Faith matters for Oct. 24, 4009

• By TERRY ROBINSON
• Advocate News Features staff
• Published: Oct 24, 2009

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Working as an airline stewardess helped Coco Thompson’s ministry rise to another level.

Thompson, the pastor of Bible Teachers International, has enjoyed a varied career. But she said her three years as a flight attendant gave her a keen understanding of people.

“I’m not just talking about talking to people, but dealing with people and having to entertain people from all walks of life,” said the Baton Rouge native who has been in the ministry 22 years.

Thompson is back in Baton Rouge after six years away. She was also a teacher in Colorado and ran a day spa business in Florida before returning to Bible Teachers International.

Thompson started the Baton Rouge church about 10 years ago. It grew from the Bible Teachers International organization that started in Florida in the mid-1980s.

“This is training and development ministry, so we raise up ministers,” she said. “We should all be preaching the same thing. Preachers should be talking the same talk and walking the same walk.

“That has been one of the hallmarks of this ministry and hallmarks of our growth in God.”

Another hallmark is the ministry’s emphasis on holiness and the Bible.

“We really, really, really rely on the word of God,” Thompson said.

She added, “Jesus said be ye holy for I am holy.”

Converted cop caper film

Filming is expected to begin soon for a movie on the life of Robert Davis, of Baton Rouge.

Davis, 54, is the former New Orleans police officer who spent 23 years as a fugitive before giving his life to God and turning himself in to authorities. Davis chronicles his story in the book “Cop Out.”