PRESSROOM

*DETAILED AUTHOR BIO:

As a pastor, professor and author, Dr. Mike Thomas has been active in sharing his faith with others.

A strong academic with a passion for languages, Thomas graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a B.A. and an M.A. in Spanish and French (1970/1971). He continued his education at the University of Kansas, earning a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese in 1975, and went on to teach the same languages at the University of Houston for the next eight years.  Thomas then left Houston to teach Spanish and French at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, where he remained for 18 years. Thomas has also done postdoctoral study at the Université de Paris (Sorbonne), Dartmouth College and Yale University. In 1990, he was named a Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation of San Antonio, Texas, a statewide award for teaching excellence in universities.

Since 2001, Thomas has been a professor of Spanish and director of the Division of Spanish and Portuguese at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has conducted workshops in foreign language teaching methodology for the Texas Foreign Language Association, the University of Texas at Austin and other institutions.

In 1982, Thomas combined his extensive knowledge of foreign languages with his desire to spread the word of God and founded the Logos Language Institute. The institute is an evangelistic ministry equipping Christians to witness and minister in more than 20 foreign languages. Thomas has done missionary work in several Spanish-speaking countries, including Cuba, Mexico and throughout Central and South America. He has also done mission work in Korea and France.

Thomas has written two books: a second-year college Spanish textbook, ˇDe viva voz! (McGraw-Hill, 2001); and A Harvest of Miracles: True Stories that Challenge, Encourage, and Inspire (Halcyon Press Ltd., October 2007), a collection of more than 60 miraculous stories demonstrating God's work in the lives of ordinary people around the world. The stories Thomas shares in A Harvest of Miracles were originally published over an eight-year period as columns in the Temple Daily Telegram, Temple, Texas.

Thomas and his wife, Susan, currently reside in Temple, Texas, where he has served as pastor of New Hope Community Church for more than 10 years. They have three grown children and three grandchildren.