Northwood High School graduate and former Chatham pastor Rev. Dr. Brian R. Thompson was appointed as the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Western Episcopal Bishop this summer — which means he’ll preside over 56 churches in Alaska, Oregon-Washington, Southwest Rocky Mountain, California, Arizona and Colorado.
He began preaching in the AME Zion Church in 1994, serving as pastor in Chatham and most recently at Simon Temple in Fayetteville, before being elected as the 106th bishop of the AME Zion Church in July.
“It’s something that I wanted to do. Since I pastored in Bear Creek, North Carolina, at Union Grove, I’ve always wanted to be a bishop,” Thompson, 57, said. “It’s not because of the status but because this is something I thought was great to be the one to help form, shape pastors, congregations, and lead churches to be better.”
The AME Zion Church was formed in 1796 in response to racial discrimination in white Methodist fellowships and is one of the oldest predominantly African American denominations in the world. To be elected as bishop, a candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes from national delegates. Out of 622 possible votes, Thompson received 449.
“We elect internationally, we only have 12 bishops that serve the whole International Church at one time,” Thompson said, adding that international elections occur every four years. “So it’s a very hard thing to get elected, because you have to be elected internationally, not just locally.”
After Thompson’s election, he was assigned to the Western district, vacated by his predecessor, Staccato Powell. Powell was removed from the office after his peers accused him of fradulently having church property deeds transferred to a shell corporation that then secured millions of dollars in loans against those property, according to a July 30 report by the Associated Press.
Thompson hopes to help bring stability to the churches he’ll be working with.
He is a member of the NAACP, the North Carolina Governor’s Pastoral Advisory Board and was selected by former President Barack Obama to serve as a member of the National Community Policing Initiative (COPS). He’s also the founder of the Brian R. Thompson Annual Golf Tournament, which has raised more than $100,000 in college scholarships.
All that to say, he’s busy, particularly as he begins his new post as bishop while transitioning out of his senior pastor role in Fayetteville. Still, his family — wife, Rev. Felicia Taines Thompson, and children, Alexis and Brian II — are his “first ministry” he says.
Reverend Dr. Leon Newton, associate minister at Simon Temple, met Thompson on May 4, 2003 — the day Newton became a Christian, after hearing Thompson preach. As an associate pastor who’s worked with Thompson for the last 12 years, Newton has seen his journey to get elected as bishop firsthand.
“I believe that what God used Bishop Thompson to do at Simon Temple and in the community, he’s gonna do that even more now in a larger area,” Newton said. “He’s just a blessing to anybody’s life that allows him to be a part of it.”
Sometimes Thompson still can’t believe his dream of being bishop has come true after some 20 years in the making.
“It seemed like a long way for a young man born in Chatham County, that went to Northwood and came up and just seemed like that would not be a possibility. And the fact that it happened, it’s just sometimes overwhelming — it’s just sometimes unbelievable to me,” he said. “I just want people to know, don’t ever give up on your dreams, and you can achieve anything that you want to achieve. You’ve just got to work hard and have faith in God, and it’ll work. It’ll work.”
Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @HannerMcClellan.