Thomas is originally from Wales. In 1978, he completed his ministerial training from Reformed Theological Seminary before moving on to receive his PhD from the University of Wales, Lampeter with a thesis on Calvin's preaching on the book of Job. He served as a pastor for 17 years in Belfast, Northern Ireland before returning to the United States in 1996 to serve as the minister of teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson. In 2011, he accepted a call to serve as associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. He was called to be the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina on August 11, 2013. He has written and edited 15 books, and has also produced a volume for the Biblical commentary series published by Banner of Truth Trust and Evangelical Press. In 2004, Derek Thomas became editorial director for The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and the editor of its e-zine, Reformation 21. In 2020, Thomas preached a sermon on Luke 9 at the G3 conference. Afterwards, the G3 Board of Directors decided not to publish the sermon, on the following basis: "During the sermon, Dr. Thomas labored a point regarding Jesus’ humanity that we felt was far too close to a historic theological error known as Kenosis." They went on to explain, "We want to be completely clear that Dr. Thomas did not cross the line of heresy, however, he did make specific statements that caused us to reflect on our responsibility as a ministry and the need to guard against theological error. For that reason, we have made the decision to not publish the sermon."
Plagiarism
In the fall of 2018 P&R Publishing released the following statement about Derek Thomas' commentary on the book of Acts - “P&R recently became aware that portions of Derek Thomas’s Acts include unattributed content from sermons by another pastor. Following a careful investigation, as well as discussions with the parties concerned, it appears that the lack of attribution resulted from unclear note-taking more than a decade before the commentary on Acts was written, and we believe it does not reflect intentional misuse on the part of the author. Nonetheless, in keeping with our editorial policy and our desire to hold to high ethical standards of transparency, we must regretfully withdraw this commentary from circulation.” "The session at First Presbyterian backed Thomas strongly in a statement of support, saying he would be exonerated from outside 'attacks.'” Reformed Theological Seminary, which he works for as a professor, also cleared his name, saying, "an RTS committee reviewing the Acts incident had cleared Thomas of 'any knowing and intentional plagiarism.' He added that Thomas will continue to teach. 'From the standpoint of RTS,' Duncan wrote, 'the case is now closed.'" A commission of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Catawba Presbytery found that Derek Thomas did plagiarize, though “unintentionally” and that “plagiarism is a serious offense that undermines both the witness and integrity of the Christian community.” It recommended his presbytery admonish him for such, but added that he has had a good testimony as a minister and they hope he can move forward from this. To date, Derek Thomas has made no public statements acknowledging his plagiarism.
Works
"Heaven On Earth:What the Bible Teaches about the Life to Come," Christian Focus, 2018
