Who is Tom Spence?

 

Tom Spence

Curriculum vitae

 

Tom Spence is a retired United States Marine Corps officer.  He served in command and staff positions in all 4 Marine Divisions, at Marine Corps Schools in Quantico Virginia as both student and instructor, as a series commander at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, and as a program manager for Marine Corps training systems and simulators around the world.   Tom also served one tour training Marine Reservists in Des Moines, Iowa.

His service took him to Marine Bases on the East Coast, West Coast, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea.  He has served in Iraq and Kuwait and has nearly a year serving aboard U.S. Naval vessels in areas north of the Arctic Circle, in Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, Central America, and the Pacific, as well as a year serving in the United Nations.

Tom is a graduate of Mangum High School and Oklahoma State University.  He continued his education while in the Marine Corps and during retirement with American College, Minneapolis, Minnesota; American University, Covina California; Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa; and Memphis Theological Seminary (PAS).

In 2008 he was called to ministry and was ordained in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 2010.  He  served as pastor of the Burns Flat Cumberland Presbyterian Church through 2025.  In 2015 he returned from his second trip to Africa to train pastors and church leaders in Kenya and Uganda. He maintains contacts with a few leaders there who are putting the words of the Lord into practice.

Tom has served as an officer and chair on the Board of the Western Oklahoma Family Care Center. He served on the board of the Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home as well as on denominational and presbyterial boards and committees.

Tom has published over 20 books including Throw Away Kids—a call for Christian parents to lead those who have abandon the role of parent back to this sacred calling; and PoMo Poverty—a look at modern poverty in America, especially the poverty of purpose, and what we can do about it right now without creating an entitlement mentality.

Tom’s favorite book is Acceptance of Authority.  This is for the person that had to spend an hour in detention, has received multiple speeding tickets, or has landed in prison for the next 20 years.  Tom guides the reader through what so many have lost sight of with respect to the value of authority in modern society.

Tom is married to the former Sharman Oliveri of Beaufort, South Carolina.  Tom and Sharman have one surviving child—they lost their daughter in 2025—and five grandchildren.

For 18 years Tom challenged the congregation at Burns Flat to get out of the pews and take the good news to the lost as well as connecting the disconnected—those who have professed Jesus as Lord but remain disconnected from the body of Christ. In 2026, he stopped challenging and just took hold of this mission without waiting on the Frozen Chosen.

His current mission is called Matthew’s House.

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