{"id":4366,"date":"2015-08-12T01:08:50","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T06:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/?page_id=4366"},"modified":"2023-12-16T17:48:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T23:48:15","slug":"our-pastor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/our-pastor\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverend Cynthia Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Reverend

Reverend Cynthia Thomas<\/p><\/div>\n

Personal Mission Statement: <\/strong>To remain a yielded vessel through which the love and ministry of Jesus Christ may flow at all\u00a0times, in all circumstances and to all persons.<\/p>\n

Early Years<\/strong>
\nPastor Thomas grew up in Decatur, Illinois, where she was active in church service and ministry\u00a0at an early age. She served as a Sunday School teacher at age eleven, and was the lead singer for\u00a0her church’s five-member special singing group from ages twelve to fourteen. Growing up, she\u00a0was blessed to be able to accompany her mother, Reverend Christine Hawkins, who was in service to The Lord on evangelistic speaking engagements from time to time; who helped to\u00a0plant a church in Springfield, Illinois; and served as pastor of Williams Street Church of God in\u00a0Danville, Illinois.<\/p>\n

Education and Teaching Experience<\/strong>
\nWith an interest in languages, she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in French and\u00a0a minor in English from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. After teaching a few years,\u00a0she received a Master of Arts Degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, with a\u00a0double major in French and Political Science. Other courses were taken at Loyola University in\u00a0Chicago, Illinois. Since teaching had always been her desired career since childhood, she was\u00a0appreciative of the opportunity to teach French for a total of thirty-five years in Ft. Wayne,\u00a0Indiana, Chicago, Illinois and Evanston, Illinois. While teaching, Pastor Thomas kept her\u00a0knowledge of the French language alive by making summer visits to Montreal, attending graduate summer school at the University of Nancy II, in Nancy, France, and working for a\u00a0winter session in a ski school in Ristolas, France, located in the French Alps.<\/p>\n

Ministry Preparation<\/strong>
\nWitnessing the ministry of her mother as an evangelist and later, as a pastor, granted insight into\u00a0the dedication required in ministry. Knowing, studying and fully embracing the Word of God\u00a0remained a priority for Pastor Thomas. Her mother said to her even as a teen, ” Cynthia, you\u00a0REALLY think about The Lord”, because she related so much of practical life to the scriptures.\u00a0After accepting The Lord’s call upon her life for ministry, Pastor Thomas was mentored in\u00a0ministry by her eldest sibling, renowned evangelist, Dr. Johnnie Mae Brown. Dr. Brown guided\u00a0her in the principles of studying the Word, prayer, and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide in all\u00a0areas of life. Rev. Thomas continued with spiritual development with courses of study at the\u00a0Midwest School of Ministry and Theological Studies in Evanston, Illinois and Garrett\u00a0Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.<\/p>\n

Ministry Service<\/strong>
\nRev. Thomas has served as a minister at three churches. At First Church of God Christian Life\u00a0Center in Evanston, Illinois, she served on the pastoral staff, served as a Sunday School Teacher,\u00a0Women’s Ministry President, Youth Ministry Team Coordinator, Junior Church Coordinator, New\u00a0Converts Teacher, Sanctuary Choir Member, Spiritual Nurturer, preacher and as a pastoral\u00a0advisory team member. At Agape Christian Fellowship Church of God in Round Lake Beach,\u00a0Illinois, she served as an Associate Minister, taught weekly Biblical Perspectives and facilitated\u00a0the Women’s Saturday Bible Study.<\/p>\n

In 2004, Rev. Thomas became a part of the ministry team at Langley Avenue Church of God\u00a0under the leadership of the Reverend Doctors Noah and Carolyn Waddy Reid, where she assisted\u00a0however she was needed.\u00a0Pastor Thomas has also served the National Association of the Church of God as an instructor of\u00a0the In-Service Training Institute, as a member of the program committee for the summer camp\u00a0meetings, as president of the women’s ministry for five years and as secretary for the Board of\u00a0Directors and secretary for the General Assembly of Ministers.<\/p>\n

Ministry Travels<\/strong>
\nIn the year of 2000, Rev. Thomas acknowledged that The Lord was moving her into a ministry of\u00a0evangelism. Although she continued teaching in the public high school, she began traveling\u00a0throughout the country to minister as called upon and directed by the Holy Spirit. Although\u00a0challenging, The Lord blessed her to experience preaching, teaching and ministering at Women’s\u00a0Weekend Celebrations, Conferences, Conventions, Revivals, and Pastors’ Anniversary\u00a0Celebrations in many venues, including: Illinois (Chicago, Decatur, Springfield, Naperville,\u00a0Rockford, Harvey, East St. Louis), Indiana (Anderson, Indianapolis), Ohio (Akron, Cleveland,\u00a0Toledo, Cincinnati), Missouri (St. Louis), Pennsylvania (Sharon, Hershey, West Middlesex,\u00a0Philadelphia), New Jersey (Trenton, Elizabeth), New York ( Brooklyn), Georgia ( Atlanta),\u00a0Alabama ( Birmimgham, Talladega), Maryland (Columbia), Wisconsin ( Milwaukee),\u00a0Washington, D.C.,Virginia (Richmond), Washington, (Seattle), Oregon ( Portland),Texas (Dallas,\u00a0Halletsville), Florida (Daytona Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville), Kansas (Kansas City),\u00a0South Carolina (Columbia), Michigan (Detroit, Pontiac), and California (Oakland, San Jose, San\u00a0Diego).<\/p>\n

Langley Avenue Church of God Installation<\/strong>
\nUpon the retirement of Rev. Dr. Noah Reid, Rev. Thomas became the Interim Pastor. She served\u00a0in this capacity July 1, 2011 – October 13, 2012. She was unanimously voted upon by the\u00a0congregation on October 14, 2012, to become their pastor. She was installed on November 4,\u00a02012, by leaders who have poured encouragement into her life; Pastor Eric Livingston, Illinois\u00a0State Pastor, and Bishop Timothy and Sister Clye Clarke, First Church of God, Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

Ministry Affiliates<\/strong>
\n1. Illinois Church of God Ministries
\n2. National Association of the Church of God
\n3. Church of God Ministries, Anderson, Indiana
\n4. Christian Women Connection
\n5. Women in Ministry International<\/p>\n

\n\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Personal Mission Statement: To remain a yielded vessel through which the love and ministry of Jesus Christ may flow at all\u00a0times, in all circumstances and to all persons. Early Years Pastor Thomas grew up in Decatur, Illinois, where she was active in church service and ministry\u00a0at an early age. She served as a Sunday School […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4366"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12586,"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4366\/revisions\/12586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langleycog.org\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}