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Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. —John 14:6
From Russia to Africa to Brazil, Tony has noticed the same trend: “The difficulty for people to grasp logical thinking because of the education system that is employed throughout the world.”
From school children to college students, he said,
“They don’t teach to help develop the intellect anymore. They teach to create people that can be easily persuaded—not by good reasoning, but by an appeal to desire, passion and emotion.”
Tony grew up in an Ohio town of about 1,300 people. He went to aviation school to be an aircraft mechanic, then attended Bible college in North Carolina. He began his time at SES in the mid-90s, graduating with a master’s in religion in 2005.
Throughout his studies, he has served as a teacher and missionary in places like Russia, Brazil and Mozambique. He’s taught Christian morals and ethics, helped plant a church, trained pastors and even manned a backhoe to build a runway in the African bush.
From “inquisitive” Russians to often malnourished Africans, Tony has used what he learned at SES to present truth on multiple continents—one person, small group or class at a time.
One of his students took particular interest in studying worldviews and used what she learned when earning her master’s. A young man in his Bible study thought all religions point to one God, which Tony helped clarify “that logically all religions can’t lead to the same God.”
The purpose of studying, Tony said, is to know truth. But when the next generation is taught that truth is relative, when media panders to emotions and people are encouraged to do what feels right, the real truth gets muddled or suppressed.
Those who speak up against this way of thinking are made to feel ridiculous, he said. It creates tension, which most people like to avoid.
This has real world implications.
In a crisis such as COVID-19, Tony said, truth would be helpful in moving forward. But because we get conflicting information, “people move to their emotions to make decisions.”
As he’s seen in his 25-plus years of ministry, the further people get from truth, the darker their hearts and more perverse their behavior.
With apologetics permeating every aspect of his SES education, he’s committed to turning those hearts toward the God of truth.
Who Will You Reach?
For the past five years, Tony has been using logic and truth to share the Gospel in Brazil. Where is your mission field? Equip yourself to reach those around you through an in-person or virtual program at SES: Apply Now
