Dr. Michael V. Thompson has been pastor at Clarkton First Baptist Church since 1989.

Previous churches: Served as pastor of Duke Memorial Baptist Church.

Birthplace: Whiteville, 1953

Education: Graduate of Whiteville Senior High School, Campbell University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a doctorate of Ministry.

Family: Wife, Becky, married in 1976; two children, Laura, who is married to Wesley Rich, and Kristen, a graduate of Wake Forest University.

Hobbies and community activites: Plays the guitar and bass guitar. Volunteer with the Clarkton Rescue Squad.

Favorite passage: Mike "loves a lot of passages, including Isaiah 40:28-31

Favorite worship song: (Contemporary) "Above All"

Clarkton First Baptist's Minister of Music Greta Jackson began singing in church at an early age. According to her parents, Eliza Davis and the late Willard Johnson, Greta sang her first church solo when she was 3 years old.

Greta has had a life-long love of music and church work. "When I was a freshman (at Bladenboro) High School, I felt God's call to the music ministry."

Church positions: Minister of Music at Clarkton First Baptist, 1979-92 and 1994 to the present; worked with children's choir and sang with the youth choir at Northside Baptist Church.

Birthplace: Bladen County.

Education: Bladenboro High School graduate; Pembroke State University, earned B.S. degree in Music Education, 1981.

Work: General Music teacher at Elizabethtown Primary School, grades K-4.

Family: Greta is the seventh of eight children born to Eliza Davis and the late Willard Johnson. She married Tommy Jackson in 1978. The couple have two children, Lexie, a 2003 graduate of UNC-Pembroke, and Krista, who attends West Bladen High School. Tommy is an Advanced Life Support Liaison at Southeastern Regional Medical Center, a Nationally Registered Paramedic, and an EMS instructor at Bladen Community College and Robeson Community College.

Favorite Hymn: "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" because it "expresses how I feel about my Lord. My desire is that I will be faithful in His service. I also enjoy much of the contemporary Christian music and faithfully listen to Christian radio."

Comment: "I thank God for talented dedicated people that support the music ministry of our church. I count it a privilege to serve God through such an enjoyable and diverse medium as music.