Dr. Lubomir Martin Ondrasek was born and raised in Czechoslovakia during the era of the Iron Curtain. After the fall of communism, he experienced a conversion from atheism to Christianity. At the time, he ranked at the bottom of his high school class and was not allowed to graduate. This newfound faith spurred him to repeat his senior year and pursue further education to adequately prepare for faithful and impactful Christian service.

In 1995, Dr. Ondrasek moved to the United States to attend Zion Bible Institute, graduating with high honors in 1999. He earned a Master of Divinity summa cum laude from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2003 and completed a Master of Theology in Christianity and Culture at Harvard University in 2005. From 2005 to 2013, he pursued doctoral studies in religion and ethics at the University of Chicago under Prof. Jean Bethke Elshtain (1941–2013), earning a Master of Arts in 2014. In 2020, he completed a Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership at Boston University. 
    
In 1999, Dr. Ondrasek received the John and Sally R. (Brunetto) Albanese Memorial Scholarship, which acknowledged his “outstanding Christian character and commitment to ministerial pursuit.” In 2003, he was honored with the Robert J. Lamont Award for Excellence, “granted to the graduating senior, who, having achieved academic excellence, is in the opinion of the faculty likely to apply his or her beliefs effectively to personal and social problems in the work of the pastorate.” In 2010, the Rumsfeld Graduate Fellowship recognized him for his “outstanding intellectual ability, integrity, moral character, and leadership potential.” Additionally, Dr. Ondrasek distinguished himself by earning perfect GPAs for three of his degrees.

From 1999 to 2005, Dr. Ondrasek served as an associate pastor in New England as a licensed and later ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. He also taught Christian Social Ethics and Public Ministry of the Church as an adjunct professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. In 2008, he received the University of Chicago’s Human Rights Internship, enabling him to work on religious freedom issues in Slovakia. He later collaborated with the Institute for State-Church Relations and the Institute for Legal Aspects of Religious Freedom as well as provided expert advice to Slovakia’s Ministry of Culture. In 2011, he was recognized by the Minister of Culture for his contributions.

As a public theologian, Dr. Ondrasek contributed to prominent Slovak newspapers between 2013 and 2020. His articles were later compiled into three books: Christianity, Ethics, and Public Life (2017), Public Theology in Slovakia (2019), and Reflections of a Public Theologian on Faith, Society, and Politics (2021). His extensive literary work also includes books Neocharismatic Movement in Slovakia (2011) and The Tunnel at the End of the Light (2021), along with co-edited volumes Church and Society: Towards Responsible Engagement (2015) and Pentecostalism in Contemporary Religious and Social Context (2013). Dr. Ondrasek’s publication record also includes chapters, articles, interviews, and reviews in Slovak and English. Recently, he completed the manuscript of his spiritual autobiography, tentatively titled Answering the Call: My Surprising Journey of Faith.

In 2011, Dr. Ondrasek discovered that he had been secretly baptized as an infant by Fr. Félix Záhorec, S.J., a priest persecuted under the Communist regime, leading him to explore the Catholic faith more deeply. After years of learning about the Catholic faith through readings, discussions, and attending Masses at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, he felt led to return to the Church of his Baptism. On January 23, 2023, the 50th anniversary of his Baptism, he was formally received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Bishop Milan Lach, S.J., in Cleveland, OH.  On January 6, 2025, he began serving as Pastoral Associate at the historic St. Mary's Church of Piscataway in Clinton, Maryland.  

A cancer survivor, Dr. Ondrasek lived on the South Side of Chicago with his wife and ministry partner, Dr. Noema Bradnanska Ondrasek, until their relocation, to the Washington, D.C. area, in 2022.  They have an adult daughter, Danni, who graduated from Wellesley College and the University of Chicago and has since embarked on a career in the federal government.  Rooted in the Jesuit tradition,  “For the greater glory of God” (Ad majorem Dei gloriam), serves as the guiding vision for Dr. Ondrasek's life and ministry and what he hopes will one day become his epitaph.