WHO ARE WE?
Founded in 1904, Thunder Swamp Church is the oldest Pentecostal Holiness church in the Mount Olive, NC area. We are proud of our heritage and excited about our future. Our name comes from our location at 1519 Thunder Swamp Road. We have deep roots and a big heart for God and our community. Our worship services are traditional but flexible and open to contemporary styles.
OUR VISION
By God’s grace, we will be a multigenerational church of fully committed disciples of Jesus.
Our Pastor:
Rev. Karen Hamilton Lucas
Rev. Karen Hamilton Lucas is an ordained minister in the North Carolina Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. She earned her Master of Divinity at Campbell University Divinity School and her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Emmanuel College. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in theology. Before accepting a formal call to pastoral ministry, Pastor Karen was a social worker for Falcon Children’s Home, and then Royal Home Ministries while serving as the contemporary worship leader of her home church. She was also the archivist of the NC Conference of the IPHC (2011-2020). Pastor Karen’s other vocational experience is with special needs adults and non-profit outreach ministry to homeless and low-income populations.
Pastor Karen and her husband, Chip, have three children together. Noah and Haven are young adults attending North Carolina colleges. Their youngest son, Liam, is in middle school. The entire Lucas family enjoys music, travel, community service, and great Japanese food!
Music Director
Stuart Burnham
Stuart has been the pianist at Thunder Swamp since 2014, and the choir director since 2018. Born and raised in Spokane, WA, he relocated to North Carolina to attend Wake Forest University, where he double-majored in English and piano performance, and went on to earn a Master's in Musicology from Stanford University. Stuart's full-time job is teaching AP English and music appreciation at Wayne Country Day School in Goldsboro, NC. He and his wife, Tammie, live in Mount Olive.
