Staff
Don Thomas, Senior Pastor
Don & Suzanne Thomas
Our Pastor is not a new face to this congregation…or even this town! Don Thomas has served as our Director of the Christian Campus House since 2005 and has been our Worship Pastorsince 2007. In November 2011, he added the title of Interim Pastor of Central Christian Church, and in April 2012, we made it official! Don is homegrown right here in Portales-a graduate of PHS and ENMU, and has been in some sort of ministry position for over 27 years! He has a real passion for helping people to see that God is FUN and REAL! He & Suzanne (a 2nd Grade teacher at James Elem. in Portales) have one daughter-Landri- and one son-Levi and spend a lot of time chasing them! They love to travel with their Camper, playing & singing music, working on their home and eating meals with their friends. And of course…the Dallas Cowboys! Don worked in the family Printing company for the past 19 years and is involved in several community groups including the Chamber of Commerce, the Ministerial Alliance & the Rotary Club. And you might just hear his voice in the background at the ENMU games…he’s the PA Announcer for the Greyhounds!
Don has l
ong believed that the Church is valuable and important, but that Church is not religion-it is about relationship! He has brought that to the forefront of his ministry through the Christian Campus House and “The Spectrum” College Bible Study. The Spectrum is held on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm and it is discussion-based. They deal with the Wide Spectrum of God and how He works in our lives-there’s coffee, sodas, and open sharing. He continues to try to make worship fun by leading our Praise Team for our Contemporary Service on Sundays at 10:30. Whether it is through newer music (Jeremy Camp, Brenton Brown, Newsboys, etc) or through refreshing & re-arranging classic hymns, the Central Wired Praise team works to lead worship that is challenging and inspirational. And now as the Preaching Minister, he continues to utilize this philosophy by preaching Scripture based sermons with a “Storytellers” edge. It is his strong desire that Central Christian Church be a place for you to connect, to feel valuable and to see a God that loves you and believes in YOU!
Don is available for personal studies, visiting, or a diet Coke anytime…his cell phone is 575.760.1843. He is in the Church office on Mondays and some on Fridays, but you can leave a message on his cell phone anytime.
Jesse Mowrer, Administrator
Jesse is a retired fireman and is blessed to live life as a “kept man”. Jesse and his beautiful wife Donna are the proud parents of two daughters Angela and Marissa.
His other interests include camping, hunting, cars, travel, and almost anything else that catches his attention. There are two life experiences that serve to shape Jesse’s ministry. The first is his military and fire service experience and the second is a distinct calling to study what a biblical New Testament church would look like. Jesse believes in a team approach to church life and has committed himself to be a part of the new reformation of the church into a New Testament community. Jesse would like to see the planning, training, and organization from his military and emergency service experience brought into his work with the Lord’s army but even more importantly he would like to bring the camaraderie and brotherhood he experiences in the fire and emergency medical services system into the church.
Shauna Williams, Children’s Pastor
Shauna is fro
m southern Illinois where she was raised in the church.
She moved to Portales, New Mexico in the summer of 2001 to pursue a Bachelor’s of Early Childhood Education at ENMU. Shauna is currently working on a Masters of Elementary Education.
Shauna met her husband, Jack Williams, at a BBQ in Portales while he was stationed at Cannon AFB. They were married October of 2005, and moved to Misawa, Japan in December, 2007. While there, she worked for four wonderful years as a first-grade teacher for the Department of Defense. Shauna and Jack were blessed with a beautiful miracle baby while stationed in Japan — Molleigh Grace is three years old and is the light of their lives! The family was recently re-assigned back to Cannon for a second tour and immediately knew they would choose to live in Portales again.
Shauna says that she is “so excited to be working with Central as the Children’s Pastor because I have such a passion for educating children and serving the Lord. My favorite scripture is Colossians 3:12….’Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience’.”
