Pastor Michael Thomas - "Shifting"

By Monica Montgomery

Photos Provided by Still Shots Photography

The life of a servant isn’t for everyone. Just ask Jesus. It takes a special kind of person and next-level faith to accept the commission of God to Shepherd, a church. Pastor Michael Thomas has been the senior pastor of Love & Faith Christian Fellowship for almost thirty-two years, and although his title is changing, he’s not slowing down. He’s just shifting gears.

“I started Love & Faith Christian Fellowship on January 6th, 1991. It was the first Sunday of the new year. We started with three members: myself, my wife, and my daughter. Thirty-two years later, God has just blessed our socks off,” Pastor Thomas explained humbly.

In the thirty-plus years that Love & Faith Christian Fellowship has been in operation, they have grown from a three-member fellowship to having over three-thousand members across two campuses. “We are one church in two locations. Our main campus is at 4344 Blackberry Road, Greensboro, North Carolina. Then there’s the other campus located at 521 Cinema Drive in Kernersville, North Carolina.”

Pastor Thomas says what he believes sets Love & Faith Christian Fellowship apart is that everything they do as a church body and as individuals is based on nine spiritual principles. These nine princiciples are what their church community is founded upon.

“I’ve taught our church nine spiritual principles that I believe have revolutionized our church. These principles are not new to the body of Christ, but we teach them as foundational tools to strengthen families, directly affecting the community at large.”

The pandemic tested everyone. Many people were forced to put their faith into action during those lean times. Pastor Thomas says LFCF was no exception. But it was during our darkest hour that God’s faithfulness and truth shine brightest.

“We received many emails and phone calls with testimonies of how the nine spiritual principles helped them navigate through and survive during the worst parts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As I said, these principles are not new, but when applied to our daily walk, I have found that we can connect successfully with God and His promises for our lives and those around us.”

These principles have helped make Love & Faith Christian Fellowship a pillar in the Greensboro community. “Even before Covid, we fed our members every Wednesday so they could come to bible study without worrying about dinner. A professional chef would come in every week and prepare those meals. When Covid hit, we shifted from feeding the members to opening it up to the community. So now we feed anywhere from fourteen to fifteen hundred families every Wednesday. We prepare the food and put them on to-go plates. The people drive by and pick them up.”

“I don’t have a middle name, but I tell people my middle name is Abraham. The reason is that everywhere God has called me, I had to walk by faith. Just like with Abraham, God didn’t explain everything to me. But when God said go, I went, not quite sure of where I was going.”

Before founding LFCF, Pastor Thomas lived comfortably in San Antonio, TX, with his wife and daughter. When the Holy Spirit spoke to him about leaving Texas and moving to North Carlina, Thomas had to take a breath. “I was born and raised in North Carolina, but the thought of leaving a great job to come to North Carolina and build a church from scratch was scary. My walk with God has been scary. I tell people that walking by faith is like riding a rollercoaster. It’s exciting and scary at the same time.”

After thirty-two years of building and preparing, God is shifting Pastor Thomas again.

“God has blessed LFCF beyond measure over the years. I’m not kidding when I say someone gives their life to Christ at our church every Sunday. We are debt free at both campuses as of 2020. We weren’t supposed to pay off the Kernersville location until 2027, but God moved, and we were able to pay it off during the pandemic!” Thomas explained with excitement. “And we did it all without begging for money. At no point have we ever had to have special offerings to meet any ministry need. At LFCF, we are firm believers in tithing and giving. God has been so faithful to us that I wanted to help other pastors and churches.”

One major issue that Pastor Thomas found was that misinformation concerning biblical doctrine and absolutes was the cause of many struggling churches. “I started by pastoring local pastors, then other pastors around the country. I felt a burden to help them achieve the ministry success possible when you teach the people God has entrusted you with to trust Him at his word. Good Shepherds is a non-denominational alliance of pastors coming together to strengthen local churches in the faith and build the Kingdom of God. We forego denominational restrictions and operate in concert with the local church’s autonomy. However, we believe that doctrinal agreement is key to organizational harmony and unity of the faith.” But God’s plans were much bigger than Thomas’s.

“We have members of our church from Ghana who sent copies of the message to their family and friends. We were already a Missions church, but due to the exposure, I was invited to come to Ghana. We’ve been in Ghana for ten years now. From that, we now have twenty nations that are part of Good Shepherd Fellowship International and thirteen more who have requested to join.”

Pastor Thomas has had the opportunity to travel and see God move in every corner of the globe.

“I went to China, and I walked into the underground church, and I could not believe what I saw. It shamed me. It was like walking in the book of Acts. We call it the Act of the Apostles, but it’s the Acts of the Holy Spirit. I had an amazing experience with God there. We’re doing all this stuff. We’re running and shouting and turning flips, but some of us don’t have the power of God. We have a form of godliness, but there, I saw the actual Power of God in action. I saw people willing to literally die for what they believed. China is a communist country with tight restrictions on what information they access. Still, without social media, television, radio, and podcasts, the largest move of God right now is taking place in China.” From His experience in China, Pastor Thomas wrote The 10 Essential Ingredients for Christian Living.

Seeing the thirst for God in countries like Ghana and China, Pastor Thomas understood that God was calling him higher. It was time for him to shift.

“I’ll be honest; shifting has not been comfortable for me. After years of being here, the grace for pastoring a local congregation began to lift. God had been dealing with me for two years about starting Good Shepherd Fellowship International. Then one night in prayer, the Holy Spirit said, “Mike, the grace is about to lift for that. If you don’t move, I will give your assignment to somebody else. That’s when I surrendered,” he shares.

Many were disheartened to hear that Pastor Thomas was stepping down. As a beloved figure, he would be missed. Some assumed it was retirement, but Pastor Thomas wants to set the record straight. “I’m not retiring. I’m shifting. Shifting means moving from one assignment to another. I’ll be honest shifting has not been comfortable for me. After years of being here, the grace for pastoring a local congregation began to lift. I don’t ever want to be outside God’s will.”

Pastor Thomas with his grandson, August

Although Pastor Thomas was a little afraid of the unknown, he has no worries about the future of Love & Faith Christian Fellowship. “I’ve been grooming a young man who has been at our church for thirty years. Pastor John Goins will be stepping up as the senior pastor, and I have every faith in him and his ability to lead LFCF to our next level.”

As for Pastor Thomas, he will have a new title. “My new position is head of Missions and Chairman of the Executive board. So, I’m still a Pastor. I’m just pastoring pastors now. In two weeks, I leave for India, then Malaysia and Dubai. I will still be at LFCF, but just not as visible.” Originally Pastor Thomas was going to take on the title Pastor Emeritus, but God gave him clarity about whom he was becoming.

“Most of my friends who have stepped down as senior pastors have taken the title “Pastor Emeritus.” I was going to take on that definition, but the Holy Spirit told me I needed to look up the definition of emeritus. It was a fancy word for retiring. The Holy Spirit told me that I wasn’t retiring. He said, ‘I am taking you to a higher place of usefulness. Because of your faithfulness over your last assignment, I am going to use you in a greater manner.’ I’ve never been this way, so it’s scary and exciting simultaneously,” he says.