Alabama’s Eason retires after 42 years with NAMB

According to the North American Mission Board (NAMB), only one current employee has served longer than Thomas Eason.

Eason spent 42 years working with the Southern Baptist entity — 35 of them with the Baptist Convention of New Mexico (BCNM). But earlier this year, he bowed out of the friendly competition and retired.

A Goodwater native and graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Eason spent the first eight years of his ministry as a pastor of Alabama Baptist churches. He went on to graduate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Mexican Baptist Bible Institute in San Antonio.

In 1968, he and his wife, Betty (of Birmingham), were appointed by the Home Mission Board (now NAMB). Eason served three years as a pastor in New Mexico before he and his wife began four years of service as regional missionaries in eastern Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 1976, Eason began his ministry with the BCNM as a catalytic missionary to Doña Ana County. He retired as language church strategist for all of southern New Mexico. In between, he also taught in the Contextualized Leadership Development program of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif.; led missions outreach projects and Vacation Bible schools; developed a chapel on wheels ministry of Bible study after-school programs for children; and served as director of evangelism and president for the Spanish Baptist Convention of New Mexico. Eason said he is thankful for the time he and his wife have been given to serve.

“We are so grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to serve a lifetime with Southern Baptist churches and agencies and for the great experiences He has provided,” Eason wrote in his retirement letter.

The Easons now live in Las Cruces, N.M., along with their children and grandchildren, and will continue to work with Golden Gate Seminary and in Hispanic ministry.