Pastor Michelle C. Thomas—Loudoun County’s ‘force to be reckoned with’

Pastor, Entrepreneur, Historic Preservationist, Activist, Politician, Community Organizer, and More

By Floyd Nelson

 Many of us have heard the phrase, “a force to be reckoned with.” After all, the first records of the phrase date back to the late 1800s. When words and phrases exist in the American lexicon for more than a hundred years, it should come as no surprise that phrase is a familiar one.

Some sources say the words—“a force to be reckoned with”—refer to “someone who is strong and cannot be ignored.”  Other sources say these words are used “to emphasize that someone or something is very powerful or more powerful than you think—so you’d better be ready.”  With all of that said, many of us have yet to encounter or experience this type of force— that is, until now.

Enter Pastor Michelle C. Thomas. An electrical engineer, her resume reveals that “Pastor Michelle” also serves as Founder and Senior Pastor of the Holy & Whole Life Changing Ministries International, the first church in Loudoun County founded by a Black woman. 

She is president of the Loudoun NAACP and the first African American woman to be appointed a member of the Loudoun Heritage Commission. In fact, her current online information states that Pastor Thomas is “5x CEO/Socioprenuer at Loudoun Freedom Center, NoVA Data Center Academy, M-Tech Services, LLC, NAACP Loudoun Branch, Holy & Whole Life Changing Ministries Int’l.”

In 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam named Pastor Michelle to the Commission on African American History Education. The Commission is charged with reviewing Virginia’s history standards, and the instructional practices, content, and resources currently used to teach African American history in Virginia.

Last year, the significance of Pastor Michelle’s appointment to the Commission and her leadership with the NAACP came clearly into view when she confronted a situation where a teacher passed cotton around to students when teaching about the cotton gin and enslaved people. Pastor Michelle said it was “insensitive” and parents reached out to her saying their kids were “humiliated.” Pastor Michelle called it “curriculum violence,” where you have the curriculum that’s teaching about the cotton gin and teaching about enslavement.

“There’s something so disconnected and something that causes harm,” she said. Pastor Michelle said that act is having kids relive a traumatic experience. “The kids began making jokes about Black people being enslaved, and it was humiliating and deeply embarrassing for the students involved,” Pastor Michelle said. “That’s why they reported it.” 

With all her accomplishments and ever-ready to be on the forefront of challenging situations that ultimately help all people come together in respect and appreciation, there is one that stands out for her, the residents of Loudoun County and truly the nation as a whole—The “African American Burial Ground for the Enslaved at Belmont.”  

Located in Ashburn, the site is a historic cemetery for enslaved people from the nearby Belmont Plantation. The burial ground was rediscovered in 2015 and Pastor Thomas led the effort to reclaim the land. She even buried her son who tragically died from a drowning incident five years ago.  

“Let’s bury him in the place that I give my best care to,” she said.

Toll Brothers, the real estate developer who owned the land, donated it to the Loudoun Freedom Center. Now, the organization is responsible for its preservation. Pastor Michelle founded the Loudoun Freedom Center to be an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and education of African American cultural sites, resources, and communities in Loudoun County.

“We are a continuum,” said Pastor Michelle. “Just as we reach back to our ancestors for our fundamental values, so we, as guardians of that legacy, must reach ahead to our children and their children. And we do so with a sense of sacredness in that reaching.”

Earlier this year her words were given even greater attention when she and JK Land Holdings CEO Chuck Kuhn signed an agreement to transfer 10 acres from the company to the African American Burial Ground for the Enslaved at Belmont, bringing the size of the site to 13 acres.

“I think that’s fascinating,” she said. “The descendants of enslaved people reclaiming property where their ancestors were forcefully held in bondage. You know you do not find that story and only when we are able to tell our stories with truth and honesty, can we eradicate what we know is systematic racism and hate.”

There is an African proverb Pastor Michelle shared that seems to sum up an important part of her work: “Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.”

Said Pastor Michelle, “The story I am telling centers around the Freedom Center where the flagship project is the preservation of sacred ground for those who were enslaved, but it will be much more than that,” she said. “It will expand and be a place of facilities and walking trails that focus on learning, research, genealogy and even reconciliation. 

“Thousands of Loudoun County students will come to the Freedom Center for education, learning and exploration. We must remember that Black history is a shared history and like the ‘Sankofa bird’ we must and will make these grounds a place of learning that includes all.” 

The Sankofa bird is a symbol from the Akan people, an ethnic group from Ghana in West Africa. It depicts a bird looking back as it moves forward. 

Well, there you have it—Pastor Michelle C. Thomas, truly is “a force to be reckoned with” but without a doubt, she is much more because she is “a lioness” and she has a story to tell.