The Lessons
“Knowledge is what we can gain from our experiences, but wisdom is what we can gain from others who have already had those experiences,” Benton T. Thompson III.
In his gentle tone and with a lighthearted smile, he adds, “knowledge is sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but wisdom is taking an alternative route because you listened when someone said the highway was bumper to bumper.”
The Legacy
Benton Thomas Thompson III is the proud son of Mrs. Barbara and Rev. Benton Thomas Thompson Jr. His mother was a housewife, and his father was a former coal miner. For those who might be curious, yes, there is a Benton Thomas Thompson IV. Benton III grew up in a very loving home and was second to the youngest born of nine children in the hills of West Virginia, in the capital city of Charleston. Tragically, when Benton was six weeks old, two of his four older sisters, ages six and four, drowned in a flood that swept through their neighborhood. It is here where he grew in faith and first began to seek Truth.
The Lineage
In the first grade on career day, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Benton said a preacher. This was quite odd considering there were no clergy members in his family at that time. As a young man, he was a member of Walls AME Zion Methodist Church, where his father later served as pastor. The family attended a neighborhood Baptist church for Sunday School, where he and his father both taught. Benton graduated from Charleston Catholic High School and first received Christ at a Pentecostal Church in the community. Through his varied background and experiences in church and faith, Benton says that is what taught him to seek God and not religion.
The Learnings
Benton went on to receive a college degree in Civil Engineering, and to also fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a licensed and ordained minister. He served as pastorate for 15 years and has participated in countless mission trips to Belize, Philippines, Jordan, Israel, UK, West Indies, and India.
The Love
Benton’s life also mirrored his passion for ministry when he created and launched a homeless men’s shelter program, served in a prison ministry, and was chaplain for the oldest orphanage in Atlanta, Georgia.
Since then, he has been sharing the unique gift that he received to make the complex both simple and applicable through messages of Faith and Hope across many platforms. He is the author of eleven books, a co-host on an internet radio program, and a regular columnist in a national magazine. He’s also appeared on TBN, Atlanta Live, Dove TV, and other television programs, as well as writing thoughtfully powerful recurring Devotionals on the YouVersion Bible App. Benton’s commitment is acknowledged by others who presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his Pastoral Legacy.
Benton freely gives his gifts to others, which Heaven has given to him.
PILGRIMIGES TO PETRA JORDAN, BETHANY JORDAN RIVER BAPTISM, LEPER COLONY CHENNAI INDIA, GARDEN TOMB OF JESUS JERUSALEM
