Thomas Langford was a professor of Literature at Texas Tech University for over 30 years and a Dean in the Graduate College. Though an accomplished academic, he began his career as a preacher. After completing his training at the Kerrville Bible Training Work in Kerrville, Texas in the late 1940's, he spent the next several years preaching for churches in California and Oklahoma. In the late 1950's he decided to make a change and began to teach at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, OK. Later he moved to Lubbock and then Fort Worth to pursue graduate studies, finally becoming a professor at Texas Tech University.
At times people asked why he “left the ministry,” he would strongly respond he had not left the ministry; he simply changed his ministry. Thomas strongly believed that all Christians were ministers whatever their vocation.
The Thomas A. Langford Scholarship for Bible Minors is dedicated to assist Christian students to go into all the world, not just geographically but vocationally, as ministers of the gospel. Whether one’s world is agriculture or accounting, biology or business, coaching or criminal justice, engineering or education, music or medicine, theater or therapy, all are called to ministry.