Amity Baptist Church – Jamaica NY 11433

Amity Baptist Church in blue

THE REVEREND JEFFERY SHAWN THOMPSON, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is the son of Ms. Tempie L. Thompson and the late Rev. Jesse L. Thompson, Sr. He completed his undergraduate studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications Media and Management (1990). Sensing the call to ministry while a member of the historic Metropolitan Baptist Church of Washington, DC, he enrolled in the Metropolitan Baptist Church School for Prophets, a guided ministerial training program for those persons seeking to discern their call to ministry.

After having participated in the program for two years, he answered the call to ministry and was subsequently licensed (1999) and later ordained (2002) to the Gospel Ministry by the Metropolitan Baptist Church where Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. served as the Senior Minister.

Fully recognizing the need to properly prepare for full-time pastoral ministry, Rev. Thompson enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary (Indianapolis, Indiana) in January of 2000. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Christian Theological Seminary (2003). While at CTS he served as a student representative to the Board of Trustees and received numerous academic and community awards. They include the coveted Martin Luther King, Jr., Academic Scholarship, the Black Student Caucus Service Award and the CTS Community Life Award.

While attending seminary, Rev. Thompson served as the Assistant to the Senior Pastor (2001-2003) and Youth Minister (2000-2001) of First Baptist Church North Indianapolis, where Rev. Dr. Ivan Douglas Hicks is the Senior Pastor. Under his leadership as Youth Minister, The First Baptist North youth ministry grew to include a weekly Teen Bible Study, liturgical dance team, rites of passage for teens, and an Annual Community Youth Forum.

In July of 2003, Rev. Dr. Gary V. Simpson invited him to The Concord Baptist Church of Christ of Brooklyn to participate in the inaugural two-year Pastoral Residency Program. In this capacity Rev. Thompson provided pastoral leadership for the church staff, the William M. Moss Brotherhood, the Men’s Ministry and various other church ministries. Additional duties included providing pastoral care, visitation, teaching Bible Study and new member classes, leading worship, officiating, presiding, and preaching. He completed the two-year residency program in June 2005 and was invited to remain at Concord as a Senior Associate Pastor, where he served until April 2008.

In July of 2005, upon the request of Rev. Dr. Ivan Douglas Hicks and the First Baptist Church North Indianapolis congregation, Rev. Thompson returned to First Baptist to serve as the Interim Senior Minister while the pastor participated in a three-month sabbatical sponsored by the Lilly Endowment. During this time Rev. Thompson provided day-to-day pastoral leadership for the entire church.

Rev. Thompson served as the Chaplain for The Concord Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (2005-2008), a 167-bed facility. He also served as the Twelfth Board Chair from 2006 – 2012 for Concord Family Services, a $15 million a year non-profit multi-service community-based agency.

Having recently completed his Fourteenth year as Pastor of Amity Baptist Church, Pastor Thompson also serves as Treasurer of the Empire Baptist Missionary Convention of New York, Assistant Treasurer of the Eastern Baptist Association of New York, and recently appointed as President for the Eastern Baptist Association Congress of Christian Education. Pastor Thompson is involved with various ecumenical and community-based organizations such as Board member of Queens Power formerly EQUAL (Empowered Queens United in Action & Leadership), co-sponsor of One Accord Fellowship, Co-Chair for the New York Faith Campaign of the UNCF and has served as a Board member of Queens Federation of Churches.