Worship Pastor & Songwriter

Ashley Beckford is a Worship Pastor and songwriter from Southern California. Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, she played a plethora of sports and sang in her church and school choirs while growing up. Ashley picked up the guitar in high school and later studied classical guitar from Michael Ryan at the University of La Verne. Also in high school, Ashley began to experiment with songwriting. Soon she was writing music for her folk-inspired coffee shop performances as well as dabbling in writing worship music. Ashley had always been a part of her church's worship team and choir growing up, but she didn't start leading worship until she was in college. She began serving as a volunteer at Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) in San Dimas, California, and God opened many doors for her to take more of a leadership role at the church. After interning at the church for two years, she was hired full-time as a weekend worship leader. Ashley worked at CCV from 2009-2016 in the role of worship pastor and then adult ministries pastor. She says, “Ironically, worship leading was the last place I thought I would be. I studied business and played basketball in college… obviously God had other plans. But I could not ask for a more perfect or fulfilling profession.”

“Ironically, worship leading was the last place I thought I would be."

While working at CCV, Ashley was a part of several original worship recording projects with the church’s songwriting community, Valley Worship. Paired with vocal coaching through the years from Amy Gillette, Mary Durst, and Jennifer Wilcove, Ashley added a pure and commanding vocal quality to the recordings. In addition, she was an integral part of the writing process. Her songs were not only reaching the congregation of CCV, but were beginning to spread across the country and world. “We Cry Holy”, off the self-titled Valley Worship album, is being played in several churches across the United States.

Ashley’s worship songs are not only catchy and sing-able, but are inspired by much prayer and the Word of God. On her latest album, Heart After You, each song was specifically inspired by a passage of scripture. Ashley says, “I wanted a fresh take on the Word of God through creating original melodies and lyrics inspired by scripture.” Heart After You is Ashley’s first solo worship album. “I didn’t ever feel called to do my own album. It was a very specific call from God. Initially, I argued for a bit because I was comfortable where I was, but again, God had other plans. God has been faithful and I see His footprint through the entire journey. That is so exciting to me!” In 2012, Ashley traveled to Africa to lead worship at several women’s conferences using her music to bless the women in Zimbabwe and South Africa. She has also had the opportunity to lead worship at several conferences, including the Passion, Ignite and She Rises Conferences. Since the release of her debut album, Ashley has released a new single titled, Light of the World, a congregational worship song meant for the church.

"God has been faithful and I see His footprint through the entire journey."

In 2016, Ashley felt called to help plant Unite Church in Pasadena, CA, as the Associate Pastor. In 2017, Ashley founded Unite Collective, the worship ministry of Unite Church. They exist to unite people into a genuine, hope-filled relationship with God and genuine community with others through creativity and music. Unite Collective values diversity and strives to create music for multi-cultural and multi-generational environments. The band and its songwriting community is a collection of musically-gifted artists, worship leaders, and musicians from Unite and its extended family. Unite Collective has released several music projects with the hope of uniting churches across Southern California and beyond.

In 2023, Ashley felt called to do ministry in the proximity of her community again. God opened up a door and she was hired as the Groups & Communications Pastor at Purpose Church in Pomona, CA. Ashley continues to lead worship and develop other worship leaders.

As one of her side projects, Ashley joined the Women In Worship lead team as the west coast representative. Women in Worship exists to create community and conversation for female worship leaders. Stemmed from her passion to lead up and mentor female worship leaders, her and her team have become advocates for women all over the world.

Ashley and her husband, Lance, reside in Southern California with their son, Declan, daughter, Shayla, and dog, Oreo. She loves hosting parties, family nights, and dessert after every meal. Oh and she loves to laugh... a lot. 

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