About Tom Rawls
Missionary, author, pastor and Bible teacher.
Tom Rawls is an author, speaker, pastor and missionary whose life has been shaped by one simple conviction: when God calls you, you follow.
Born on January 28, 1957, Tom gave his life to Jesus at the age of 17. What began as a young man’s encounter with Christ has become a calling that has now spanned more than 50 years of ministry, several nations, countless churches and generations of leaders.
50+
years of ministry
12
years serving in Thailand
4–6
months a year committed to Thailand
17
age he gave his life to Jesus
A life of ministry
More than five decades of preaching, planting, teaching and strengthening leaders.
Missionary
Thailand has been woven through Tom’s calling for decades. He spent 12 years there as a missionary, learning the language, serving the Thai church, planting, preaching, training and building relationships that continue to shape his life.
Author
Tom writes from more than theory. His writing is shaped by decades of preaching, leadership, missions, success, failure, pressure, revelation and hard-earned understanding.
Bible Teacher
As a Bible teacher, Tom is committed to Scripture, the presence of God, the work of the Holy Spirit and helping believers live with spiritual awareness and conviction.
Speaker & Pastor
Tom has spent his life preaching the gospel, strengthening churches, developing leaders, serving pastors and helping people encounter the presence and power of God.
The calling
Preaching the gospel, building churches and raising leaders.
Tom has spent his life preaching the gospel, building churches, strengthening pastors, developing leaders, serving the local church and carrying a deep commitment to missions.
Over the years, he has ministered across cultures, taught in Bible colleges, worked alongside national leaders, planted churches, raised significant support for mission across Asia and invested much of his life helping people encounter the presence and power of God.
His ministry has never been about one platform or one season. It has been a long road of obedience, service, leadership, sacrifice and faithfulness to the call of God.
Thailand
The story of Tom Rawls cannot be told without Thailand.
Thailand has been woven through Tom’s calling for decades. He spent 12 years there as a missionary, learning the language, understanding the culture, building relationships, preaching, planting, training and serving the Thai church.
Tom speaks, reads and writes Thai, but Thailand has become far more than the country where he once served. It became part of who he is.
In 2026, after many years away from full-time missionary life, Tom returned to Thailand for an extended period of ministry. What he discovered was not a need to begin again. The relationships were still there. The doors were still open. Pastors were asking for help. Churches were growing. Young leaders were emerging. New opportunities were appearing.
The call had never gone away.
The next chapter
Not retirement. Reinvestment.
After more than 50 years in ministry, Tom believes the later years should not become the quieter years. They should become some of the most fruitful.
1957
A life begins
Tom Rawls was born on January 28, 1957. Years later, at the age of 17, he gave his life to Jesus — a decision that would shape the direction of his entire life.
50+ years
A lifetime of ministry
What began as a young man’s encounter with Christ became a calling spanning more than five decades of ministry, several nations, countless churches and generations of leaders.
Thailand
A nation woven into the calling
Tom spent 12 years in Thailand as a missionary. He speaks, reads and writes Thai, but Thailand became far more than a place where he served — it became part of who he is.
2026
A call confirmed again
After many years away from full-time missionary life, Tom returned to Thailand for an extended period of ministry. The relationships were still there, the doors were still open and the call had never gone away.
2027
A new chapter
At the end of January 2027, Tom will step down from his role as Senior Pastor at Proclaimers Church as part of a planned leadership transition. He is not stepping away from ministry — he is stepping into another expression of it.
Proclaimers Church
A senior pastor stepping into a new expression of ministry.
For many years, Tom has served as a senior pastor in the United Kingdom. At Proclaimers Church in Norwich, he has helped lead, teach, shape culture, develop leaders and build a church with a strong commitment to God’s presence and the work of the Holy Spirit.
At the end of January 2027, Tom will step down from his role as Senior Pastor as part of a planned leadership transition. He is not stepping away from ministry. He is stepping into another expression of it.
He will remain part of the team heading up missions and as a teaching pastor. He is also committed to being back in Thailand for between 4 and 6 months of the year.
“The next chapter would not be retirement. It would be reinvestment.”
Tom carries decades of distilled wisdom, experience, failure, success, pain, joy, revelation and hard-earned understanding. His heart is to give that away to pastors, churches, leaders and the next generation.
Tom and Denise
A shared story of marriage, family, sacrifice and ministry.
Tom and his wife, Denise, have shared this journey for decades. Denise is his wife, his partner in life and ministry, and the mother at the heart of their family.
Behind the public ministry sits a long-shared story of marriage, sacrifice, faith, change, laughter, pressure and the kind of partnership that only grows through years of walking the same road together.
ACCI Missions
Strengthening pastors, churches and the next generation in Thailand.
Today, Tom serves with ACCI Missions as a field worker with a particular focus on Thailand. His heart is to strengthen pastors, encourage younger leaders, help churches grow, support church planting, invest in emerging ministries and create opportunities for the next generation to experience missions for themselves.
Strengthening pastors
Encouraging younger leaders
Helping churches grow
Supporting church planting
Investing in emerging ministries
Creating opportunities for the next generation to experience missions
Author and speaker
Writing and speaking from a lifetime of ministry, not theory alone.
Alongside his pastoral and missionary work, Tom writes and speaks with the same passion that has marked his ministry for decades. His writing is direct, practical, theological and rooted in a lifetime of ministry rather than theory alone.
His book Unseen explores the reality of the spiritual world, spiritual warfare and the biblical call for believers to understand the enemy’s schemes without becoming obsessed or fanatical with them.
As a speaker, Tom brings more than information to a platform. He brings history. He has seen movements rise and fall, watched churches grow, leaders succeed, leaders fail, cultures change, nations open and generations come and go.
“Christians cannot afford to live unaware of the spiritual realities Scripture takes seriously.”
Tom has lived long enough to know that ministry cannot survive on personality, hype or talent alone. Character matters. Calling matters. The presence of God matters. And finishing well matters.
What Tom carries
Faith, mission, Scripture, character and the presence of God.
When God calls you, you follow.
The local church still matters.
Missions still matter.
The Holy Spirit still moves.
The gospel has lost none of its power.
Finishing well matters.
There is still work to do
Still writing. Still preaching. Still traveling. Still believing.
This season of Tom’s life is about giving away what decades of ministry have taught him. It is about Thailand again. It is about pastors who need strengthening, younger leaders who need someone to believe in them, churches that need encouragement, missionaries who need support and a generation that needs fathers as much as it needs platforms.
After more than 50 years of ministry, Tom has no intention of spending the rest of his life simply talking about what God once did.
Speaking invitations
Invite Tom to share from a lifetime of ministry, mission and Bible teaching.
Tom is available for churches, conferences and ministry events where his experience as a missionary, author, pastor and Bible teacher can encourage leaders, strengthen faith and point people back to the presence and power of God.