Testimony and Bio – Dr. Wright

Thomas WrightDr. C. Thomas Wright
Executive Director of Missions (Associational Missionary)

“Thanks to my folks, I have been involved in Southern Baptist churches since the cradle roll. I recognized my sin and accepted Jesus as my Savior at eight years old. The Lord protected me from many teenage vices and I remember admitting to a high school friend that one day “I might be a preacher.”

I entered the pre-medical program at Shorter College and soon joined the Baptist Student Union. That fellowship was instrumental in teaching me the need for a daily walk with the Lord. In the summer of 1977, I went on a BSU-sponsored medical mission trip to Grenada, West Indies. I realized while serving there that the evangelistic work was much more enjoyable than the medical work. I heard and accepted a clear call to missions. The remainder of college confirmed the desire to be a “doctor of the Spirit” instead of a doctor of the body. I enjoyed the subsequent years of missionary service in church planting/evangelism in Thailand and with the HMB/NAMB. I have particularly enjoyed serving as adjunctive professor of missions/evangelism at Liberty, SEBTS and NOBTS.

I accepted the call to Mobile in December 2004. I have been interested in associational missions since the college internship and have been recommended to several different associations. I never felt led to accept until I heard from the Mobile personnel committee.

I am looking forward to serving with our associational committees as we emphasize Biblical Prayer, Evangelistic Ministries, Church Development, Church Planting, and Partnership Missions.”

Dr. Thomas Wright serves as the Executive Director of Missions for the Mobile Baptist Association (Associational Missionary). He serves with the associational staff to lead our 109+ churches in biblical prayer, evangelistic ministries, local and global missions partnerships, church starting, church growth, and strategy development.

Thomas is married to the former Donna Jean Reynolds, a native of Chattooga County, Georgia. They have one son, Jason (born 1988), and one daughter, Amy (born 1991), both married. Donna is Education Minister at West Mobile Baptist Church and freelance writer for LifeWay curriculum and other periodicals. She earned a Master of Arts in Religious Education from SWBTS in 1986.  Donna earned a Ph.D. in Leadership in 2017.

FACTUAL DATA

Birth: 1957, Atlanta, Georgia

Ordination: Friendship Baptist Church, Rome, Georgia, 1981

Education: Shorter College, Rome, GA, 1975-79, B.A.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX, 1981-84, M.Div.;Ph.D. 1985-88, (Summa cum Laude). His dissertation was entitled “A missiological strategy for the evangelization of Lowland Laotian Refugees in the United States.”

Additional study: Baylor University; Fuller Theological Seminary

Visiting Scholar, Oxford University, England, 1995

Experience: Youth Minister, Blackwood Springs Baptist, Calhoun, GA, 1976-78

Minister to Youth and Youth Music, Friendship Baptist Church, Rome, GA, 1978-79

President, Shorter Christian Association (all campus ministries), 1978-79

Missionary Journeyman, IMB, Bangkok, Thailand, 1979-81. Served as Dean of the English school at

the Baptist Student Center, worked in refugee camps with Laotians, Cambodians and Vietnamese.

Founding Pastor, First Laotian Baptist, Ft. Worth, TX, 1981-86,

Founding Pastor, Saginaw Laotian Mission, Saginaw, TX, 1985-87

National Ethnic Missionary, HMB, Atlanta, GA, 1986-89, assisted starting language congregations

Dir., Language Church Dev. Dept., HMB, Atlanta, GA,1989-91, Strategy development and training

Dir., Materials Dev., Evangelism Section, HMB, Atlanta, GA, 1991-97

Interim Pastor, Cumming Baptist Church, 2001- 2002

Prayer Strategist, Prayer Evangelism Unit, NAMB, Alpharetta, GA, 1997-2004

Executive Director of Missions, Mobile Baptist Association, 2005-Present

Other: Adjunct Professor, Liberty University, N. Georgia School of Christian Training, New Orleans, Golden Gate, Southeastern, Southern, and Southwestern Seminaries. Classes taught in evangelism, missions, church growth, Baptist History, Christian History, Interfaith evangelism, New Testament, Preaching, and others.

Partnership Evangelism and Missions: Japan, Australia, Guatemala  Italy, France, Brazil, Croatia, Hong Kong, Mexico,vGrenada, West Indies. Teaching ESL classes, Refugee ministry, Prayer walking, scripture distribution, street witnessing, revivals, back yard Bible clubs, church planting, church growth, evangelism, and prayer workshops.

Curriculum writer, NAMB, Brotherhood, BSSB, WMU, LifeWay, 1993-present

Review editor, Journal for Academy of Evangelism in Theological Education, 1993-1998

Contributing Author, The Net, Meeting Our World; Fifty Great Soul-Winning Sermons, Before Revival Comes, and Chapter 27 “Contextual Evangelism” in the B&H Missiology textbook, Design team for Total Church Life, People Sharing Jesus, Mormon Puzzle, Vietnamese and Cambodian Baptist Hymnals, “Here’s Hope” and “Celebrate Jesus” national simultaneous evangelism emphases.

International Who’s Who, Board of Publications – Missiology Magazine, 1995-1999

Articles in: Baptist History and Heritage; Deacon; Net Results; Missions USA; Evangelism Today; Search; Christian Single;Viewpoints; Adult Extra

Author: Taking Prayer to Streets, A Prayer Guide for Associations & Churches , PrayTimer: Real Time for Real Prayer, software and Bible study. Co-author: Total Church Life Leaders Guide;

Released by Mobile Baptist Association, 616 Azalea Rd. Mobile AL, 36609

Dr. Wright’s published materials include:

PrayTimer (in English and Spanish)

Prayer Guide for Associations and Churches

Taking Prayer to the Streets available in English, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese

Chapter 27 “Contextual Evangelism Strategies” in the B&H Textbook Missiology; Design team for NAMB’s Evangelism Material  The NET

Internet Evangelism article in Decision Magazine, Conducting a Deaf Ministry and Preparing a Church for a Deaf Ministry, and How to conduct a Wild Game Banquet in Men at Work Magazine.

Articles in Alabama Baptist: Evangelism in a Pluralistic Context and Giving an Evangelistic Invitation

Church Media Magazine article entitled “The Role of the Media Library in Evangelism”

WMU Our Missions World Articles on Prison ministryUnity, Obedience, Imitating Christ, and Reaching a Muslim Neighbor.

WMU Week of Prayer articles on supporting evangelism, missionaries, CP & AAEO, and North American Missions

PrayTimer
Video Segment Introductions to Dr. Wright’s PrayTimer book

PrayTimer Overview (4 minutes)

PrayTimer Overview (1 minute)

Download the PrayTimer 2.0 software below

The prayer software in the PrayTimer book is version 1.0 and outdated. Create an export file of your data and uninstall the program. Then install this free upgrade and import your prayer data.

PrayTimer 2.0 for PC

PrayTimer 2.0 for Max 9x

PrayTimer 2.0 for Mac 10x

Instructions For Macintosh:
You will need the latest version of StuffIt Expander, which is version 5.5, to expand the add-on Zip files. Earlier versions may not work. Download the free version of StuffIt Expander5.5 (about 10 minutes at 24k modem speed).

Click here to print the instructions for the Beta test version of PrayTimer 2.0.

PrayTimer Chapters 1-3 Powerpoint

PrayTimer Chapters 4-6 Powerpoint

PrayTimer Chapters 1-3 Teaching Outline

PrayTimer Chapters 4-6 Teaching Outline

PrayTimer Teacher’s Guide