Tom Ashbrook
Co-Founder of the Order of Imago Christi
Tom joined Church Resource Ministries (now: Novo) in 2000 to establish a spiritual formation ministry "to help Christian leaders lead out of their love for Jesus, rather than the alternatives". In 2004, he co-founded the Order ofImago Christi with Bill O’Byrne and Endi Kovacs. As a missionary and Core member of Imago Christi, Tom forms supportive relationships with pastors and mission leaders worldwide to help them deepen their personal intimacy with God. This strengthens their resilience and ability to know Jesus, follow His direct leading to bring people to Christ,
and plant new churches. In support of this apostolic outreach, he develops spiritual formation resources and coaches Christian leaders and churches to live and lead with a spiritual authority grounded in loving intimacy with Jesus. He provides spiritual direction for pastors and missionaries and teaches in spiritual formation discovery seminars and other spiritual formation settings.Tom extends his ministry through his writings on spiritual formation. He is author of Mansions of the Heart: Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth, and co-author of Mansions of the Heart Study Guide. In 2014, Tom published the novel, Presence: What if Jesus Were Really Here, and a companion study guide, Discovering Christ’s Presence. His article, “The Right Disciplines at the Right Time: Understanding the Journey with Teresa of Avila,” was published in the Conversations Journal in 2014. He published a collaborative book, Contagious Fire: Enflaming Hearts for God and Mission in 2018 with insights about establishing a foundation of spiritual formation in a local church. He published Connected: Rediscovering Life-Giving LOVE with God in 2022 which unpacks and applies the New Testament's truths about the real meaning of love.(see Books by OIC Authors).
Tom earned a B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Arizona State University, an M.S. in Management Systems from the University of Southern California, and an M.Div. from Luther Theological Seminary. He received his D.Min. in Spiritual Formation and Leadership from George Fox Evangelical Seminary, now called Portland Seminary.
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Tom and his wife, Charlotte, live in Fountain Hills, Arizona