Pastor Tom has been seeking to follow Jesus his whole life. As a teenager, he was greatly influenced by his youth pastor and older brother who was studying youth ministry. He desperately wanted his life to make a difference, and wanted to "pay forward" the investment that mentors had poured into him. However, he had one problem, he believed he was average. He was never a "leader" in any traditional sense of the word. He wasn't the captain of the football team. He wasn't the valedictorian. He even once had someone say to him "Who would ever follow you?" when he shared that he was interested in becoming a youth pastor. During his senior year of High School, he began to see how God could use an "ordinary" person to do extraordinary things.

This led Tom to study youth ministry at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN where he met his wife Amy. Since he graduated in 2000, he has served in churches in New Hampshire, Michigan, Kansas City, and now Chicago. Along the way they welcomed two sons Jacob and Zeke and completed a M.A. in Youth Ministry Leadership from Huntington University in Indiana. In 2016, he was ordained as a pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church. In 2017, Tom transitioned from youth ministry to leading church-wide initiatives to engage in service, networking with local organizations and leading teams on short term projects across the United States and other parts of the world. In fall of 2022, he accepted a call to be the Lead Pastor of Trinity, beginning a new, exciting chapter of the life of the church. 

Over the years, Tom has had the privilege of helping hundreds of "ordinary" people to engage in the extraordinary Mission of God. For him, there's nothing better than seeing someone embrace their identity as God's magnificent creation and give themselves to a life of blessing others.

So, come. The invitation is open. Come be part of an amazing family. Come be a part of something bigger than yourself. Come see how God can use your "ordinary" life to do extraordinary things!

tom@trinityecc.org

708-422-5111