Reggie & Esther Thomas ~ Founder
Mr. Reggie Thomas was born in Joplin, Missouri, January 8, 1929. He was baptized at the age of eight years in the South Joplin Christian Church, Joplin, Missouri. In 1943 he and his parents moved to Miami, Oklahoma, where he became very active in the First Christian Church. He dedicated his life to a specific Christian service at the age of 16, and under the ministry of Russell L. Martin was inspired to begin preaching immediately.
He preached for one year, during his senior year in high school, at the North Miami Christian Church, Miami, Oklahoma. Following this, he and his high school chum, Lloyd Cameron as singer, began to tour the country in revival campaigns. Then followed four years of Bible Seminary education at the Cincinnati Bible seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr Thomas graduated from CBS in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then toured the nation for four years as a full-time traveling evangelist, the last year and one half of this time as a CRA evangelist. During these years in evangelism, more than 100 revival meetings were held in nearly every state in the union. These revivals resulted in more than 4,000 souls won to Christ.
In 1955 Mr Thomas became the minister of the Catlin Church of Christ, Catlin, Illinois, and was in his seventh year of service there when he was called to the ministry at East Point Christian Church, East Point, Georgia. During his years at Catlin, the membership more than doubled. The population of Catlin was 950 and at the time that Mr Thomas left, morning worship attendance was averaging 520. There were more than 1000 new members added to the congregation at Catlin during his years of service there. A new quarter of a million dollar building was built and paid for; also a new $25,000 parsonage was built during his ministry at Catlin.
In April 1961 he began his ministry at East Point, Georgia, During his first five years at East Point, more than 1171 were added to the local congregation. On April 10,1965,1241 were in attendance, While he was very busy as an active evangelistic minister of a local congregation, Mr Thomas also took time to serve in many areas of the Lord’s work. During the year of 1964 he served as President of the Southern Christian Convention. He also served two terms as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Atlanta Christian College, East Point, Georgia, He served in 1966 as Vice President of the North American Christian Convention. He has served as an active trustee of the following institutions: African Christian Mission, Rhodesian Christian Mission, Christian Television Mission, Dixie Christian Service Camp, South Pacific Evangelizing Fellowship, the Atlanta Christian College and Revival Fires F.A.M.E., H.A.S.T.E.N., A.R.M., & WEGO Ministries. In addition to these many duties, he also served, 1961-1966, as a part-time professor at Atlanta Christian College, teaching Personal Evangelism. In 1965 he was nominated one of 10 outstanding young men of America and his biography appeared in the 1965 edition of "Outstanding Young Men of America."
During the years 1966 through 1971 Reggie Thomas served as full-time evangelist with the Christian Restoration Association in Cincinnati, Ohio. His evangelistic work took him to many parts of the world. In 1967 he and his family toured Australia for three months. In 1968 the Thomas evangelistic team toured the African nations of Rhodesia and Zambia for three months. In 1969 the team was in Mexico. In 1970 the team spent three months in the Kiamichi Mountain Mission of Oklahoma. In 1971 the team went all the way around the world spending two months in India. These overseas evangelistic campaigns resulted in more than 5000 souls baptized into Christ. On June 1 , 1971, Mr Thomas resigned his position with the Christian Restoration Association and accepted Cecil Todd’s offer to become Director of Overseas Evangelism for Revival Fires Ministry. Reggie served as Director of Overseas Evangelism un- til 1978 at which time he organized White Fields Overseas Evangelism. It is the goal of White Fields to take the Gospel to every nation.
From December 1979 until June 1987, Reggie served as Senior Minister of Hickory Valley Christian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The following was written in the Hickory Valley Christian Church centennial yearbook in October 1988.
Reggie Thomas, an Evangelist from Missouri, preached a revival from September 16-21, 1979. Following the revival he was asked to become Senior Minister and after much thought and prayer accepted the call. Brother Thomas began his ministry on December 16, 1979. We observed many outstanding days, one of which was "Incredible Day" on September 28, 1981, when we set a goal to raise $50,000 to carpet the sanctuary, provide a church bus, pave the parking lot, etc. This goal was realized. The sanctuary was refurbished with new wall to wall carpet, pews were refinished and reupholstered, and the pulpit and choir area was enlarged and remodeled. Two new congregations were begun by the Hickory Valley Christian Church, The North River Christian Church in Hixson was begun in April, 1982. They have completed an auditorium and a youth building and are now self-supporting. The Mountain View Christian Church in Ooltewah was begun in August, 1985 (they broke ground for their first unit building on March 27, 1988). All indebtedness on the church buildings was paid off and on April 5, 1987 a Bond Burning Celebration was held. Missions giving increased substantially. There were 475 additions during his seven year ministry. Brother Thomas resigned effective May 24, 1987 to return to fulltime evangelistic work. He hopes to see every nation in the world reached for Christ. He is trying to preach where the Gospel has not yet been preached and start as many new churches as possible.
EPILOGUE
During the past 48 years, Reggie has preached and directed great crusades in six continents of the world. In Africa he has preached to some of the most primitive people on earth and thousands were baptized. In India he has preached in the world’s largest leper village. He has criss-crossed Australia and New Zealand, and has preached on many islands of the seas. He was preaching in Chile, South America at the time of the attempted coup, June 30, 1973. He has lived through 2 coups in Nigeria, 2 coups in Ghana, and 5 coups in Haiti. He has traveled over three million (3,000,000) miles preaching the Gospel of Jesus literally AROUND THE WORLD. He has a thrilling story to tell what God has done in overseas evangelism. Since 1966 Mr. Thomas has traveled in 80 different countries of the world. To date, over 275,OOO souls have been baptized into Christ as a part of this overseas ministry.
On January 9, 1988 the Kerala Christian Bible College, Ayoor, India, bestowed the honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree upon Reggie in recognition of 22 years of dedicated evangelistic crusades worldwide. The degree was also granted in appreciation for 13 trips to India. Many people have shared in these crusades including his own family. His dedicated wife, Esther, travels with him in his meetings. Reggie and Esther are thankful for their eight children and their twenty six grandchildren.
On July 1, 2017, Reggie realized it was time to slow down and retire. He asked his youngest daughter Lori to be the Director of White Fields.
During the first couple years of his retirement, Reggie has written a book of his memories at located ministries and a few from his time as a traveling Evangelist. This book is in the midst of being published.
On March 2, 2020, God decided He wanted Reggie to come Home for his heavenly reward. His family, friends, and co-workers miss him dearly but we know where he is and that we will see him again. You can view his Memorial Service here
