The roots of the Lord’s Church in St. Thomas go back to Dec 25, 1971 when Alfred Halliday obeyed the gospel as a result of a Bible Correspondence Course. He along with several students and faculty from Caribbean Christian College in San Juan, Puerto Rico came over in September 1973 and conducted a tent meeting in which thirteen (13) were baptized. This officially marked the beginning of the Lord’s church in St. Thomas. For several years, there was no regular preacher or meeting place as the church moved from one location to another. In 1978, Ermon Bain moved to St. Thomas to become its first full time preacher. A little later, Alfred Halliday joined him. In 1979, the church purchased a double wide trailer, which was located on 5th Street in Sugar Estate. The church met there for the next seven years. During those years, Samuel Alexander and Clancy Etienne both served as ministers, each for a few years before moving to other locations. In 1987 the trailer was moved to the newly purchased property in Hoffman Estate. In March 1988 Jimmy and Ann Eaton moved to St. Thomas to help develop leadership within the congregation and helped raise funds for a badly needed new building.
September 17, 1989 will long be remembered by “St. Thomians.” Hurricane Hugo hit the island with devastating force. The trailer was completely demolished. Efforts started immediately to construct a new building. One year later, the congregation occupied the present attractive facility which encloses 3000 sq. ft.
In September of 1990 Thaddeus Bruno, along with his wife Elaine, moved from Dominica to take up the work. Bro. Bruno employed aggressive door-to-door approaches in evangelism, public debates and both pre-recorded and live call-in radio programs to help give the Lord’s church greater visibility. Various speakers within the brotherhood were also brought in to help change status-quo thinking within the congregation and move it into a self-supporting status. The congregation now supports three ministers locally and has mission sites in three areas within the Caribbean. Wayne Pascal served as associate minister for a few months in 1993.
The congregation is in its tenth year of raising money to support missionaries in the Caribbean. Over Three Hundred Thousand Dollars have been raised during those years. The effort is named in honor of Rhonda Hale to highlight and memorialize her love and commitment to the church of Christ. This sister in Christ was from Tennessee, and she bequeathed a portion of her estate to the St. Thomas church. She died in her mid-forties, far too early in our opinion.
St. Clair Dowers, who moved to the island from St. Vincent in 2000 was hired as associate minister to assist Brother Bruno. His father-like ministry with the congregation has been of tremendous benefit to the work. Brother Dowers was later joined by his wife Mona and their four children.
In March 2009, Elton Terry of Antigua and Jamaica was added to the ministerial team. He served for two years as the education minister until leaving St. Thomas to continue his education in Searcy, AK.
In February 2011, Bro. Samuel Matthews took up the work as minister of the St. Thomas church. He and his wife Cynthia moved to the island from Portland, OR. His evangelistic efforts have already have already begun to bear much fruit. Bro. Thaddeus Bruno continues to serve the church as outreach minister and Bro. St. Clair Dowers as the associate minister.