On March 26,1928 Brother Thompson was born in the little town of Konowa, Oklahoma. Although he was named William Verdell, he always was called by his middle name. One among six boys and a girl, Verdell knew the hardships of the depression years, the dreadful dust storms that would blacken the sky, leaving drifts up to the tops of the fence posts, and the general poverty that most people of the era had to endure.
When he was very young the family moved to Friona, West Texas. About this time Brother Ernest Houlette was riding through the town on a train, and God spoke to him to start a church there. Soon the Thompson family became saved, and Verdell’s life was forever changed. He received the Holy Ghost when he was only four years old.
The Great Depression continued. His hard working father labored for fifty cents a day, and one winter the only fuel available for the stove was cow chips. But the house was always clean; there was plenty of food and now there was the joy of going to church. Soon this became the child’s greatest pleasure, and his faith was strong.
On one occasion, his father stopped at a filling station in Friona. Their friend, Billy Wilkerson, owned the place and when he was asked to sell only two or three gallons of gas,(which was all that they could afford), he questioned how they were going to get anywhere on such a small amount. Young Verdell spoke up and said that God was everywhere present, and was in the gas tank as well as he was outside the tank. Billy Wilkerson was so struck by the little boy’s faith that he came down to the church that night. There the Lord filled him with the Holy Ghost. Years later it was Brother Wilkerson who gave Brother Thompson the finances to begin Bible College. He could never have gone otherwise.
While attending Apostolic College in Tulsa, Brother Thompson was district youth leader for the Tulsa section, taught the young people’s class in Sunday school, lead song service and was youth president in the United Pentecostal Church on Utica Street. He became involved in every facet of the work of the Lord. Always, he faithfully sang on the radio broadcasts. From time to time he evangelized in Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and spent one summer pastoring in Madill, Oklahoma. The Parkey family helped there, and W.C., who was only fourteen then, played the piano. Brother Thompson, that same summer, preached a two week revival in Tishamingo, Oklahoma under an open arbor. During weekdays he passed out thousands of handbills door to door. And sadly, that fall he officiated his first funeral, that of a baby who died of leukemia.
In fact, he had become so essential in church, that when he was notified that he was being inducted into the Army, Brother Howard, then superintendent of Oklahoma, talked to the draft board and got him exempted.
During his years of college he made a trip to St. Louis to attend the meetings regarding the merger of the Pentecostals Assemblies of Jesus Christ and the Pentecostal Church Incorporated. The Apostolic College he attended was an endorsed college of the PCI and his home church in Tulsa, pastored by Brother Williams, was a member of the PAJC. While at St. Louis for the conference he attended the PA of JC meetings during the days at Brother Branding’s church and then went to Kiel auditorium for combined meetings at night. He had the privilege of knowing Brother Goss who never forgot anyone he met, and always called Brother Thompson by his middle name, Verdell.
In 1949, he graduated from Apostolic College after four years of study with a degree of Bachelor of Theology. From there he went on to Tulsa University where he received two years credit and in the summer of 1950 was about to receive a Bachelor degree in Social Work.
But there were other forces at work in his life. In 1948 a young lady Dorothy Ward, had arrived in Tulsa from Maine. She had been teaching in public schools there, but had a desire to use her abilities to teach in a Christian school. This worked out well, and soon she and Brother Thompson became interested in one another. By that spring of 1950 there were plans for marriage and when Brother Nathan Urshan invited the young couple to come to Calvary Tabernacle, she to teach in the Christian school there, he to assist in the church, this seemed like a great opportunity and the will of God that they go to Indianapolis.
There he sang in the choir, organized the Calvary Four quartet, taught the young people’s class (because they had petitioned for him to do so), substituted for Brother Urshan in the radio broadcast, was guest speaker at Brother Witherspoon’s church in Columbus, and several other churches in Indiana. In the spring he was offered the pastorate of a nearby church.
But Brother George Cook came by and presented the need in the East to them. At that time the district was made up of Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He described how Brother George Stanley, pastor at Bristol (the only church in Connecticut) had been giving Bible studies to a group in New Haven, and now they need a leader.
The Thompsons decided that this should be the next move for them. Brother Thompson organized the New Haven people with house meetings through the week, and Sunday service in a rented church building. But this venture was not successful because of basic cultural differences, and their unwillingness to organize.
When General Conference time came, Brother Stanley urged Brother Thompson to attend General Conference in St Louis. Although he could not afford that, he did go, traveling part of the way with the Urshans.
