Thomas Amos serves as the new archivist for the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention Historical Commission, lay elder at Northern Hills Community Church in Phoenix, and a traveling preacher — all while attending Gateway Seminary in Phoenix.

Thomas did not grow up in a Southern Baptist home. While researching denominations that aligned with his understanding of Scripture, he discovered the Southern Baptist Convention’s focus on missions.

“At the time, I didn’t know what the Cooperative Program was,” Thomas says. ”I just knew there was a big missions emphasis. I didn’t realize that missions was CP at work.”

Called to ministry as a teen, Thomas started preaching in small churches in Alabama, eventually attending Boyce College in Kentucky, before moving to Arizona.

“The Cooperative Program has had the greatest impact on my education,” he says. “I’m the first in my family to have a bachelor’s degree, and I’m hoping to have a master’s from Gateway. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if it hadn’t been for the Cooperative Program.”

Today, in his role as archivist, Thomas sees how the Cooperative Program has impacted Arizona Southern Baptists. “Without the Cooperative Program, most of the history I’m working with wouldn’t have happened,” he says.

“Without the Cooperative Program, so many of the churches wouldn’t exist, and the work that has been done in Arizona wouldn’t have been done. The Cooperative Program funded churches to get started, and it supported them in the early years. I can only imagine the eternal impact it’s going to have.”

This is part of what leads Thomas to say, “I am a Southern Baptist in a large part because of the Cooperative Program.”

Thomas Amos is the CP.

Because you and your church give, You are the CP.