BioTom was born March 23, 1957 in Columbus, OH. He was the second of two children. His father was an accomplished newspaper reporter until his death in 1975 (Tom’s senior year in high school). His mother was a stay-at-home mom, but reentered the workforce after her husband’s death.
In high school, Tom’s interests included basketball, cross-country and track, but upon finding Christ in his sophomore year, his interest in things related to the gospel soon grew greater than his interest in sports. By his senior year, he was leading a Bible study that met each morning before school and evangelistic outreaches during the lunch hour. He was voted the “friendliest person” in his senior class.
Tom began his college education at Franklin University, but after one semester, chose instead to pursue biblical studies and leadership training opportunities provided by his church. These efforts were rewarded when, in July of 1978, Tom was ordained a pastor in the Solid Rock Church.
Tom married Rosalyn Zimpfer (Roz) on October 2, 1977. Their first child, Sarah, was born ten months later. Tom and Roz have five children (Sarah, Steve, Dan, Christine and Tim), all of whom are now adults. Two are married (a third will be in September, 2009). Three have graduated from Ohio State and the younger two are on course to finish college soon. Four of the five are actively following Christ and they and their spouses are active in Christian ministry.
In 1970, Tom led a team of 30 adults to move from Columbus to College Park, Maryland to establish a new church near the University of Maryland. It was here that Tom gave himself to public preaching of the gospel. The church had gotten off to a slow start and the team was disappointed at how little interest the students had in knowing about Jesus. Determined to raise the level of spiritual interest on campus, the leaders gave themselves to daily prayer for revival and Tom began to preach daily in front of the Hornbake Library. Large crowds would gather to listen and, before long, God answered these prayers as many students came to Christ, were baptized and began to follow Christ as faithful disciples. In 1982, Christianity Today wrote a two page article on these happenings titled Revival at the University of Maryland.
In 1983, Tom was a part of forming Great Commission International, an association of churches committed to fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to “Go and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19-20). GCI formed a leadership group that relocated to Maryland from various campuses around the country. At this time, Tom’s responsibilities shifted to publications and, over the next several years, he served as editor-in-chief of various periodicals, including the weekly newspaper US Press, and the monthly magazines, The Christian Cause and Potential. During this time, Tom also developed working relationships with many political leaders and Christian activists working on Capitol Hill to further the pro-life movement and other issues of concern to conservative Christians.
As much as he believed in the power of the written word and the importance of Christian involvement in the realm of government, his heart was still drawn to the work of a pastor and evangelist. Thus in 1988, Tom moved to Roswell, Georgia where he served as pastor of White Oak Community Church and as Southeast Regional Director of GCI. In 1990, he took yet another step of faith in furtherance of the gospel by moving his family to San Diego, California where he pastured MountainView Community Church.
Tom enjoyed serving in these churches, but he could not escape the call of God on His life to preach the word on college campuses. In 1994, at the urging of His wife and several fellow leaders, Tom took another step of faith, resigned from MountainView and headed back to the campus. God honored that act of obedience by providing ample preaching opportunities and by meeting every financial need of his family.
In 1996, Tom and his family relocated back to Columbus, Ohio where both he and Roz could be closer to their aging parents and where it would be easier to commute to the campuses Tom visited most often. Today, Tom spends the majority of his year preaching on campuses around America (he has now visited over 100 campuses). His ministry is now expanding to serve university students in parts of Europe and India. He also serves as an elder at Linworth Road Church and as a board member of Great Commission Churches.
Tom’s book, 5 Crucial Questions about Christianity, is in its third printing and has sold nearly 20,000 copies. His evangelistic magazines, The Truth Test and Why Jesus have been distributed free of charge to well over 100,000 students.
More than Religion - read Tom’s story of how he came into a personal relationship with Jesus.
An Interview with Tom - facts, favorites, and fun things about Tom
