrestle well without someone cheering me on in my corner.And because I'm a Christian, and unashamed to say it, some of life's matches have been arranged by God to break me of wild hairs in my life. Pardon me for a moment, but I can't ignore the wisdom of the Bible. There was a character named Jacob, who had been quite a rebellious, self-absorbed, manipulative mess. God called Jacob to the mat, I believe, to wrestle the wildness right out of him. In a New York nutshell, I think this was Jacob saying to God, "I will not let you go until you bless me," and "I will not let you go until you save me from myself." Read it sometime, it's fascinating. Jacob left that wrestling match with a limp, a lifelong reminder that wrestling with someone who is stronger than you both strengthens you and humbles you. And after the match, Jacob no longer just had the faith of his fathers; he had his own faith.Yeah, just like Jacob, there ain't no tellin' what all I've learned from life's wrestling matches, like reexamining my thinking and my priorities.

Resume

WILL BRIAN STEPHENS
Selmer, Tennessee 38375/ [email protected]
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EDUCATIONRegent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia
M.A. in Film ProductionLindenwood University, Saint Charles, Missouri
M.F.A. in Writing, summa cum laude; Alpha Chi Honor SocietyFreed-Hardeman University, Henderson, Tennessee
Master of Ministry, magna cum laudeFreed-Hardeman University, Henderson, Tennessee
B.S. in Bible, Art MajorPROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCEFourth Street Church of Christ, Selmer, Tennessee
Minister, January 2017 – Present
Preaching, counseling, mentoring, desktop publishing, bulletin editing, writing, and graphic designFreed-Hardeman University, Henderson, Tennessee
Adjunct Professor, Freed-Hardeman University — 2015, 2021-22Student Center sponsored by churches of Christ at UT Martin, Martin, Tennessee
Campus Minister, University of Tennessee at Martin, June 2000 – December 2016
Regular duties included: teaching college classes, counseling students, event leadership and coordination, writing for organizational publications, managing the OrgSync page, and directing the student center (Skyhawks for Christ)G. Willie Brands and freelance graphic designer, 2007-PresentGrant Street Church of Christ, Decatur, Alabama
Youth and Family Minister, June 1999 – June 2000
Event organizer, youth class teacher, and public speaking instructorADDITIONAL SKILLS
• Author & Illustrator of children’s book, Willy Billy’s Bubble Trouble
• Producer of book trailers
• Proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere ProREFERENCES
• Available upon request

Portfolio