ASCENT’s Story

Our trek has been anything but ordinary. It’s taken us through exhilarating ascents and, at times, through dark and treacherous ravines that felt overwhelming. In every season of our journey, we’ve sought to walk faithfully with God, to be obedient to fulfilling our call, and to passionately pursue the good works He has prepared in advance for us to walk in.

Your journey is just as unique, full of potential for real Kingdom impact, and yet, sometimes also deeply discouraging.  Our heart is to walk with you as you journey through your ascents and ravines as God continues to write your story.

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story…” Psalm 107:2

our passion and vision

ASCENT SHEPHERDING walks alongside current and future pastors and ministry leaders, helping them build biblical practices that strengthen their lives, their relationships, and their leadership—so they can navigate both the highs and lows of ministry well.

Ministry is a lot like a trek. A trek is not easy—it takes effort, endurance, and teamwork. There are times when you’re climbing ascents to new heights, gaining clarity and perspective, and others when you’re walking through difficult, treacherous ravines. Along the way, you grow, you learn, and you’re shaped for what’s ahead. And it’s not something you’re meant to do alone or without a guide, lest you fall prey to the hazards of the journey.

The same is true in ministry leadership. There are God-ordained highs and God-ordained lows, and both matter. In each season, God is at work, advancing His kingdom in ways we don’t always expect. But the valleys especially can feel dark and challenging, and they require wisdom, maturity, and deep dependence on God to walk through well. Ministry leadership is not an endeavor to take lightly—and it is a journey you shouldn’t try to walk through alone.

ASCENT comes alongside leaders, so they don’t have to trek alone.

David’s story

David has a deep, God-given appreciation and love for ministry leaders. He is an encourager, a helper, a mentor, and an exhorter. He recognizes the unique challenges faced by ministry leaders and endeavors to advance every client he serves. David has forty-five years of combined experience in technology leadership and senior ministry leadership. At his core, David is a builder with a heart to invest in God’s leaders. He has extensive experience in developing effective, God-honoring teams, establishing and executing effective organizational processes, and training and mentoring leaders. Through ASCENT, David is passionate about journeying alongside individual pastors and ministry leaders, and both small and large ministry teams. His heart is to help them be more effective in pursuing their God-ordained callings.

Dawn’s story

Dawn is a gifted leader of ministry women. She is passionate to apply biblical truth in personal and ministry life situations. She has more than twenty-five years’ experience in biblical counseling, serving individual women and, with David, ministry couples. She is both an enthusiastic student and impactful teacher of God’s Word, in the USA and in South Asia. Dawn is also gifted in leadership and administration, with a knack for accurate analysis, practical process development and sensitive team building.

Dawn is passionate about ASCENT’s mentoring, soul-care, and counseling, and the opportunities to make eternal investments in God’s leaders.

our values

  • There are many forms of leadership. Many books and conferences, many tools and techniques, many experts and mentors. A ministry leader should choose wisely whom they will follow, what philosophy of leadership they will embrace. There is one sure guide, one absolute standard by which our service for Christ will be measured. A Christ-follower called to lead others must always do so in a manner consistent with God’s precepts and principles, as revealed in His Word through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

    ASCENT’s shepherding efforts with leaders is grounded on the leadership principles and precepts found in God’s Word. It is the basis of all our services to ministry leaders.

  • In fulfilling the role of an overseer, ministry leaders are to stand on higher ground, to see the big picture, to have a clear understanding of purpose, and to take strategic action in advance of that purpose.  That big picture is the advancement of Christ’s kingdom through our faithful obedience.  Each of us should be clear as to our specific call to kingdom service, how God has uniquely designed each of us to fill a specific role, and the strategic steps He desires us to pursue.

    ASCENT helps leaders stand on higher ground, to see the big picture, and to understand their specific calling in the furtherance of the kingdom of Christ.

  • Whatever our specific calling, as leaders each of us will in some way be responsible to influence other people for the sake of kingdom advancement.  Our ability to positively influence others will be limited by our own godly character.  Are we men and women of integrity, with clear boundaries defined by moral and biblical norms?  Are we known to be honest, with no trait of deception or manipulation?  Are we humble servant leaders, not driven by self-promotion or self-advancement, or selfishness?

    ASCENT assists leaders as they reflect on their personal character, helping them to understand the character qualities God’s expects of them as leaders, and provides practical tools to help leaders develop the qualities necessary for lifelong, fruitful ministry service.

    • “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

    • “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

    • “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

    These and many other verses emphasize the foundational importance of a leader’s heart.  What motivates us to serve in leadership, to do the things we do, to say the things we say, to serve as we do?  Every word we speak and every action we take flows out of the motivating thoughts residing in our biblical heart.

    ASCENT helps leaders to uncover the hidden depths of their thought life, their attitudes and motivations, and the recurring emotions that serve as the drivers of their life and ministry.  We provide tools to help leaders replace unhelpful, hindering thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and motivations with those that bring God glory.

