THE world leader of the Seventh Day Adventist Church appeared at the ordination of a local minister.

Pastor Daniel Thompson, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Alma Road, became fully qualified at a service in Prestatyn.

There were four candidates at the ordination and they were joined by the denomination’s world church leader, US-based Pastor Ted Wilson, who was in the UK for committee meetings in St Albans, Herts.

Pastor Wilson gave a special prayer of ordination, while his wife Nancy later spoke to the candidates’ wives and welcomed them to a “new adventure”.

Daniel Thompson grew up in Hertfordshire, attending the local Adventist primary and secondary schools, but stopped going to church at 16. Years later, he began reading the Bible his mother had given him and started attending services again.

Encouraged by the church’s youth minister, he decided to study at the Adventists’ Newbold College near Bracknell, Herts.

It was only then that his mother revealed his late grandmother had predicted he would grow up to be a minister.

During his studies, he met his future wife Hilary, who comes from the US.

Pastor Thompson has been working as a minister since his graduation in 2009 and is currently pastor for the Adventist churches in Bournemouth and Dorchester. He was previously responsible for several small churches in Hertfordshire and in central London.

Daniel and Hilary said the most meaningful part of the ordination service was “was recollecting the care and kindness of friends and colleagues we’ve met along the way and their recognition of our hard work in ministry”.

They noted: “The event was refreshing and felt like a recommitment service, blessing us in our continued life of service.”

The weekend after his ordination, Pastor Thompson baptised his niece, Estée Vitry, into fellowship at his ‘home’ church in Watford.