Terry and Kelly Thompson: How Small Church USA Emerged from Two Reluctant Students
He went to Faith because his dad worked there and tuition was free. He had no desire to go into ministry. He just wanted to play basketball.
She went to Faith because her dad made her. She was from Michigan, and Iowa felt like a world away. She agreed to one year—just one—before transferring to a college closer to home. But she made one thing perfectly clear: “I would not marry a pastor.”
Funny how God works.
Terry and Kelly Thompson both attended Faith from 1981 to 1985. They’ve now been in full-time ministry together for 40 years.
And yes, Kelly did marry a pastor.
The Wrong Reasons and the Right God
Terry is honest about why he chose Faith. “I attended Faith, really, for all the wrong reasons,” he admits. His dad coached there for 15 years, so tuition was free. Terry majored in pastoral and youth ministry, but ministry wasn’t on his radar. “I really had no desire to go into ministry. I just want to go play basketball.”
But something happened during those years in Ankeny. “It was while I was there that then God did a work in my heart and called me in a ministry.”
Kelly’s story runs parallel. Her dad had been talking with people about Faith and its strong Bible program. He made her a deal: “If you’re going to go work in the world, I want you to go to Faith for a year. I hear they have a great Bible program. I just like you to take a year of Bible have it, you know, under your belt before you go out into the world.”
At 18, Kelly had different plans. “I was really wanting to go into business administration or something, where I was going to make a lot of money and rule the world. That was my 18-year-old desire.”
She agreed to one year. But she drew a line in the sand about pastors.
“Back then there were no, you know, internet and that kind of stuff. So it wasn’t like it is today, where you can keep in touch with people easily,” Kelly remembers. Michigan felt far away. Faith was supposed to be temporary.
But her freshman year, God got hold of her heart. “He moved my heart over to children, because I’ve always loved children,” Kelly says. She changed her major to elementary education and ended up staying all four years.
The Walkers and the Path to Youth Ministry
Both Terry and Kelly point to their sophomore year as another turning point. Mel and Peggy Walker came to Faith and started the youth ministry program.
“They were hugely instrumental in our lives, for the pathway that God would then lead us down to go into youth ministry,” Terry says.
Kelly adds, “Mel was the professor, but Peggy was such a vital part of his ministry there. So Mel was so impactful to him in the classroom. But outside the classroom, they were just so impactful to us.”
The Walkers didn’t just teach a program. They jumped into the Thompsons’ lives.
A Ministry Journey
After graduating in 1985, Terry and Kelly spent 12 years in Indianapolis doing youth ministry. Then God called them to Columbus, Ohio for two years as associate pastor. Their first lead pastor position came next—Pleasantview Baptist Church in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
They would stay for 24 years.
“When we went to Pleasantview Baptist Church in Crawfordsville, it was 20 elderly people,” Terry remembers. “The church had been in a steady decline for ten years. It was our first lead pastor position. We had no idea what we were doing.”
But God did.
“Our church runs a thousand people today,” Terry says. “And so God did a really cool work.”
The journey from 20 elderly people to a thousand wasn’t easy. “There’s a lot of challenges in those steps from small church, you know, to breaking the 200 to 500 to 750, the thousand. I mean, all of those, just grows you, stretches you and your leadership stretches you and your pastoral capacities. Growing a team and investing in other people, delegating.”
Terry is honest about the learning curve. “We didn’t know anything when we started. But we’ve learned a lot over the last 25 years.”
The Hard Parts
Forty years in ministry means walking through valleys. The lead pastor Terry worked with when he was a youth pastor fell from ministry. A 41-year-old pastor on their staff suddenly died of a heart attack. “Just hurts of people that you love,” Terry says quietly.
But there’s something else he wants to make clear: “He’s just so faithful. He’s just been so faithful to us in our ministries, and we’ve not been without hardship and hurt in all of that. But he just continues to be so faithful to us.”
The Thompsons also learned some hard leadership lessons along the way. “Growing a team and also letting teams go, learning how to fire or sending [people out into ministry]. We’ve sent a lot of pastors out,” Terry says.
A New Season: Small Church USA
A couple of years ago, Terry and Kelly did something unusual. After 24 years at Pleasantview, they handed the church off to a next generation pastor through a succession plan.
“Which is super cool because we’re still at the church and I’m still an elder at the church, and I still get to do some teaching at the church as well,” Terry says.
In 2022, they went full time with Small Church USA, a ministry they started to pour into hurting pastors and churches.
“We’re in our early 60s now. But just really pouring in to others and pastors and churches, that are hurting, that need revitalization, that are looking for ways for their church to get healthy. How do we get the church moving again?”
God is opening doors. “We are just loving this season of life. Or traveling a lot. Speaking a lot. And jumping into the lives of other pastors and wives.”
Full Circle
The young man who went to Faith just to play basketball now helps churches break through growth barriers.
The young woman who promised she’d never marry a pastor now travels the country speaking to pastor’s wives.
Terry came to Faith for all the wrong reasons. Kelly came because her dad made her.
God had other plans.
Better ones.
