CV & Résumé

Learn more about my work experience, community involvement, and education:

My At-A-Glance CV (a quick yet informative read)
My LinkedIn Page
My Linktree
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Questions? You can reach Tom at [email protected] or through the "contact" tab at the top right of this page. 

Reviews from Former Students (this section is under construction)

"Tom has so much religious knowledge but also contains a child-like curiosity. I talked with him the whole three-and-a-half-hour flight after one of our layovers. We talked the whole time about my research, our lives, and anything else that came up. He was engaged, curious, and compassionate every second of it. In this class, Faith, Love, and Ethics, I experienced something that is hard to put into words. I became a better human not just through the trip but through talking with Tom. I have the utmost respect for this man. I would often talk to him about the mountains, research, family, Carthage, or anything, and he would often use his favorite word, "beautiful." He saw everything as beautiful. Everything under God's creation, everything touched by the love of humans, he saw as beautiful. Which I think is pretty ironic because if I had to describe Tom in one word, it would be "Beautiful." I don't think Carthage deserves this beauty, but I think it needs it. I think Tom would create beautiful environments for each and every student and faculty member, which would inspire a chain reaction of beauty throughout the campus. I could speak highly of Tom for hours. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions." 

Luke Ehlert
Carthage College Senior (Class of 2024)
Kenosha, Wisconsin
"Pastor Tom had readings prepared that I feel helped me grow both as a student and as a person attempting to learn more about their Lutheran faith and how to ethically love/care for others. He checked on us throughout the day and made sure that we knew he was a resource for us both on and off the trip. He gave detailed answers to our questions, with recommendations on where to go for a more in-depth answer and where he got his understanding from. It was a wonderful trip and I truly believe that our instructor was extremely important to that."

Anonymous 
Carthage College 2024
Kenosha, Wisconsin
"Near the end of my internship at Tom’s church and during my final year of seminary, I got to witness Tom both behind the scenes and in front of a classroom. Behind the scenes, I witnessed Tom enthusiastically putting together lesson plans for a class entitled “Public Church,” drawing upon his own experiences as well as a diverse range of readings and materials. I heard Tom excitedly share his plans to bring in speakers from the community to make our upcoming class more engaging. It’s worth noting here that Tom works hard to build relationships and skillfully draws upon this network, always identifying and inviting new voices into important conversations. Once the semester started, I got to see Tom in front of the classroom where he brought great energy and demonstrated an ability to work with a diverse group of students. Not every student walked into that class excited to learn about community organizing or have challenging conversations about race, class, and other matters of theology and justice. I am confident, however, that we all walked out of that class with new perspectives on these issues, more prepared to be leaders than when the semester first started."

The Rev. Samantha Nichols
Chaplain, Pastor
Kansas City, Missouri
"Tom draws on his experiences as a scholar, pastor, and community organizer in his role as a professor. As his student I deeply appreciated how he cared for us as full people. It was clear that he was invested in our formation as leaders. He modeled vulnerability and courage in sharing his own story and applying it to our reading and assignments in a way that made us more able to open up with courage and vulnerability too. As a new pastor, I continue to appreciate the ways that he introduced principles and practical skills from a community organizing framework which equipped us for the ever changing landscape of ministry. Tom has the ability to invite students of various backgrounds and various levels of comfortability with activism, liberation theology, and public church to wrestle with difficult realities confronting our ministries around things like race and class. I saw students able to receive the challenges of this material and to transform as disciples and as leaders because it was evident that Tom cared for us and for the community." 

The Rev. Elle Dowd
Author of Baptized in Tear Gas
Pastor, South Loop Campus Ministry
Chicago, Illinois
"'I mean, listen: We talking about praxis.' Ok, that might be a cheesy adaptation of the famous Allen Iverson practice rant, but it captures a very important characteristic about my mentor and colleague Tom. You see, Tom is deep and wise, more than most, but he doesn’t keep any of that hidden away in some ivory tower. Instead he is always applying his knowledge in the community and remaining open to the ways in which the community can refine, challenge, and change what he knows and believes. Tom’s commitment to theory AND praxis is what keeps him grounded, humble, and soft hearted. Anyone who has met Tom or heard him preach or teach can attest that his knowledge is shared at ground level and not from some place on high. Tom’s superpower is his ability to be unassumingly brilliant, and like any good superhero he uses his gifts in solidarity with vulnerable and marginalized communities.”

The Rev. Ben Adams
Pastor, All Together Community
​Dearborn, Michigan
Tom Gaulke’s tested pastoral ministry and depths of spiritual and personal transformation bring passion and charisma to his teaching and writing. Tom’s experiences of pastoring a small Lutheran congregation led him organically into relationships with underserved and vulnerable people in his neighborhood. The way that as a pastor and a spiritual and theological thinker, Tom stepped into community organizing spaces to join others in addressing glaring shortfalls of public services provided me with a compelling example of lived public theology.  Tom draws from a rich palette of intellectual traditions, weaving Protestant, Latin American, Womanist and Queer theologians into a liberation discourse alive for intersectional 21st century classrooms in North America.  Tom’s attention to storytelling, shared spaces, and personal vulnerability allowed me to feel that experiences, emotions, stories, and dreams I might otherwise compartmentalize could be brought together into my own embodied practice of ministry and theology. 

The Rev. Ole Schenk
Approved Candidate for Ministry, Aspiring Theological Writer
Oak Park, Illinois
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