In 1976, Ashworth appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in a jazz column written by Frank Kofsky who helped to start Ashworth's career. Since his career began in the early 1980s, Ashworth has received a number of awards, including an Emmy. As of 2003, he had been nominated for five Grammys. He is the only person to have gained the Gospel Music Association's Dove Award for Producer of the Year three times.
With his wife, Andrea, he founded the Art House, a group where where artist and non-artists consider how faith relates to art.