About Mike Thibodeaux
Salvation
Mike Thibodeaux was born and raised in Texas. He and his wife, Debbie, followed the call of God to Portland, OR in March of 2001. Mike has been serving the Lord faithfully since his call to ministry at age 13.
Raised in a Baptist church since birth, Mike gained much knowledge about Jesus and, at age eight, went through the motions of praying a prayer and being baptized.
However, after his father was killed in a car accident when Mike was 12 years old, he truly realized his sin against God and need of Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Mike surrendered His life to Christ and was born again on April 15, 1983.
Call to Ministry
The following June at Super Summer youth camp, Mike responded to the call of God to full-time vocational ministry, and preached the Gospel for the first time a few months later. Mike is passionate about His Savior and seeks to live His life simply and purely devoted to Christ.
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:3
Marriage
Mike married his wife, Debbie, in April 1999. They have two daughters: Jordan (who will graduate from Texas Baptist College this December), and Michaela (who is a sophomore at Texas Baptist College), and one son, Zach (who is a sophomore in high school). Mike and Debbie’s kids love the Lord and have answered a call to ministry. Mike enjoys dates with his wife, as well as time together with his whole family. He loves being a dad and spending time with his children.
Interests
Mike enjoys watching and playing sports; he particularly loves to play basketball, racquetball, and volleyball. On occasion, Mike also enjoys snow skiing, riding wave runners and go-carts, camping, fishing, and shooting. On the less adventurous side, Mike spends his time reading, singing, playing guitar, and working in the yard.
Education
Master of Arts in Christian Education
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, December 1998. (This degree accompanied by biblical language studies in both Greek and Hebrew)
Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, December, 1998.
Bachelor of Arts in Bible
Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, May, 1993.
High School
Coronado High School, Lubbock, TX, 1989.
30+ years of Ministry Experience
Founder, President, and Speaker/Evangelist of Simplicity Ministries® - 1998 to Present
Praise and Worship Leader - 1988 to Present
Mike has been leading worship since he was in high school. After his marriage to Debbie, they have led worship for youth, college, and adult events using both modern songs and hymns in a simple acoustic sound with tight harmonies. Currently, along with their son Zach, the Thibodeauxs are leading worship weekly for the Go Church East County church plant.
Founder, Director, and Speaker for Men of Simplicity - 2009 to Present
MOS is a weekly men’s discipleship time equipping leaders to live simply and purely devoted to Christ. Find out more
Church Planter Partner - Go Church East County - 2023 to Present
Mike Thibodeaux has partnered with lead church planter Mark Ford to plant a new church on the eastern edge of Portland Metro. Go Church launched on October 6, 2024. Find out more
Founder, Director and Speaker for The River - 1999 to 2001
The River was a collegiate and young adult gathering that first began in Laredo, TX on Thursday nights through the Baptist Student Ministry that ministered to students at both Laredo Community College and Texas A&M International University.
After moving to Gresham, OR, Mike Thibodeaux, in partnership with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) in the Portland metro area, relaunched The River in 2001. This was another collegiate and young adult gathering that met weekly on Thursday nights at Greater Gresham Baptist Church in Gresham, OR involving BCM groups from the colleges around the Portland area. This ministry continued for four and half years, with as many as 75 students gathering each week.
Minister of Youth - October 10, 1993 to December 21, 1997
Mike served as youth pastor at First Baptist Church, Venus, Texas while completing his seminary degrees. The small youth group of 10-12 teens experienced tremendous growth both numerically and spiritually. About a year and half into the ministry, there was a six week period of time in which 65 students made public professions of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. A few others would come to Christ after that but much of Mike’s remaining years at Venus was spent discipling these teenagers who came to Christ during that season of harvest.