When he returned, he discovered that the discontented New Haven group, who refused to pay tithes, were convinced that the Thompsons were there to steal their nest egg (of two hundred and fifty dollars), and most of them resigned.
Undaunted, Brother Thompson gathered the faithful together and continued the work in Milford where most of the people lived. Meanwhile the church in Bristol had suffered a split, and when, in 1954 Brother Stanley decided to move to Pennsylvania to pastor Northumberland church, he requested Brother Thompson to take the leadership of the Bristol church.
There was a precious group of people there, but they were unable to meet their financial obligations. Craig was two years old at the time and the Thompsons could not survive on thirty to thirty-five dollars a week. The services were good, and when Colby Churchill who had established a home there, made it clear that he would like to be pastor, Brother Thompson stepped aside and Brother Churchill was elected pastor.
Back in New Haven, efforts to establish a United Pentecostal Church were resumed. Allan Ellis had moved down from Canada and Cecil Craig arrived later from Maine. Working together, these three men established the New Haven work. Soon the Howard Avenue church was bought and around one hundred and forty people were attending. By 1965 this building was sold, and a lot of land was purchased in Milford. The building was begun, but unfortunately Brother Ellis was involved in a serious accident that incapacitated him for some time, so that he could not help. Ed Jenkins gave some labor, and Brother Thompson used to go there evenings from five o’clock (when his work at Olin was finished) and work there until ten o’clock. Finally Brother Ellis recovered; the church was nearly done; and the Thompsons were back in Bristol.
Several churches were started in Connecticut during the sixties. David Kuhtenia was in Groton. Young Alan Ellis took over the church in Enfield. Bob Baker pastored in Manchester. Jean Hill pastored in Bridgeport, the second church to be established in the state. The Alders were in Waterbury. Bill Harden was in Coventry, the Flowers in Torrington, and Wayne Odom in Dayville.
In 1964 Brother Thompson was elected district secretary-treasurer, a position he kept for fourteen years. It was the fall of 1969 when he took over the Bristol Church. The saints there had been going through some severe times, and promised to try to get a dozen people together for the first Bible study.
The original building was thirty-four by fifty feet; the lot had cost one hundred and fifty dollars, and the entire cost of construction was just under five thousand dollars. Brother Thompson began a comprehensive visitation of every family that had ever entered the building. It was a huge undertaking but God gave revival. It was a time of harvest, miracles and growth. A thriving bus ministry with about 250 in church attendance made expansion necessary. In 1974 the new wing, extending the structure sixty more feet, was added. Several adjacent lots of land were purchased, and plans for an entire new church building were underway.
In 1975 Brother Thompson made a motion that the Connecticut district be established, and he was elected presbyter and home missions director. He felt that he had held the post of secretary-treasurer long enough. The Hardts started the work in Quinebaug. Brother Thompson opened up a daughter work in New Britain on Beaty Street. He had found a small church building there, and just walked around the property, claiming it for the Lord. As home missions director he began the work in Wallingford. With his oversight and finances form the Bristol church, he installed Don Mills as pastor there.
Because Sister Thompson was teaching in Branford School (for twenty-eight years) they were unable to move to Bristol, and covered there a lot of miles commuting. However this worked out to the advantage of the church. A good part of the time Brother Thompson took no salary at all, and even after the church grew, he never accepted more than one hundred and fifty dollars.
Now the present sanctuary was begun. Paul Pillau, who had planned most of the headquarters building in St. Louis, was the architect. There were six permanent trustees who volunteered for the life of the mortgage, which was paid off in nine years. Brother Thompson spent every day, expect Sunday, doing construction work on the buildings in New Britain, Wallingford, and Bristol. In October 1979, the present building was dedicated.
In 1986 Sister Thompson retired from public school teaching, and the original church, plus the extension, was renovated for the purpose of starting Heritage Christian School, where Sister Thompson taught for the next twenty-two years.
David MacDonald had been youth minister in the Church for five years, and had moved on to pastor in New Britain and then to Pennsylvania. When asked if he were interested in returning to Bristol to become pastor of the church and principal of the school, he indicated he was.
After two years as principal, he was elected associate pastor of the church. After about a year, Brother Thompson resigned and Brother MacDonald became pastor.
At the present time, Craig, the Thompson’s elder son, is assistant pastor; and Lee the younger son is in charge of ushering, transportation, and general maintenance.
Brother Thompson, now pastor emeritus, and Sister Thompson are faithfully attending the church, and supporting it with their finances and prayers.
