The Late- Apostle D. C. Thomas, Sr.
(The Man, The Myth, The Legend)
Bishop D.C. Thomas Sr. was born on July 16, 1962, in Trenton, N.J. to the late Edward (Bud) Thomas and Mary Askew-Thomas. He was educated through the Trenton Public School System and was a charismatic lead singer of the Trenton Central High School gospel choir.
As a child, he attended the Wayne Avenue Baptist Church with his parents, under the leadership of Reverend Nathaniel Benjamin. It was here that he first began to feel the presence of God through his enthusiastic participation as a member of the Wayne Avenue Baptist Church choir.
As a young man, he attended Jesus My Light Holy Temple under the leadership of Elder Sterling Harris, Sr. It was here that he began to develop his heart of yielded service to ministry and served both Elder Harris and the church as a trusted armor-bearer, musician and wherever he found his hands to serve. Apostle Thomas served in Jesus My Light for many years until he felt the call of God to begin his own ministry.
During this time, Bishop Thomas was employed as a manager of the Oakland Park Apartments, located on Coolidge Avenue in the heart of Trenton, NJ. Because of his heart for people, and heeding the call for deeper ministry, he birthed a choir in 1989 through the Oakland Park Apartments called the OPA Ensemble. This group traveled throughout the Tri-State Area opening for such esteemed groups as the Mellow-aires.
In 1990, as he felt the call to do a greater work in ministry, Word to the World Ministries was born in the community room of the Oakland Park Apartments. It was also in this same year that Bishop Thomas met the love of his life, Stepanie R. Thomas, and they were wed in 1991. He and his new bride began to embark on a life together building ministry and family, and as the ministry continued to grow, the family also flourished, and god-children were also added to the fold.
Bishop Thomas always had a heart for the ministry of helps. As a result, Word to the World Ministries became a pillar of outreach both within the city of Trenton and across the country. This impact of outreach can be clearly seen through the development of the Christian Home Better Life Development Center. For this arm of outreach, Bishop Thomas acquired a home that was deemed uninhabitable. Through his hard work and ingenuity, he transformed that house into an outreach center that was able to impact the lives of no less than 300 men to break the chains of drug and alcohol addiction to become men of honor and distinction. The men helped through this program came from across the country, and through this initiative, many of these men are now Pastors, ministers, good husbands, good fathers, and productive members of society. Bishop Thomas had a gift of seeing the best in his fellow-man regardless of their present circumstances. He did not see those who were downtrodden as castaways, instead he was able to discern that God had the ability to clean them up, and with the help of God, he used his time and resources to help others become the very best that they could be. That was just Bishop’s way.
In 1991, Word to the World Ministries moved from the community room of Oakland Park Apartments to 560 North Clinton Avenue. If you pass this site today, you can still see the markings of the Word to the World logo still in view. At this location, many souls were saved, healed, delivered, changed, and set-free. The ministry was growing by the multitudes, and it was not uncommon that individuals who could not fit in the sanctuary would stand on the curb just so they could get a glimpse of the great outpouring of the presence of God. As the ministry grew, God began to open doors for the church to move to other locations. It was at this time that God laid on the heart of Bishop Jones of Holycross Church to allow Word to the World Ministries to use their former facility located at 63 Mulberry Street. Bishop Thomas always saw a need to help the community through feeding, clothing, and outreach, and through the provision of God, he was gifted a box truck which he and his wife renovated and converted into a “Kitchen on Wheels”. This mobile kitchen went throughout the community on a weekly basis to feed the hungry and distribute clothes to those in need. As his outreach impact grew, so did the ministry. No matter how much ministry grew, however, Bishop Thomas never forgot about those in need and continued to pour into the community while evangelizing across the county preaching the true Word of God so that people could be changed and set-free. Bishop Thomas’ impact within the community began to grow, and he began to sponsor additional outreach platforms such as parades, “Praise in the Park”, Community Cook-outs, and so much more. Ministry began to grow at such a rate that on Sunday Mornings services had to be housed at the Trenton YMCA on Pennington Avenue.
Because word had spread of all of the good works that Bishop Thomas had done throughout the city, a college of Bishops from Newark, NJ who had seen and heard of the works being done desired to converse with Bishop Thomas regarding his sanction to the office of Bishop. Therefore, after the appropriate protocols were completed, Bishop Thomas was consecrated as a Bishop in the Lord’s church in 1995.
