Delmarva Treasure: Mark Thompson

SALISBURY, Md – When you see problems in your community, sometimes it’s easy to just walk away and hope everything works out.  There are, however, some people that can’t walk away.  The Reverend Mark Thompson of Salisbury is one of those people.

Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, Thompson was raised to live life with a purpose.  His parents wanted to make sure he received a quality education, in a world full of racial issues.

“The black kids slept on the floor, and the white kids slept on little cots,” said Thompson of nap time at the school he was attending.  He said that is when his father took him out of the school and enrolled him in a Catholic school.

Thompson said, “I was Catholic during the weekdays, and Baptist on the weekends.”

A job with FedEx eventually landed Thompson in Salisbury, Maryland where he and his wife raised their two boys.  But, Thompson says he wanted more and felt God wanted him to do more.  That’s when he joined the ministry at First Baptist Church in Salisbury.

Thompson said his passion was in outreach ministry, so in a giant leap of faith, he left FedEx to work for the Salvation Army. There he started the New Day program for kids who were either expelled from school or dropped out.

Today, Thompson continues to provide community outreach through the “Adopt a Block” program at Emmanuel Wesleyan Church in Salisbury.  He also directs the mentoring program for Wicomico Public Schools.