William Ernest Britt was born in Dearborn, Michigan, June 9, 1958. He was a 1983 graduate of Baptist Bible College East in Boston, Massachusetts. He had met Lisa Skarsten while in school and they were married December 20, 1981. Over the next ten years he was involved in a variety of ministries including deaf ministries and rescue missions. He founded the Faith Baptist Temple of Utica, New York. 

After experiencing a definite call to world-wide missions, Bill and Lisa were approved as Baptist Bible Fellowship missionaries to Zambia in 1993. In his three-plus-years in Africa, Bill demonstrated a love for "his people." He won souls, helped establish churches and began a Bible Institute. Five Zambian men had already completed their training and two were pastoring churches. 

Bill had been on strong medication for lingering effects of malaria. That evening, he sat down in his chair to rest, and the other family members went to bed. Early in the morning of October 25, 1998, his wife awakened and found him still in the chair. The autopsy listed the cause of death as a heart attack. Bill was buried in Lusake, Zambia; he was 40 years old. He was survived by his wife, Lisa, and three sons: Timothy, Nathanial and Micheal.