William “Bill” Henry Dandridge, III is a native of Los Angeles, California. He is the husband of Jenita Dandridge. As he was brought up in the Church, his paternal grandparents established a church foundation in him early in life that ministry is a call to service for others.  His grandfather the late Reverend William Henry Dandridge, Sr. served as a Pastor and Presiding Elder of the Los Angeles District of Christian Methodist Episcopal Churches (C.M.E) and was the organizer of the Lewis Metropolitan CME Church in Los Angeles. His early childhood education was received in the Los Angeles and Inglewood Unified School Districts.

He attended the La Salle Avenue Elementary School and Horace Mann Junior High School and graduated from Inglewood High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a Minor in Finance from California State University Fullerton in 1980. His professional career of over 36 years was at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he has worked in a number of financial and administrative positions.   He retired in 2016 as the Assistant Dean for Financial Administration/ Chief Financial Officer of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He continues to work when called upon as a financial consultant at the University and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the UCLA Faculty Club as treasurer.

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In 2010, he received a Masters in Biblical Studies and a Doctorate in Theology from the Long Beach Bible College and also served as the treasurer for the student body for three years. Since uniting with Holy Light Missionary Baptist Church (over 43 years ago) under the pastoral leadership of Reverend Dr. Richmond Brown, Reverend Dr. William H. Dandridge, III has been actively involved in the following areas of church ministry:  Sunday School Department (serving as Sunday School Superintendent for 15 years), Usher Ministry, Brotherhood, Deacon Ministry, and the Trustee Ministry.  He served as the church treasurer for ten years. Along with Deacon Wendell Jones, he served as the co-director of Holy Light Men’s Retreat for over ten years.

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He acknowledged his call to the ministry in August 2009; became licensed as a preacher of the gospel in October 2009; and became an ordained minister January 24, 2012.  On August 18, 2012, he was elected to serve as the Associate Pastor of Holy Light Missionary Baptist Church with an official Installation Service held on September 15, 2012.

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Some of the accomplishments that he oversaw during this period were the purchase of a new air conditioning system for the church, the establishment and maintenance of the Holy Church website, the establishment of the new members’ class, and the affiliation of Holy Light with the Providence Missionary Baptist Church District.

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The Holy Light MBC membership through the guidance of the Holy Spirit selected him on August 1, 2015 as the second pastor of this congregation.

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Rev. Dandridge realized that he couldn’t pastor himself therefore on October 11, 2015, he became a member of the Citizens of Zion Baptist Church in Compton, CA. Rev. Bobbly L.  Newman Jr.  Pastor.

He has an active interest in continuing to grow in his knowledge of the Word through Bible Study classes, reading and learning more about God’s Word.

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Psalms 27: 13-14​

13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14  Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

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He is currently the Moderator of the Providence Missionary Baptist District and General Secretary of the California State Baptist Convention. He also annually attends preaching and church ministry growth conferences to seek improvement in personal ministry and church moving forward. He also continues to encourage church leadership to seek out training in their areas of ministry.

Since becoming pastor he has overseen the following changes in the worship services; the revitalization of children's church, the implementation of the church media ministry and the conversion to one worship service. Facility improvements that have taken place during this period was the repainting of the church, installation of stained glass windows, a total remodeling of the kitchen, purchase of new pulpit and communion table, railing being placed in the choir stand area and an outside gate to surround the parking lot. He presided for the dedication and grand opening ceremony of the Church Museum leading up to the 60th Church Anniversary