Shawn Thomas
Family
Married to Cheryl Shores, 1982
Children: Paul (1985), David (1987), Libby (1989), Michael (1998) and 11 grandchildren!
Education
M.Div., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1985
B.A. in Communications, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma, 1982
Harrah High School, Harrah, Oklahoma, 1977
Pastoral Ministry
February 2019- January 2025 Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Angleton, TX
March 2015 — January 2019 Senior Pastor, Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Morganton, NC
June 2014 — February 2015
Interim Pastor, First Baptist Church, Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
2000-2013
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Moss Bluff, Lake Charles, Louisiana
1994-2000
Pastor, Living Oaks Baptist Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma
1991-1994
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Beggs, Oklahoma
1986-1991
Pastor, Dickson Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Testimony and Ministry
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home, and followed Christ in a Vacation Bible School at age 7. Our family settled in Harrah, Oklahoma in 1968, where we attended the First Baptist Church. I was baptized there at age 8, and was discipled, called to ministry, and served as a ministry intern before leaving for seminary in 1982.
After serving as pastor for almost 40 years in Southern Baptist churches, I am now retired, living in Norman, Oklahoma, where I care for my wife Cheryl (recuperating from a stroke since August 2024) and write Sunday School lesson overviews each week for teachers of the Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson curriculum.
Denominational Service includes:
– Board of Directors, Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, 1997-2000
– Executive Board, Louisiana Baptist Convention, 2002-2006
– Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, Louisiana (Baptist) College 2007-2012
– Vice Moderator and Moderator, Gulf Coast Baptist Association, 2022-2024
shawnethomas 
Hi Pastor! I’m Fernan – Junior preacher from the Philippines, I’m so Blessed of how God uses you as His servant. I pray that our good Lord continue to Bless your life as a pastor and many lives will be touched by God thru all your preachings.
Thank you for the blessing and the encouraging words, Fernan. For reasons I do not know (perhaps you have some insight into it?) there are a number of people in the Philippines who read the messages. Regardless I am grateful that the Lord is using them. God bless you as you serve Him!
Hi Pastor Shawn, i am also a subscriber and a Baptist Pastor from the Philippines and loves reading your expository preaching messages. Praying that God will continually use you to bless others in the ministry.
Thank you so much, pastor. I am grateful that the messages might be a blessing to you!
I just read your blog about Psalms 3:3 “He is the Lifter of My Head” and it totally blessed me. I was looking on Google for a commentary about 2 Samuel 15 and clicked on your link after diving deeper into scripture. This blog was is full of truth, included personal stores and contained vivid truths about the Word that came alive in my heart. May God continue to bless you in a powerful way especially in writing. Thank you.
I enjoyed your Matthew 4:18-22 message.
Thank you Bertram.
In my daily reading today, Oct 6 (Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s plan) it spoke of Hiram and the gift of cities from Solomon. Because it was Cabul I wondered where it was so googled and came upon your excellent post on this topic. Still wondering though, did Solomon give him something else? Were they still friends after the insulting gift? We won’t know. But what is interesting is Hiram and his response. Hiram still called Solomon “brother.” It appears Hiram expressed his thoughts on the gift trying to let Solomon know they were still friends. It’s also interesting that the wisest man in the world would do something so unwise to Hiram who had helped him. Hiram may have been much older and chalked it up to a young ruler still learning. Loved learning about Cabul and linking it with Galilee and why they thought nothing good could come from there. Just sooooo wonderful. I love how the Lord takes us on ventures in knowing Him as we daily read the Word.
Amen; His word is deeper than we will ever fully dive into! Thank you for reading and commenting.
Hi Shawn, I am a newly ordain Baptist Minister and I have started a Bible Study in my home. I use the Life Way material to help teach the Bible. Your weekly overview of the material provides me will excellent commentary to ponder and use in my lesson. I pray the Lord will continue to Bless your ministry and all those you reach. Thanks again for the helpful tips.
Tony Cobbs
I’m thankful that the tips are helpful to you, Tony. Praying for you and your new group this morning; God bless and use you for His kingdom and glory!
Hello Pastor Thomas, I’m a Sunday school teacher and was looking for any videos on 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. I’ve always found valuable insight in your videos and found that it leads me in having great communication with my class along with allowing me to teach from the Bible. Thank you in advance and God Bless
Steven, I don’t think I have any videos on the Johannine Epistles — I do have a relatively recent sermon on “Tests of Your Salvation” from the Book of I John, and a few others. If you do a search in the search bar on the home page, they should come up for you. God bless you as you serve Him with your class.
Dear Pastor Thomas, I have received a specific “revelation” or “prophecy” regarding Joshua 14:9 for quite some time now. It`s quite unique. Could you please make contact with me? Then I can give a more detailed explanation. I need to know if there might be anything that I am missing (from your point of view), as opposed to how I understand it. My email address: amon7heaven@gmail.com Thx, Amon Coetzee
what is s a “New Testament” church?
Christy, it just means a church that is based on the New Testament, and is committed to follow its teachings for faith & practice. All true churches of Christ are New Testament churches.
does that mean the Old Testament is disregarded?
sorry I just haven’t heard this except/unless you mean you’re disregarding the Old Testament such as Andy Stanley now preaches to allow room for homosexuals and other practices that are considered sin based in the Old Testament.
Christy I absolutely do not mean anything like that. If you will read my sermons and teaching it will be very clear that I believe that “all scripture is inspired by God,” and that I have consistently taught what the whole Bible teaches: that Homosexuality is prohibited not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament. The moral laws of the Old Testament have not changed, but in fact are reiterated in the New Testament. I had no “hidden agenda” behind using the term, other than to mean a Biblical church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that helps clear up any misunderstanding.
Yes! Thank you! It was a genuine question. Not meant to make you defensive although, I do love when people defend their faith! I’m sure you know that there are many who want to throw out the Old Testament and I wasn’t sure what you meant. Thank you for being clear and for being a brother in Christ who recognizes the value of both the Old and New. You know well enough how important it is to guard our doctrine closely. I appreciate the time you took to respond and I plan to use your article this week on “pouring out” with my family worship this week. Have a great day!
You’re very welcome Christy. I’m happy to answer a sincere question — and I agree that sadly there are a lot of false teachers and teachings that surround genuine Christianity today, so I understand the need to sometimes question. I’m grateful that the article will be helpful to you; and pray God’s blessings on you and your family!
Hi Shawn. Do you live in Norman still? Do you speak at churches? I’m in Newcastle, OK. Please email me at the attached address. Thank you, Duane
Yes sir; I’ll try to send a note to that address, but the answer is yes, we live in Norman and I would be available to speak at churches. I have spoken at some discipleship meetings and the Chinese Fellowship here at Trinity, and would be available to speak at other churches as well. If I have difficulty connecting, my email is: setfbc@bellsouth.net.
Pastor I would like to invite you to come speak during our missions conference in September 2026.Here ,in Zambia.