Thompson received the T.W. Anderson Award during the 1997 Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California. The annual award is named in honor of the denomination’s only lay president and is presented to laypersons who have evidenced lives of commitment and dedication to Christ and the church.
“When Thomps became your friend, he was your friend for life,” says Charles Barker, senior pastor at Pasadena Covenant Church. “When I myself was youth pastor at Pasadena Covenant back in the 1980s, Thomps and I covenanted together as spiritual friends, meeting twice a month to take turns serving as each other’s spiritual director. We continued meeting like this for 25 years – he prayed for me every single day throughout those years.”
“There are dozens or more people in ministry because of Thomps’ mentoring and leadership,” says Robert K. Johnston, professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and former dean and provost of North Park College and Theological Seminary.
Among those are Barker and former Pasadena Covenant Church youth group members who went on to pastor the congregation, David Hicks and Curt Peterson, who now is the executive minister of the ECC Department of World Mission.
Johnston also was one of the students nurtured through Thompson’s one-on-one ministry and has repeatedly spoken of his influence. “Every afternoon when he left work at the 3M company, he would pray, ‘Who would you have me see today,” he says. “Then he would stop at our homes and talk with us and pray with us.”
During his junior and senior years of high school, Johnston met with Thompson once a week to discuss how the student might best use his gifts. Ironically, it was Thompson’s love for God that caused Johnston to consider not going into the ministry. “He was just an example of saintliness,” he explains. “I knew I was no saint.”
That saintliness included humility, Johnston says. “As the church grew, he gladly and willingly took a secondary counselor role when under his previous student.”
Thompson and his wife, Nancy, joined the Pasadena church in the 1950s. Barker says, “Every week well into his 60s, Thomps led a youth small group, participated in the mid-week program called “Campus Club,” participated in senior high Sunday school, enjoyed monthly socials with the students, and served as a camp counselor for winter and summer retreats.”
Barker adds, “Thomps exemplified a life of wholehearted devotion to the Lord. He was devoted to prayer, devoted to using his spiritual gifts to build up others, and devoted in every way to caring for his family and for his church family.”
After retiring from youth ministry and the 3M company in the 1980s, he became a licensed lay minister and continued to serve the Pasadena congregation for 20 years. “Thomps met weekly with the pastoral team, visited and prayed for our sick and homebound members, led a men’s prayer group, joined a Companions in Christ spiritual formation group, served as co-chair of our Centrality of Prayer ministry team, served on our Vision to Action team, and continued numerous one-on-one spiritual friendships in the church,” Barker recalls.
Thompson was born December 6, 1921. He married Nancy, on July 10, 1946. She preceded him in death. He is survived by two children: daughter, Nancy Jensen; a son, Randy Thompson; and four grandchildren.
