Dr. William J. Erickson began his tenure as the Pastor of our church on August 18, 2024.

Pastor Erickson has a heart for the ministry and a love of teaching the Word of God. He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Daphne for over 27 years. He has two children, Gabby (22) and Josiah. (17)

Bro. Erickson restarted a closed church in Canaan, New York, in 2013 and was the Pastor of that historic church for 12 years before moving to Illinois to lead the First Baptist Church of Burbank and its ministries.

William (Bill) Erickson was born into a Christian home on January 30. 1980. His parents brought him to church and was raised up in the church from the nursery on up. “Billy” was saved at a tender age of five when his Mom lead him to Christ in their living room apartment. It would be many years later before he finally got baptized in December of 1998.

On July 2, 2000 during the Sunday evening service at Bible Baptist Church of Ghent, New York, Bro. Erickson was called to preach. He surrendered that night to the gospel ministry and immediately plans to go to Bible College to get his training in August of that year.

Bro. Erickson graduated from Hyles-Anderson College in 2003 with a Bachelors in Pastoral Theology. After college he served as an Assistant Pastor at his home church for 9 years. While serving at Bible Baptist Church of Ghent, Bro. Erickson was ordained into the gospel ministry on October 5, 2005.

In 2013, he was called to begin his first pastorate by restarting Flat Brook Baptist Church. While leading that church, he continued his education earning his M.Th. at Gethsemane Bible Institute in 2017. Pastor Erickson came to our church with much experience in ministry and counseling. Last year in 2023, he also received a D.Min. from Baptist College of America and has a Christian Counselors Certificate from Patriot School of the Bible.

Pastor Erickson brings a fresh new vision for revival and future ministry here at First Baptist of Burbank. Since his arrival the church has become a “soul winning” church.