Title: Denver assembly means homecoming' for Disciples executive
Date: June 18, 1997
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
97b-39
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Nearly 8,000 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) members will "Come and See" as the General Assembly convenes July 25-29 in Denver. But for the Rev. Deborah R. Thompson of Indianapolis, the trip will be more like a homecoming.
Thompson, director of new congregation establishment for the Disciples, was pastor of Denver's Park Hill Christian Church from 1982 to 1987. She fanned a hopeful spark into a new flame of vitality.
Attendance tripled, increasing from 30 to more than 125, and several community programs were initiated. These included the city's first AIDS outreach project geared toward the African American community and a public schools initiative aimed at reducing the incidence of teen pregnancy.
In 1987 she became the first woman to preach at Easter sunrise services at Red Rocks amphitheater. A few months later, she electrified a gathering at St. Thomas Episcopal Church during an ecumenical service for slain civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thompson will make a return visit to St. Thomas July 27, preaching at the congregation's 10 a.m. worship service. The repeat visit is purely coincidental, said Thompson. She is among 46 Disciples clergy randomly assigned to preach in Denver area churches that day.
"I almost missed it," Thompson said of the 1987 Easter service at Red Rocks. A wary security guard, assigned to the entrance designated for program participants, would not let her in. "He didn't believe I was the preacher for the service," she said. She finally entered the arena through another gateway, just as the 6 a.m. service was to begin.
That experience of preaching before the Easter crowd of 10,000 "was a rush and very thrilling," Thompson exclaimed.
The Disciples of Christ will close the General Assembly at Red Rocks in a 7:30 p.m. service July 29. Guest preacher for the event will be the Rev. Joey Jeter, a preaching professor at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
- 30 -