Homeschooler Obeys the Great Commission

It was five years ago, when T. J. was eighteen, that I first meet the Slayman family. T. J. had finished his schooling several years earlier and was working with mules logging the steep, timbered, limestone ridges that make up most of our local landscape.
   For over a year, once a week, I sat down with this charming, but unsaved country family and taught them the word of God. In the spring and fall, we sat around a campfire. In the winter, we sat close to the wood burning stove to keep warm. The kerosene lanterns flickered as we tried to read the words of the Apostle Paul concerning justification by faith.
   I was talking to the father, Tom, and was unaware that evening when T. J. first repented toward God and trusted the shed blood of Jesus Christ as payment for his sins.  

    Since that time, T. J. has demonstrated a singular steadfastness and moral earnestness to serve his Lord. The church has been the center of his activities. Others in the family came to know the Lord, and the whole family is now active in the church.
   T. J. responded to the Lord’s command to take the gospel to the whole world and, in preparation, went off to Bible college for two years. He returned to continue his studies here in our Bible training program, and then spent the last year at Bible Baptist Translators in Bowie TX where he received his BA in linguistics.
   He has a burden for the people of Laos. This October, he will be going to Hong Kong to assist in discipling Chinese Christians and in the distribution of gospel literature. During his six month stay, he will make several trips into Laos in preparation for his return.
   Here is a bright and talented young man who has gone from homeschool to timber jack, from mule tamer to official arm wrestling champion of his college. He loves his family and the good country life, but he has turned his back on what the world has to offer, has forsaken all, and is carrying his cross to a country where Americans are not well liked and the gospel is mostly unknown. He has the strength of body, the determination of mind, the commitment of soul, and love in the spirit to do the job to which God has called him. He needs your prayers and your support. In future news letters, we will be following his progress.