HELVIUS THOMPSON

To know Pastor Helvius Thompson is to know that his passion was preaching the everlasting gospel of Christ. The salvation story was so real to him that he deeply felt it his duty to share its saving wonder and beauty to all. With a gift for crafting word pictures, he preached with fervent energy and urgency stirring countless hearts to conviction and acceptance of the gospel message.

The grandson of a renowned Lutheran preacher and the son of dedicated educators, Helvius Louis Calvert Thompson II was born September 23, 1946, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the firstborn of Helvius Louis Calvert Thompson and his wife, Lilburne Anderson Thompson. Even though his father was a postal worker by day he taught veterans how to read and write at night. His mother not only cared for him and his two siblings but became a school principal and later opened her own school. Being dedicated to improving the lives of others was something ingrained in him early. As a youngster, Thompson’s grandmother and mother saw in him the gift of being a preacher as he began preaching to siblings, cousins, neighbors, and friends. His preaching was not entertainment to pass the time, he was serious! He completed his high school education at Southern University Lab High School in Baton Rouge and prepared for college. While in high school his mother arranged for him to receive private music education under the tutelage of Mr. Freeman, the high school lab band teacher. It was from Mr. Freeman that he learned to expertly play the trumpet. He enrolled as a ministerial student at Oakwood College (now University) in Huntsville, Alabama. He was often the featured trumpet soloist when the college choir performed Handel’s Messiah. His style of playing the trumpet was so smooth and sophisticated that on campus he earned the nickname “Silver Lips.” The summers during his college years gave him the opportunity to study the practice of evangelism while he was the tent-master for Evangelist E.E. Cleveland all three summers. Upon graduation from college, he was then sponsored by Southwest Region Conference to continue his ministerial studies at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. While at Oakwood College, Thompson met and courted a music education student, Miss Janice Kelly of New York City. They married on June 8, 1969, at City Tabernacle in New York City, immediately following his time at the seminary.

Pastor Thompson’s first church district was in Houston, Texas, at Hebron S.D.A. Church. Later he was appointed youth pastor at City Temple S.D.A. Church, and from there he was sent to the Alexandria and Monroe, Louisiana, district. His outstanding evangelistic work in this district earned him the Pastor-of-the-Year Award. At campmeeting on June 9, 1973, Pastor Thompson, Pastor Leonard Draggon, Pastor Ted Smith, and Pastor J.C. Hicks were ordained to the Gospel Ministry. He pastored Grace Temple S.D.A. Church in Fort Worth, Texas, for a short stint before accepting a call to the South Atlantic Conference to pastor the Elim SDA Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he led the congregation in the purchase of a new church facility.

Two years later, in 1976, he accepted a call from the Central States Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, to become the Conference Evangelist and Ministerial Secretary. His evangelistic work was so successful that he was invited to serve in the Mid-America Union Conference as a Union Evangelist and Associate Ministerial Secretary. In 1981, he was elected to be the Union Associate Executive Secretary of the Mid-America Union Conference, but declined the position to continue his work in evangelism. After eight years of public evangelism in the central states area, he conducted more than 30 evangelistic crusades and seminars, baptized over 2,000 converts, and established a new church in Davenport, Iowa, all of which was a record for that union territory.

In 1984, Pastor Thompson returned to pastoral ministry and accepted a call from the Southern California Conference to pastor the Tamarind Avenue S.D.A. Church in Compton, California. While there, he led out in remodeling and repairing the large church facility, developed an effective inner-city ministry for the homeless and needy, helped to establish a Christian drug rehabilitation home for women, and kept the church growing with constant evangelism.

A call to pastor the City Temple SDA Church in Dallas, Texas, brought Pastor Thompson back to the Southwest Region Conference. It was there that he renovated the church school facility and remodeled the church sanctuary. Seeking to broaden his ministry, for five years he served as a Campus Minister for the Greater Dallas Community of Churches Campus Ministry, where he ministered at the Mountain View, El Centro, and Cedar Valley Community Colleges. In 1999 he was assigned to pastor the historic Ephesus S.D.A. Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, the fourth oldest African American Seventh-day Adventist Church in the nation. Under his leadership new church property was purchased, the church school was repaired and remodeled, and he was there to lead his congregation through the Hurricane Katrina disaster. After seven years in New Orleans, he was transferred to the Grace Temple S.D.A. Church, where he pastored for over twelve years. He also served as the Ministerial Director of the Southwest Region Conference from 2007 to 2011 during his tenure at Grace Temple.

Though Pastor Thompson has served many locations in the Southwest, Midwest, and West, over the years, as guest speaker and guest evangelist he has shared the gospel message in churches, camp meetings, and youth congresses throughout the United States, England, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Tanzania, and Kenya. On December 6, 2015, at the annual Pastoral Evangelism Leadership Conference held at Oakwood University, Pastor Thompson received the Distinguished Pastoral Service Award for his years of excellence in ministry. He is the author and publisher of his book entitled “The Handwritings of God,” and recently completed his second book, soon to be published, entitled “The Gospel of the Gardens.”

Even though Pastor Thompson was such a busy man, he took care to remember each of the birthdays of his many family members. He loved beautiful cards, giving, and receiving them. Once in a while you might have heard him playing some inspiring piece on the piano. He loved music. The recordings played today were some of his favorites, and the last selection reminded he and Janice of his trumpet playing days.

Forever cherishing his memory will be his devoted wife of 52 years, Janice Kelly Thompson; his sons, Randolph Clifton, Russell Raphael (Elisa), and Helvius Louis Calvert III; his siblings, Robert (Mija) Thompson and Lili (Michael)Lusk; his grandchildren, Rhian, Elise, Isaiah, Kenny and Kaelyn; and extended family and friends from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana; Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri, and Huntsville, Alabama.