Minister Melissa Hayes Williams is the youngest of eight children born to Francella Mitchell Hayes and Robert Hayes, Sr. She calls herself a true “church girl” because by her recollection she has been in church since her mother was able to leave the house with her at 8 weeks of age.
At the age of 11, Melissa would sit at the piano that her mother purchased for one of her older sisters who needed it for a college course but never played it. Melissa could read music from playing the violin and would sit at the piano and pluck from the hymnal that her mother had. At 12, her pastor asked her to play hymns from the Broadman Hymnal for Sunday School and he paid her $5 a month. Her grandmother invested in lessons for her. From there she started playing in churches and currently has 47 years of music ministry at several churches in the KC Metro area. In July 2022, Min. Melissa presented an original song to the Gospel Music Workshop of America’s 55th Annual Convention in Atlanta, Ga, titled, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen, Amen.”
After years of serving in the churches as a musician, a Sunday School and bible study teacher, a missionary, a women’s ministry leader and other areas of the church she is needed, Min. Melissa received and accepted her calling from the Lord and was licensed by Rev. Cedric L. Rowan of the First Baptist Church, 5th & Nebraska, on June 13, 2021.
Min. Melissa worked 26 years in the Social Services field before becoming the Church Administrator and Minister of Music where she currently serves for First Baptist Church. She also serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Merc Co-op located in Lawrence, KS and Kansas City, KS. She is a graduate of the KU School of Journalism and earned a master’s degree in education from UMKC.
Of all her accomplishments, her greatest joy comes from being the mother of three grown children—Samantha, Khonsu (the artist formerly known as Keith) and Tyler; and the GrandMel of Julian, Jamison, and Journee; and to the bonus children and grandchildren that she’s accumulated over the years.
