“Pastor T” was born in Flint, Michigan as the first child of a World War 2 Veteran from Texas named Cleave Thomas and his bride from Jamaica whose maiden name was Sybil Pearl Gordon. Raised in the Public Schools and reared in the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, he enjoyed arts, athletics and the party life like all of the kids in his community. Though baptized at 12, he dates his salvation to his junior year in high school, when he made a radical decision to embrace Jesus as his Personal Leader at a Tom Skinner Rally at the I.M.A. Auditorium in his home town.

At the advice of his pastor, Rev. Roy I. Greer, he enrolled in Bishop College. There he surrendered to the overwhelming compulsion he had to preach since 14, and delivered his trial sermon at the age of 17. He was mentored in ministry first by Rev. F. L. Livingston at the St. John Primitive Baptist Church and then by Dr. J. Lee Foster at the First Baptist Church of Hamilton Park, and finally by Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker at Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem while a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

His first ministry position was as Assistant to Pastor William Turner of the Community Baptist Church of San Francisco, where he served until called to Pastor Jerusalem Baptist Church of Palo Alto. During 12 years in ministry there, the church experienced phenomenal growth, as he organized R.I.S.E. Men’s Ministry, Community-wide ecumenical events, and led the congregation in the construction of a new sanctuary and administrative wing.

Called from there to Zion Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., Pastor Thomas pioneered 50 new ministries in the congregation and community during 10 years of ministry. The congregation embraced a Purpose-Driven administrative concept, installed two Sunday Services and a Wednesday Pastor’s Bible Study Hour, “Praise Brigade” monthly evangelistic outreaches, and L.I.O.N.S. and S.H.E.B.A. Rites of Passage Ministries for male and female teenagers that took high school students to Ghana, West Africa as part of their adulthood training.
Destiny Church is a dream born in the heart of “Pas T” for a fresh ministry that incorporates the best of the past with a flair for the future. Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is like a householder who pulls out of his treasures things old and new.” Starting in Northeast Washington and now located in Waldorf, Maryland, this new fellowship is blossoming with classic Word, contemporary Worship, and community witness for the burgeoning exurbs of Charles County, Maryland.

Along the way, he has earned a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary, been a newspaper columnist, author, organizer of mission trips to Jamaica, Ghana and South, Africa, and has gained a national reputation as a preacher in conferences and revivals. He is the husband of Shanda Marie Thomas, and the father of five children: three college graduates on their own (praise God!) and two pre-schoolers still at home (Lord, help!).