Bill Williams had been a semi-professional musician, an electronics technician, and a computer and video game designer. He gave all that up to pursue a Master of Arts Degree from The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where he received an Outstanding Biblical Studies Award in 1994. LSTC also honored Williams with the Confessor of Christ award for his first book, Naked Before God: The Return of a Broken Disciple. Bill Williams died of cystic fibrosis in May 1998.