Once the ministry had grown to the point where the location on Mulberry Street was no longer feasible, God opened up the door for Word to the World ministries to purchase its first church building in 1998 located at 347 Second Street in Trenton, NJ and the church marched to their new home.
In the year 2000, Bishop Thomas birthed out a city-wide spiritual conference known as “PERCEPTION”. The Perception Conference brought renowned speakers from across the country such as Clarence McClendon, Darlene Bishop, Paula White, Jackie McCullough, Sheryl Brady, Dennis Leonard, Jamal Bryant, and amazing psalmists such as Jesse Campbell into the city of Trenton where a powerful move of God was experienced, and many lives were changed. As the ministry continued to grow, so did our Apostle’s vision and it became clear that the building on Second Street would not be able to fully accommodate the vision that God had given the Man-of-God. As he continued in prayer, he began to hear the voice of God telling him to search out new territory, and he obeyed. When he saw the building located at 31 West Front Street, he knew that this was the “Promised Land” for the ministry, and even though he was unsure of how he would attain the property, God told him “It would happen”. By the grace of God, the building located at 347 Second Street was sold, and the ministry was able to purchase 31 West Front Street which is the current home of Word to the World Ministries now known as Word Alive Center, and again, we marched to our new home.
The work continued to grow, and soon there would be greater expansion. The Word of the Lord came from Bishop Neil C. Ellis who told Bishop Thomas that God never intended for him to have only one lot. After hearing that word from Bishop Ellis, he felt the Lord leading him south, and he landed in Pennsylvania. Bishop Thomas renovated an old dollar store, and in 2009 he birthed out the Levittown Church.
After the death of his spiritual father, Elder Sterling Harris, Sr., Bishop D.C. Thomas still understood the importance of submission. Therefore, he began to search for spiritual covering. After meeting Bishop Neil C. Ellis, Bishop Thomas began to feel that God was leading him in this direction, and in 2013 Bishop D.C. Thomas became a part of Global United Fellowship where he served as the Northeast Provincial Leader.
Because Bishop Thomas was a leader of leaders, and seeing the need for local and neighboring churches to have a fellowship where there could be training, and teaching so that ministries could achieve their highest level of excellence, in 2019 Bishop Thomas birthed out the Fellowship of Churches Uniting Strength also known as F.O.C.U.S Fellowship. Bishop’s vision for the development of F.O.C.U.S is to teach other inspiring ministries and ministers how to pursue their destiny while enhancing their ministries through development in the realm of leadership.
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Apostle D.C. Thomas is predeceased by his father, Edward (Bud) Thomas, his mother, Mary Askew-Thomas, and his stepmother, Clara Dell Thomas of Trenton, NJ, his brother and sister, Donald Thomas Sr. of Trenton, NJ and Lorraine Bryant of Columbus, GA., his father and mother-in-law, John Henry and Cora Lee Carmichael of Trenton, NJ, and his brother and sister-in-law, Anthony Carmichael and Brenda Carmichael of Trenton, NJ.
He leaves to continue his legacy, his loving wife of 31 years, Pastor Stephanie R. Thomas, his devoted children, Atiya Thomas, Ramiz Thomas (Jazmyn), Davalynn Patton (Roderick), Davorea Thomas, and David Thomas Jr. (Kim), a special stepson, Omaire Kellom; one brother, Anthony Thomas (Beatrice) of Trenton, NJ, two sisters Evelyn Goodin, and Dorothy Perry of Trenton, NJ; four brothers-in-law, Richard Carmichael (Linda), Pastor Henry Carmichael (Tonya), Jonathan Carmichael (Helen), and Antonio Pineda (Gloria) all of Trenton, NJ; five sisters-in-law, Julia Miller (Leroy) of Trenton, NJ, Wendy Bridgette of North Carolina, Angela Townes of Trenton, NJ, and Stacey Todd of Trenton, NJ, Dora Thomas
of Trenton, his God-mother, Elder Leodra Holmes, two god-sisters, Rosalyn Williams, and Gwendolyn Spann, his very best friend, Apostle Allen A. Patterson, fourteen grandchildren, sixteen god-children, the Family of Word Alive Center, and an abundance of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Our Apostle wrote the vision some time ago, and the vision has slowly come to pass; but although it tarries, it shall speak…Wait for it!!