The Spiritual Formation Ministry of
Tom Ashbrook
I grew up in a poor family without Jesus (at least that I knew of). A short, red headed, freckled face kid, and totally inept at sports, I came to believe that I was unworthy and unlovable. Then God brought me my fourth grade teacher who showed me that I wasn’t stupid, so I learned to seek worthiness through performance - engineering maybe.
Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Masters in Systems Management.
In the midst of my failure to find worthiness, God brought me a college professor who introduced me to Jesus. What better way to become worthy than to bring people to Christ. I would perform well as a pastor.
Masters of Divinity.
In the midst of my failure to find worthiness through performance in preaching, teaching, and growing churches, God brought me a Trappist monk named Boniface who introduced me to real intimacy with Jesus and the journey of becoming His beloved. I began learning to listen in prayer, intuit God’s heart, and most of all to love.
Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation.
God used twenty-six years of pastoring, founding a spiritual formation Order called Imago Christi, and another twenty years ministering as a spiritual formation missionary to bring me to one singular focus:
Living into a new identity – God’s beloved!
Now a days, I have the privilege of working with the Spiritual Formation Society of Arizona and continuing much of the ministry fun I’ve had before. Caught up in the most amazing love affair with my wife Charlotte where we live in Fountain Hills, Arizona, and totally blessed by three amazing kids and their spouses, and five brilliant college-age grandkids.
I share all this simply as context for my desire to walk with others that our Lord has called to become one with Him and one with one-another in a journey of discovery. As we’re caught up in the whirlwind of the Holy Spirit we discover Jesus in new ways; we discover others in the light of God’s love; we discover the Church as the Body of our Beloved; we discover ourselves for who we really are – the beloved of the Most High God… worthy!
Maybe our Lord can use some of what I have written and shared to encourage your journey of becoming with Him. Maybe our lives can touch and we can journey a bit together.
BECOMING GOD'S BELOVED
I am so grateful to have been caught up by the winds of the Holy Spirit in this amazing movement called Spiritual Formation. God called me from an Aeronautical Engineering profession into pastoral ministry. Unfortunately, I took with me the assumptions that I could use a formula to bring people to Christ and lead the church. All I needed were key biblical principles and the right tools. It even seemed to work for a bit. Fortunately, Jesus intervened and led me down a path of personal transformation out of which I began to learn to intuit His heart, become His beloved, and follow His leadership as a Pastor and then a Spiritual Formation Missionary. I’d like to share some of what I am learning in support of your own journey of discovery and invite you to connect if you feel led.
THE HEART OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION
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