Pastor Creston Thomas

Creston grew up in a family that loved the person of Christ, yet at a young age he became hostile toward the gospel after witnessing professing believers living in willful sin. While attending a church function, the Lord brought him to the realization that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. By God's abundant mercy, He graciously called Creston from death to life around the age of fourteen. Since that supernatural work of grace, the Lord has continued to grow him in the knowledge and love of Christ, the Sustainer of the universe. He became a member of Wheeler Chapel Missionary Baptist Church and later New St. Hurricane Missionary Baptist Church.

Growing up on the west side of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Creston witnessed firsthand the brokenness and hardships within his community. Those experiences gave him a lasting burden to see Christ exalted in places marked by suffering and hopelessness. This passion first led him to share the gospel within the inner city of Memphis then to refugee families from Burundi, Nepal, Tanzania, and Burma while attending First International Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Creston continued loving refugee families as he eventually moved to Fort Worth, Texas.

Creston graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity in Biblical and Theological Studies. While at Southern, he became a member of the Reformed Baptist Church of Louisville. His interests include biblical languages, Patristics, the African Diaspora, Reformation history, and apologetics. Prior to attending Southern, he earned an undergraduate degree from the Herff College of Engineering at the University of Memphis.

While attending seminary in Kentucky, Creston served in various ministries at the Kentucky State Prison, the Louisville Rescue Mission, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Creston is married to Alina, and together they homeschool their nine children: Xristi, Eden, Yo'el, Creston Jr., Emreh, Benaiah, Trinity, Zakarti, and Gianna. As a family, they desire to glorify God by faithfully serving Christ through the ministry of the local church and raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Outside of pastoral ministry, Creston enjoys discipling and training his children, coaching and participating in sports with them, and using athletics as an opportunity to build character, cultivate discipline, and encourage them to glorify Christ in every area of life.

In 2023, the Lord gave Creston and his wife Alina a deep love for East Africa. Now they enjoy traveling to Uganda to encourage Ugandan believers, as well as Sudanese and Congolese refugees. They also delights in strengthening pastors and their wives serving in the Maasai village of Naumcha, Kenya, and churches near Lake Naivasha, Kenya.

Above all, desire is to faithfully shepherd Christ's church through the ordinary means of grace, boldly preach the whole counsel of God, equip the saints for the work of ministry, and see the glory of Christ proclaimed from the neighborhoods of Pine Bluff to the neighborhoods of the world.