John Thomas, longtime vice president of the Family Council, is leaving the organization today to start the new year as full-time pastor of The Journey Church in Little Rock.

“I’ll miss the great work that Family Council is doing, but I look forward to the new venture ahead,” Thomas says in an e-mail.

The Family Council scored several political victories during Thomas’ time with the Christian conservative group, including passage of the 2004 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and this year’s success of Initiated Act 1 banning unmarried couples from adopting or foster parenting children in Arkansas.