wfn.org | Denver assembly means homecoming' for

[DISCNEWS.parti@ecunet.org]

Disciples executive
Date: June 18, 1997
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the web: http//www.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 8
a.m. and 10 a.m. worship services. 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.

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DISCNEWS - inbox for Disciples News Service, Office of Communication, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), PO Box 1986 Indianapolis, IN 46206, tele. (317) 635-3100, (DISCNEWS@ecunet.org) Wilma Shuffitt, News and Information Assistant; (CWILLIS@oc.disciples.org) Cliff Willis, Director of News and Information; (CMILLER@oc.disciples.org) Executive Director