[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 170 (Monday, October 28, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H8465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WELCOMING DR. DEREK W.H. THOMAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Wilson) is recognized for 1 minute.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, the Reverend Dr. Derek 
William Henry Thomas is the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Columbia, South Carolina, and the Chancellor's Professor of 
Systematic and Pastoral Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.
  A native of Wales in the United Kingdom, Dr. Thomas completed his 
ministerial training at Reformed Theological Seminary and received his 
Ph.D. from the University of Wales, Lampeter. He served as a pastor for 
17 years in Belfast, Northern Ireland, before returning to the United 
States to serve as the minister of teaching at First Presbyterian 
Church in Jackson, Mississippi. He was called to his present position 
in 2013. He has written or edited 25 books becoming editorial director 
for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and the editor of its e-
zine, Reformation 21.
  He and his wife, Rosemary, have been married for 43 years, have two 
adult children, and are naturalized citizens of the United States.

  The First Presbyterian Church was the first church organized in the 
capital of South Carolina and will celebrate its semisestercentennial 
next year. It is the largest congregation in the Associate Reformed 
Presbyterian Synod with 3,000 members.
  The historic First Presbyterian Churchyard was established in 1798 
with Federal legislators interred along with Ann Pamela Cunningham who 
founded the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association in 1853 saving President 
George Washington's home from collapse. Also interred are President 
Woodrow Wilson's parents, Reverend Joseph and Jessie Wilson.

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