He was, with Joel B. Green, the general editor of The Wesley Study Bible, published in 2009. His book "Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Christian Ministry" is used in dozens of seminaries around the world. In 2018, his book "Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confront Racism" was made book of the year by the Evangelical Press Association. With his stress on the wisdom of the church through the centuries, he is sometimes associated with the post-liberal movement and narrative theology. Willimon has garnered a reputation as an outstanding preacher, being named in a 1996 Baylor University survey along with Billy Graham as one of the 12 best preachers in the English-speaking world. Some of his sermons can be found at A Sermon for Every Sunday. A former student, Michael A. Turner, says about Willimon in the book "A Peculiar Prophet" which he co-authored with William F. Malambri: "First and foremost Willimon is a pastoral theologian whose primary message is that the God revealed in Jesus matters for everything in life. Thus his most influential work has been in calling the Church to be a faithful witness to the God revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ." In the same book, they also say: "Willimon, it seems, never tires of telling the Church just how distinctive our way of life should be because of the particular God who has captured us." He has served as a trustee of Wofford College, Huntingdon College, Birmingham-Southern College, and Emory University. He married Patricia Parker on June 7, 1969. They have two children: Harriet and William.