Interim Pastor - May 1993 to October 1993
Mike served a short season at First Baptist Church, Oplin, Texas. This church of 10-12 people were ready to close their doors after their pastor did not show up one Sunday, abandoning his flock. At the request of Dr. James Shields, Mike’s preaching professor at Hardin-Simmons University, Mike agreed to go and preach for a Sunday to help this struggling church. On the drive back to campus, the Lord put it on Mike’s heart to be the interim pastor. Before the week’s end, he was invited to do that by the congregation’s one deacon. Over the next six months, through Sunday morning services and taking the church through the discipleship study “Experiencing God” on Sunday evenings, this struggling church of 12 grew spiritually and numerically to nearly 30 people. Mike led them to form a pastor search team, and they were able to call a pastor as Mike moved on to follow his call in youth ministry and seminary studies.
Drama Team Director - Fall 1991 to Spring 1993
Mike ministered to teens as member, and then director, of Love Company and as a member of the Baptist Student Union Executive Council at Hardin Simons University, Abilene, TX.
Love Company was a traveling evangelistic performing arts team of the Baptist Student Union at Hardin-Simmons University. Through Mike’s leadership, God grew this ministry from one traveling evangelism team to two, performing around 24 events each school year. During this time of ministry, the teams saw lost teens trust in Christ as Savior and Lord and Christian teens make other decisions for Christ.
Youth Ministry Intern - Summers of 1990 and 1991
Mike began his training in youth ministry at Calvary Baptist Church (CBC) in Lubbock, Texas, Mike’s home church from his 6th grade year until college. It was at Calvary Baptist that Mike’s pastor, Dale Cain, and youth pastor, Gary Nicolson, began to mentor Mike for the Gospel ministry. Mike was licensed to the gospel ministry at CBC before leaving for college and served there for two summers after high school graduation. He was youth intern under the new youth pastor, Robbie Boyd, Mike’s second minstry mentor. These years and men laid a foundation for ministry that Mike is grateful to have experienced.
Staff Member of Super Summer School of Discipleship & Evangelism - 1991-1998, 2000
Super Summer was an intense, focused week of discipleship training for leadership students who have already committed their lives to Christ and who are seeking fresh ways to develop their fullest potential as Christian leaders. Mike served as a team leader, and then went on to serve in following years in a teaching capacity as assitant dean and dean.
Philosophy
Through his study of the New Testament, Mike has determined at least four basic elements that define his philosophy of ministry: Depending, Serving, Proclaiming, and Equipping.
1. Depending is the daily process of living life by faith — which involves humble dependence upon and reverent fear of God — and loving Him with all of one’s life. This involves time in both prayer and study of God’s Word. This also means denying self, embracing and submitting to God’s will, and, in loving obedience, following Him in holiness. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
2. Serving is the lifestyle of giving of oneself with a loving attitude and through loving actions in order to minister to the needs of others. This involves giving time, talents, resources, energy, and friendship and doing nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regarding others as more important than oneself.
3. Proclaiming is a verbal warning to the lost that all have sinned and fall short of God’s Holy standard and must repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Sharing God’s moral law brings the knowledge of sin and shows man’s accountability to God for his deeds. But, one must also magnify the love of God and His grace through Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit. Jesus–the Way, the Truth, and the Life–as revealed in God’s Word, must be proclaimed so that sinners may be born again by grace through faith as they repent of sin, confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God raised Him from the dead.
4. Equipping is the process of teaching believers to obey the commands of Christ and, thus, prepare believers for the work of service in God’s Kingdom. It is the formation of disciples of Christ: individuals who daily walk in faith, humbly dependent upon the Lord, deny themselves, embrace and submit to His will, and, in loving obedience, follow Christ in holiness. This involves helping Christians grow in an intimate relationship with God in Christ, being conformed to His likeness through worship, prayer, Bible study, relationships with other believers, and sharing Christ with the lost. The process is accomplished through spending time demonstrating and verbalizing the teachings of Christ and involving these individuals in service, while overseeing their progress. Leading someone to Christ is not the end of ministry, but the important first step. With a few equipped disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ can, and did, change the world.