BISHOP HARRIS THOMAS

BISHOP HARRIS THOMAS was born March 10, 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Mary Magadalene (Maggie) Adkinons-Thomas and Eugene Thomas, Sr. Harris Thomas was the third of three children (Eugene Thomas, Jr., LaWanda Denise Thomas-Champion).

After his parents separated, he followed his mother to Washington, DC. He enrolled at Dunbar Senior High.  And he also joined the Miracle Workers Young Adult Choir of People Union Baptist Church., where he was baptized and worshipped for several years. After he left church to pursue different paths, he was the first reverend ordained by Bishop Stella V. Mack, Pastor of Holy Cross Prayer Band Spiritual in Capitol Heights, MD.  He was ordained on November 6, 1977.  Although Bishop Thomas received most of his Biblical and Church Leadership Training through the church, he also enrolled in the University of the District of Columbia to study the Old and New Testaments and religious counseling that same year. In 1979, he was elevated to the Board of Elder. 

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 as 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, Bishop Thomas studied Non-Profit Business Management at Southeastern University.  In 2015, he was consecrated as the Presiding Bishop of 

Jurisdiction 4 (covering the Mid-Atlantic region of the US including Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware).

Bishop Thomas has been a featured speaker on various panels at universities, colleges and high schools through the region, including Howard University for the Fifth International Conference on Stigma, and at George Mason University for their Virginia’s Pride weekend.  He served as Co-Chair of the Baltimore City Public Schools’ “Cultural Competence Collaboration Group” and facilitated a workshop on Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS hosted by Churches United Against AIDS.

Bishop Thomas lives with his husband Willie Hinton-Thomas and their two dogs King and Prince in Washington, DC. He has a loving relationship with his daughter A’ngela and her husband Reginald and mother Reverend Washington.