Rev. Dr. Jeffery R. Thomas, M.Div., Ph.D.








       Rev. Dr. Jeffery R. Thomas graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Religion from Paine College in Augusta, GA.  While at Paine College Dr. Thomas became a Fund for Theological Education Undergraduate Fellow and an Andrew W. Mellon Social Science Research Council Fellow.  Dr. Thomas also received numerous other awards including being named the United Negro College Fund Pre-Alumni Council Male of the Year (2000); inducted into the Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society; named to the National Dean’s List; became a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Fellow; received the Paine College Distinguished Recognition Award, and became a Black College Fund Ambassador, which allowed him to travel extensively across the United States as a conference speaker and advocate for higher education.
       In 2001 Dr. Thomas received a Presidential Scholarship to attend the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA where he earned a Master of Divinity Degree.  During graduation ceremonies he was honored with the Church of the Good Shepherd Preaching Award and the Edwin and Frances Witman Pastoral Care Award.  After receiving his Master of Divinity degree, Dr. Thomas became a Fund for Theological Education Doctoral Fellow and received another Presidential Scholarship from the Claremont School of Theology to pursue a Ph.D.  He then earned a Master of Arts degree and completed a two-year clinical residency at the Clinebell Institute for Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy.  
       In 2009, he completed all requirements for the Ph.D. including the dissertation, titled: The Liberative-Prophetic: A Socio-Theological and Psychospiritual Analysis of Skid Row, Los Angeles.  Dr. Thomas was awarded the Ph.D. in Theology and Personality with an emphasis in pastoral counseling and psychotherapy.  During the graduation ceremony, he was awarded the highest academic award given by the school: The President’s Award for Academic Excellence.  In 2010, Dr. Thomas was invited to teach an adjunct class on Social Conflict and Ministries of Care, also at Claremont.
       Dr. Thomas was licensed to preach the gospel in 1995, ordained in 2002 and became an elder in 2006 in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.  He has served in various capacities of numerous churches including the Raise Bridge CME Church in Waynesboro, GA; Westwood United Methodist Church, of Los Angeles, CA and the Holman United Methodist Church, also of Los Angeles.  He also served as the senior pastor of the Central City Community Church in Skid Row, Los Angeles in the epicenter of America’s largest homeless population.  He and the church were featured on the nationally syndicated television show The American Bible Society Presents.  His work also can be seen in, Skid Row: God, by Sam Slovick; Finding God in the City of Angels, produced by the Institute for Signifying Scriptures at Claremont Graduate University; the upcoming documentary movie, Lost Angels, produced by Big Time Productions and the CBS Television show The Bold and the Beautiful.  His ministry also was featured in the Los Angeles Sentinel, the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Downtown News. 
    Dr. Thomas' passion is to assist and empower underserved and marginalized individuals and families in becoming self-sufficient and emotionally, psychologically and spiritually whole.
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Trinity CME Church