It is with deep gratitude the NPUC remembers the life and service of Thomas M. Ashlock. A man described by family as good enabler. Ashlock served the NPUC as communication director and GLEANER editor from 1967–1970 and Religious Liberty director from 1971–1973. His blessed service in this region was just one of many stops in a lifetime following God's call.

In 1950, Ashlock began his ministry, working in Northeastern India. The region now boasts over 5,000 baptized members and continues expansion into unreached areas. At age 12, Ashlock asked why his father's India wall map did not have colored pins in the upper region. When told the pins represented believers, and someone else was still needed to do God's work in the Manipar Territory, the boy remembered God's call to Isaiah: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Ashlock declared, "Someday, God willing, I will be that someone else."

The experience sparked a lifetime of faithful Christian service beginning in India and reaching back to the United States.

In addition to his work in India, Ashlock also also spent time in the Ellen G. White Estate, Ohio Conference, Trans African Division and the General Conference. Missionaries to Africa report the natives still admire Ashlock for "treating them like men."

Through his work in the United States, and around the world, countless lives were touched by the gospel.