User:Lucases/Tom Rawls

Tom Rawls (born 28 January 1957, in Lakeland, Florida, USA) is a Christian pastor and missionary ordained by the Assemblies of God in Australia. He is currently the Senior Pastor of Proclaimers Church in Norwich, England. He has pioneered many cutting-edge churches in Australia, and has an extensive background in world missions throughout Asia.

Early life
Rawls was born in Lakeland, Florida, on 28 January 1957, and moved to Australia at the age of 11. He became a Christian at the age of 17, and later attended Commonwealth Bible College (now Southern Cross College), graduating with a diploma in Bible and Theology. He began ministering on a full time basis in January 1979.

1979-1991: Church Planting
In 12 years Tom planted 8 churches across Australia, including Alice Springs, Horsham and Destiny Church in Moorabbin, Melbourne. He also pioneered a "Christian pub rock" style of worship in Victoria, as well as running Youth Alive Victoria Music department, alongside Mal Fletcher.

1991–2003: World Mission
Tom has served oversees as a missionary for 12 and a half years. During this time he was primarily based in Bangkok, Thailand. His insights into world mission are based upon 9 years experience of working with AOG World Missions Australia and 3 years with World Vision.

He served as Field Leader for Thailand for 2 years and as Regional Director for 5 years. This work took him primarily to Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and around the Asia region. He also ministered in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In his role as Regional Director (1995 – 2000) he made many visits back to Australia for recruiting, fund raising and interviewing potential missionaries. In his last two years with AOG World Missions, Tom served in an executive position on the World Missions Council: the first ever sitting missionary to be appointed to the board.

In June 2000, Rawls joined World Vision where most of his work was focused on World Visions’s largest field, Bangladesh. Tom worked with expats and local World Vision staff to formulate a program to ensure the spiritual formation of World Visions’s Christian staff. Rawls was involved in capacity building, leadership development and communicating World Vision’s culture and values. During this time he was responsible for compiling a book on “Folk Islamic Practices” with commensurate studies in Islamic Studies. In his role with World Vision, Rawls travelled extensively in Asia and to other countries including Ethiopia, South Africa and the United States of America.

2003-present: Norwich, England
Tom and Denise Rawls arrived in Norwich, England in June 2003 to pastor Proclaimers Church. The church was first founded in the early 1990s by Bob Gordon. Rawls is an internationally sought after preacher and teacher, having recently spoken at Hillsong Conference, Hillsong International Leadership College and Eurolead.net Leadership Consultation.