  • New Testament ministry leadership is always practiced in teams.  Jesus sent out his disciples to proclaim the gospel in two-person teams.  Local church leadership is defined as a multiplicity of shepherds and servants.  Discipleship occurs in small groups.  Fellowship by definition happens together, not in isolation.  Christianity is characterized as life on life, iron sharpening iron, stirring one another to love and good works, encouraging one another, honoring one another.

    ASCENT seeks to be in deep relationship with each client we serve, having an iron-sharpening-iron impact.  We love as God commands us and seek to bless everyone we serve.

  • God does not expect perfection from his leaders.  He understands that there is only one perfect sinless human leader, His Son.  He knows we are weak and will stumble and fail.  But He does exhort us to grow and become more like Christ.  As leaders, we should be experiencing consistent, intentional growth toward Christlikeness.

    ASCENT is dedicated to making a difference in the life and ministries of our clients as they seek to be faithfully obedient to their call in Christ.

our board members’ stories

ASCENT is governed by a tight-knit team of independent, men and women Board Members, who operate interdependently as a biblically united Board, and who each have their own story of journeying with God and others through the heights and valleys of life and ministry. We are grateful for each one, and for the counsel and accountability they provide to ASCENT’s staff.

our beliefs

  • …is the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. It is God’s special revelation to mankind, consists of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, and constitutes the completed Word of God.  God guided the human authors of Scripture to compose and record without error His revelation to mankind in the words of the original manuscripts. While God used the individual personalities and backgrounds of the human writers, He is the one unifying author of the entire Bible.  The Scriptures are authoritative, do not depend on any other source, and speak with authority about every matter they address.  The Bible is the sole authority for the believer’s faith and practice and is fully sufficient to address every spiritual need.

  • …is the one true and living God who is the Creator of all things.  He exists as a triunity of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (the Trinity). Each person of the Trinity is identical in essence, equal in power and glory, and fully God, but each has His own distinct work and ministry to perform.  God is to be worshipped, adored, and obeyed.  He is eternal, self-existing, all-powerful, all-knowing, and always present.  He is holy, loving, gracious, and merciful.  He has purposed to redeem a people for Himself.  God is neither the author of sin, nor does He approve of it.  Although distinct from His creation, He is active and working in it, intervening as He chooses.  Within the Tri-unity, the Father directs the works and ministries of the Son and Spirit.

  • …is the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.  All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is supreme over all things visible and invisible.  He came in the flesh, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to pay for our sins, was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.  He exists as one person with two distinct natures – fully divine and fully human – without any mixture of the two.  He died a substitutionary death for sinners bearing the punishment for our sins, and was literally, bodily raised from the dead guaranteeing His followers’ future resurrection.  His shed blood redeems and justifies those who believe in Him.  He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father and serves as the head of the church.  He will soon return and reign supreme over all nations and people.

  • …is the third person of the Trinity and is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son.  He was active in creation, in the spiritual life of Israel, in revealing God’s words and will to mankind, and in the affairs of mankind.  He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.  He guides people into truth, restrains sin, calls individuals to faith, and regenerates believers.  He is the promised Comforter whom Jesus asked God the Father to send.  He permanently indwells believers, seals their redemption, provides them with spiritual gifts, and fills, guides, and teaches them.

  • …was created by God out of the dust of the ground and God breathed life into him.  Man is the pinnacle of God’s creation, made in God’s image, and originally created sinless.  God created male and female as complementary genders who are equal in dignity and worth.  Man chose to sin and rebel against God.  Since that time, every human being, except Jesus Christ, is born in sin, a sinner by nature, separated from God, and is justly under divine condemnation, without hope of heaven apart from a new birth made possible by Christ’s death and bodily resurrection.  Each man and woman needs the grace of God to be cleansed from sin by the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

  • …is offered by God as a love-gift to all people, but is only effectual for those who believe.  Salvation is initiated by God and is accomplished by grace apart from works.  Man’s responsibility is to repent of his sin and believe the Gospel by faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Salvation results in the individual becoming a new creation in Christ, clothed in God’s righteousness, and fully loved and accepted by Him.  True believers are saved forever and can never be eternally lost.

  • …is the body of Christ.  It is composed of all true believers in Jesus Christ who are  under the authority of the head of the church, Jesus Christ, and are to be committed to the Word of God.  The local church is an assembly of believers united together by their common faith.  The local church is the assembly God has designed for His people to worship Him, observe the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Table, and love other Christians.  The church is the organism through which God accomplishes His mission of making disciples and bringing Him glory.

  • …was originated by God as a covenantal union between one biological male and one biological female for life.  Sexual intimacy was designed by God to be expressed within the bonds of biblically defined marriage. Any other form of marriage and sexual intimacy is a perversion of God’s intent.