Thompson, 60, is the fourth seminary president in recent few years to be named directly from the parish ranks, following in the steps of Laura Mendenhall of Columbia Seminary, who was a pastor in Austin, Texas; Ted Wardlaw of Austin Seminary, who was a pastor in Atlanta; and Philip Butin of San Francisco Seminary, who served a church in Albuquerque, N.M.
Born in Ironton, Ohio, in 1943, Thompson grew up in Huntington, W.Va., and graduated from Marshall University with a degree in history. He holds a Ph.D. in American religious studies and intellectual history from Union Seminary in Virginia (now Union-PSCE), from which he also earned a master of theology in church history and a bachelor of divinity degree.
In addition to serving more than 30 years in parish ministry in West Virginia, California and Texas, Thompson has academic experience as well. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at San Francisco Seminary and Union Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond and as an instructor at Austin Seminary. And he’s served on the board of trustees at San Francisco and Union seminaries.
He’s coming to Louisville Seminary after a particularly painful period, following the revelation last fall that John Mulder, who served as president for 21 years, had been temporarily excluded from the practice of ordained ministry because of sexual misconduct. Mulder had resigned from the seminary a year earlier, claiming poor health, but the announcement that sexual misconduct had played a role in his departure left some at the seminary feeling angry, betrayed and saddened.
“He really is the right person for the right time,” Ridings said in an interview. “We really need someone who can pastor this community as well as help us train the future pastors.” Louisville Seminary has identified as its major focus — its niche in seminary education — “equipping pastors for the future,” she said.
And there’s “no question” that the revelations about Mulder have created a need for a pastoral presence, “that’s not even hidden,” Ridings said. “This community has been hurt and it’s felt a lot of pain for the last 18 months.”
Jonathan Yarboro, a master’s of divinity student from Birmingham, Ala., will be president of the seminary’s student body next academic year. “The fact that he’s been in parish ministry for three decades is a huge plus,” Yarboro said of Thompson. Yarboro said Thompson has been supported by John W. Kuykendall, who is the interim president of Louisville Seminary and who Yarboro said has “made an enormous difference in bringing this institution out of a rough time. His words of encouragement go a long way.”
And Yarboro, who hopes to become a parish pastor himself, said “it’s a very good thing to have a person whose main focus is the parish side, because this is an institution that is equipping people for ministry … This is not just a master’s program. It’s not just a graduate school.” It’s a place where students can see their faith grow, and where they can be trained to help others do the same.
Thompson — tall, trim, grey-haired, the pastor in Charleston of a 1,600-member church — stood before the seminary community on a rainy April afternoon and spoke of his sense that God was calling him to lead this seminary. Reading from a Bible small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, he referred to one of his favorite Bible verses, 1 Corinthians 4:1, and said he had made a covenant with the trustees to be a servant of Christ and steward of God’s mysteries.
Thompson’s wife, Rebecca Azile McDaniel, is a musician and conductor who specializes in working with children’s and youth choruses. The couple has two grown children.
The announcement completes a process for finding a new president for Louisville seminary that’s taken about a year and a half.
Mulder, the seminary’s last permanent president, resigned in October 2002, citing health reasons. But a year later, Transylvania Presbytery, of which Mulder is a member, announced that he had been temporarily excluded from the practice of ordained ministry because of sexual misconduct.
Mulder wrote a letter last September to the seminary community stating that “in the final years of my presidency I yielded to personal temptation by inappropriately engaging in sexual conduct outside my marriage vows, my pastoral vows, and contrary to Scripture.” Mulder also wrote that he was being treated for manic depression and is recovering from alcohol abuse and several strokes.
At least some members of the Louisville Seminary board of trustees had been made aware in September 2002 of allegations of sexual misconduct involving adult women that were made against Mulder, and he resigned after acknowledging that those accusations were true.
After Mulder’s resignation, Milton J Coalter, vice-president for library and information technology services, was named acting president. Kuykendall came to Louisville as interim president in August 2003. Several months ago, Kuykendall wrote in a letter to friends of the seminary that “the weeks and months since that announcement have been a time of grief and reorientation for us all,” but that he had been gratified by the expressions of concern and support from so many seminary alumni and friends.
In an interview yesterday, Coalter said of Thompson: “He’s got a nice manner about him.” Coalter said Louisville seminary is known for preparing pastors, and “he’s got the academic training but he also knows what a pastor is like.”
