Title: Pastor
Company: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Location: Underhill, Vermont, United States
Arnold Thomas, Pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in spiritual and church administration.
Dr. Thomas has provided superior leadership as pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jericho, Vermont since 2017. Previously, he had served as Interim Senior Pastor of Charlotte Congregational Church in Charlotte, Vermont, after having previously flourished as minister for education, ecumenical and interfaith Relations at Riverside Church in New York and as senior minister to Wilton Congregational Church in Wilton, Connecticut.
In his capacity as pastor with Good Shepherd, Dr. Thomas earned local renown for his efforts in paving a path to acceptance for people from all manner of backgrounds. Deeply concerned with the issues of the day, he excels as a moderator for a monthly webinar, “Racism in America,” which seeks to address issues and concerns that affect African Americans in Vermont and throughout the country.
After initially obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and philosophy in 1976 from Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, Dr. Thomas followed with a Master of Divinity in 1980 from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he garnered the Wolcott Calkins Award for excellence in preaching. He continued his education with Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary (Hartford International University for Religion and Peace) in Connecticut.
Dr. Thomas has served a variety of ministries, including Pastor of the First Congregational Church (now Faith United Church of Christ) in Little Rock, Arkansas; chaplain and member of the faculty of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut; pastor of First Congregational Church in Williamstown, Massachusetts; and Conference Minister of the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ, the first African American denominational leader in Vermont.
Dr. Thomas has enjoyed equal success in academia. He co-founded the Center for the Study of Science and Religion at The Riverside Church in New York in cooperation with Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Science and Religion, co-founded the Network for Human Understanding and served admirably as an adjunct professor of religion with New York Theological Seminary.
In addition, Dr. Thomas has provided exemplary service as president of the Criminal Justice Ministry of Arkansas; as co-founder and vice president of the Arkansas Conference of Churches and Synagogues; as co-founder and president of the Human Rights and Relations Task Force in northern Berkshire County; and as president of the Vermont Ecumenical Council. As co-founder of Toastmasters of Riverside Church, Harlem (TORCH), he oversaw two years in which the organization rose to become the premier Toastmaster chapter for the development of communication and public speaking skills in New York.
The most important factor that inspired Rev. Dr. Thomas to be a pastor was his father, LeRoy Chadwick Thomas, who was a very conservative pastor. They differed theologically and spiritually, but there was one occasion which he remembers where he had questions and his father was willing to respond to them in whatever way he could about the Bible and spirituality. They ended up talking without awareness of the time that was flying by and when the sun rose the next morning they realized how long they had been talking. Dr. Thomas chose his father to be his keynote speaker at his ordination just because of his time learning and being challenged by him.
As a career highlight, Dr. Thomas cites his ministry helping Vermont becoming what is known as an “open and affirming conference,” welcoming people regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In coming years, while he intends to retire from his ministry, Dr. Thomas is in the midst of completing an operetta and the process of also writing another, and he is searching for collaboration with the composers who will set the lyrics and the libretto to instrumentation. He is in the process of considering individuals who have expressed interest in writing songs and lyrics to music, writing operettas, musicals, and putting liturgy to music.
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