BISHOP HARRIS THOMAS was born March 10, 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Mary M. and Eugene Thomas, Sr. He was
the third of three children (Eugene Thomas, Jr. and LaWanda D. Champion).
He was first ordained as a Minister by Bishop Stella V. Mack, Pastor of Holy Cross Prayer Band Spiritual Church (Capitol
Heights, MD) on November 6, 1977 and receive his license through the District of Columbia Superior Court to celebrate the rite
of marriage in the District. Although Bishop Thomas received most of his Biblical and Church Leadership Training through the
church, after his ordination he enrolled in the University of the District of Columbia to study the Old and New Testaments and
religious counseling in 1977. On November 7, 1979, Bishop Mack elevated him to the Board of Elder. While at Holy Cross, he
directed the church’s senior choir, young adult choir and mass choir, served as the youth Sunday School leader and published
the church’s first newsletter, “At The Cross”
Bishop Thomas joined the Unity Fellowship Church Movement (UFCM) in 1997, through Inner Light Unity Fellowship Church
Pastored by Bishop Kwabena "Rainey" Cheeks, D.D. There he chaired the Church Counsel and continued his training before his
second ordination in 1999 by Archbishop Carl Bean, founder and Presiding Per-Late of UFCM, as a Reverend by the
recommendation of Bishop Cheeks, then consecrated the Founding Pastor of Unity Fellowship Church of Baltimore (UFCB),
Maryland in 2000. In 2004, Bishop Thomas completed several additional course studies in the Old and New Testaments at Howard University, School of
Divinity Continuing Education Program.
He elevated to the Board of Elders of UFCM in 2007 and served as one of Jurisdiction 3, Mid-Atlantic Region District Elders under the leadership of Bishop
Jacquelyn Holland. From 2008 to 2009 he studied Non-Profit Business Management at Southeastern University and was consecrated in 2015 as the
Presiding Bishop of Jurisdiction 4 by Archbishop Carl Bean.
Bishop Thomas served on four panels with openly gay ministers to discuss Homosexuality and the Bible, held at Maryland University, The GLCCB, and
Baltimore’s Charles Theater. He also spoke at Morgan State University and several high schools for their Gay and Lesbian Student Alliance and at Howard
University for the Fifth International Conference on Stigma, and at George Mason University for their Virginia’s Pride weekend. As a Co-Chair of the
Baltimore City Public Schools’ “Cultural Competence Collaboration Group”, he worked to ensure that, school children were valued and respected, regardless
of their sexual orientation. He facilitated a workshop on Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS hosted by Churches United Against AIDS and was a presenter at a
Samaritan Ministries Sponsored retreat for people with HIV/AIDS. He was one of four panelists at Hearts and Ears conferences on Mental Health
discussing “Mental Health and Spirituality”. He served for a short time on Baltimore’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force under Mayor O’Malley and an at-large
member of Hero’s (an HIV/AIDS organization) Board of Trustees.
Bishop Thomas was interview for an article in Baltimore’s Gay Life, The Baltimore Sun, and a radio program hosted by Chili Moss and wrote an article for
the 2006 Black Pride Resource Guide entitled, “Can LGBT People of Faith Find a Church Home ”. He appeared on TV Channel 21 “The Xchange 8” program
to discuss Maryland’s Gay and Lesbian anti-discrimination law.
Bishop Thomas lives with his life partner Willie Hinton-Thomas and their two dogs King and Prince in Washington, DC. He has a very close relationship
with his daughter A’ngela Lavern Thomas-Turner, her husband Minister Reginald Turner and her mother Reverend Brenda L. Washington.
