Bishop William H. Thompson, Jr. was born and raised in Arlington, VA. He is happily married to Co-Pastor Etta Thompson and the father of two sons; William Thompson III and Eric Thompson. He accepted Christ at a very young age and became very active as a young man at Scripture Church of Christ, Baileys Crossroads, VA., under the leadership of Elder George L. Marshall. He was then appointed as a junior deacon, he served in this position faithfully, and shortly after he became a youth minister. Some of his ministerial duties were having prayer with the sick, visiting the nursing homes to offer prayer and support as well as visit those who were incarcerated. Bishop Thompson has 35+ years of ministerial experience as a Bible Teacher, Pastor, Evangelist, and Counselor. In 1987, Bishop Thompson traveled to San Francisco, CA to receive training under the Prison Fellowship Ministries, which was founded by Chuck Colson. Then, in 1991 he served on the Board of Directors as a counselor for the Angel Homes Ministries. On September 19, 1990 Bishop Thompson became the Pastor of the Praise Temple Church in Washington, DC in which he served faithfully for 6 years. While pastoring in Washington, DC Bishop Thompson did extensive street evangelism. In 1996 God chose to relocate the ministry to Virginia, and at that time our name changed to Greater Praise Temple Ministries.

His favorite scripture is Psalm 34:1 “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth”. Bishop Thompson is endeavoring to seek higher heights, and deeper depths for the work of the ministry.