[This is a homeschool grad interview that was featured in the latest issue of Home Educating Family.]

Will you tell us what it was like growing up in your family (when you started homeschooling, how many siblings, etc.)?
I am the second of six children, five of whom are boys. Our house was rambunctious growing up, but I never sensed that my parents wanted anything different. My mom showed a lot of patience and perseverance. We started “homeschooling” when my older brother Cal was ready to start school, but I don’t think there was ever a time that my parents weren’t teaching in some manner.

I loved the things that boys are known for: fishing, camping, wrestling with brothers, playing guns, computer games, airplanes, and especially doing things with my dad. Cal and I joined a Boy Scout troop with another friend when we were old enough. That was a large part of my life through high school and I eventually earned my Eagle Scout. In all of our activities my parents drew out spiritual applications and encouraged us to grow closer to the Lord through difficulties. Seeing God move directly on several occasions greatly deepened my faith.

What are some of the highlights of your homeschooling experience?
Being able to set my own schedule for the day. Most of my study was on my own, and the sooner I finished, the sooner I could do stuff I really wanted to do. Beyond that, I loved the ability to learn from many different environments, not just the traditional classroom. I spent time working on a farm and attended several music courses in another state. I can play the piano for my church to this day because of those courses! Adventurous camping trips with the Boy Scouts and piano competitions were also highlights.

I’ve always been impressed by your ability to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds, and your heart for sharing the Gospel with them. What suggestions do you have for those who would like to grow in these areas?
I remember being scared to hand out Gospel tracts to people, let alone talk to them about Jesus, and the burning in my heart knowing that in a sense, I was “ashamed” of the Lord – or at least that my fear of people was greater than my love for Him.

I had several profound experiences and mentors that God used to shape this area of my life. The first was a mission trip to Mexico at the age of 15. It was on this trip that sometimes I didn’t even pass out a tract because I was scared to do so. But I watched my pastor, several men from the church, and my brother Cal boldly talking to people and giving them tracts, and slowly I gained the courage to do so as well. Two years later when I returned to Mexico, I was even more convicted of the need to tell people about Jesus. Often now, my motivation in striking up a conversation with someone is almost entirely to direct the conversation to spiritual things and be a witness of the Lord.

In between my trips to Mexico, one of my friends had the vision to start a door to door witnessing effort in my hometown. He teamed up with our church pastor and a couple of the men from the church to bring the vision to reality. During the year and a half or so that we went out once a week, I learned more about talking to people than I had in the 16 years to that point. Seeing older men and their reactions/responses and knowledge of the Bible had a huge impact on me. I knew that I needed to be like them to be an effective witness for the Lord. As each Tuesday would roll around, it was also a huge motivation to confess anything I had not gotten right with the Lord or other people. I could sense an enormous difference spiritually if I was not right with the Lord before going out witnessing. That was another important lesson imprinted on my heart from those times.

Here are a few practical suggestions for those who want to more effectively share their faith with others:

1) Start somewhere. Try to find someone who has experience, and then just do it.

2) Prepare key verses ahead of time and memorize them.

3) The Scriptures are your most powerful weapon; don’t be afraid to use them! Intellectual reasoning has its place, but using Scripture is always your best “weapon.”

4) If you don’t know the answer to someone’s question or argument, make it a point to find the answer. You may or may not be able to go back to the person, but someone else may bring it up and you better have done your homework after the first time!

Now that you’re married and have children, what are your thoughts and plans for their education?
My wife and I are going to homeschool our kids. We want to be the people most involved in our children’s development, upbringing, and education, and homeschooling fills that desire better than any other option at this point.

Your family has recently launched some home business ventures. Will you tell us about them?
We have several branches of our fledgling home business. When our first child was born, I built him a changing table that doubles as a dresser. It is one of our most used pieces of furniture – even now with three children! Because of how much we like ours, I’ve built several others since then and am offering the same design for sale. I can also do custom work if someone wants a different design. I also build and sell doll furniture, and my wife, Tiffany, makes tutus in a variety of colors and sizes.

Another branch of our business is all-natural, handmade goat’s milk soap. Goat milk soap is naturally moisturizing and free of chemicals. We started using it to alleviate our son’s eczema. After seeing it completely clear up his skin irritations, we were convinced it was a good product and became distributors. We don’t have this on our website, so the best option for more info on pricing, fragrances, etc. is to e-mail us at chiffanys@gmail.com.

Our website is chiffanys.com. It’s still new, so we don’t have everything up yet, but we will be updating it in the coming days.

In what ways do you think homeschooling contributed most to your life now as an adult?
My relationship with the Lord is at the top of the list. I wouldn’t have the depth of relationship with Him if it weren’t for my years of homeschooling.

Secondly is my love for learning. This wasn’t always the case, but as I matured I grew in my desire to learn, and homeschooling gave me the tools to do it.

Finally, the character that my parents sought to instill in me has proved invaluable in my workplace. Seeing the fruits of being honest, responsible, and hardworking has opened opportunities I would not have had otherwise. I am glad for my home school background and feel that it gave me an edge in my faith in God, purpose in life, learning, and work ethic.

Will you tell us a little about your family and why your parents decided to homeschool?
I was born and raised by my parents, Keith and Sherri, in Wichita, Kansas. As the first-born son in my family, I have an older sister (Lydia), a younger sister (Susanna), and two younger brothers (Joshua and Nathan). All of us spent the majority of our years in home education, and my three younger siblings were homeschooled all the way.

My parents met during college and married a few years after my mother graduated with her teaching degree. She taught in private and public schools before and shortly after they were married, but she has spent almost all of her married life as a stay-at-home mom. Her humble willingness to sacrifice so much has been a tremendous blessing for our family. My father provides well, leads us, and prioritizes his family well above the many activities that a lot of men highly value in our culture.

My parents, especially my mother even before marriage, were influenced by some of the pioneers in the homeschooling movement. They came to understand the God-ordained blessing of children and the necessity of training and discipling us for service to Christ, His Kingdom, and the people God brings into our lives. As their vision has grown and matured, they have been more and more deliberate each year to positively equip their children, by God’s grace.

Just the other day someone questioned me on homeschooling and suggested potential reasons why my family decided to homeschool. He asked if I ever challenged the decision my parents made or whether I was just stuck with the idea – and if I would consider alternatives, such as public schooling, for my own children. Suffice it to say that my parents were convicted of their God-given responsibility to train their children in real-life, day-to-day, home-based personal discipleship. I am so grateful for this, and I stand firmly upon this conviction as my very own. At the same time, we always appreciate opportunities to learn more over time concerning the biblical purpose, content, and method of education.

What are some of the things you appreciate the most about being homeschooled?
Where do I start? Homeschoolers are out of the mold. We can and must expect much of ourselves as we build upon the authority of Christ and His Word in all areas of life. Our parents, siblings, and other families around us can nurture and reinforce discipline and early maturity day-by-day. If we are consistent with our principles, we are not peer-focused, and we don’t pressure ourselves to conform to the mediocrity and apathy of the world.

Homeschoolers have so much potential for excellence – to shine, even in the midst of cultural darkness, as brilliant lights for Christ. Our vision has been and must continue to be multi-generational faithfulness and discipleship. Through homeschooling, we have avoided a lot of negative worldly influences, even as we have become equipped to serve and make disciples in the world.

Homeschoolers have great opportunities to learn at their own pace, explore new things, and pursue fields of study to prepare for their life’s work. My parents always placed great emphasis on equipping us with the basic tools of learning so that we could teach ourselves throughout life. We have learned to learn, and we love to learn.

I have experienced the wonderful opportunity to develop lasting, deep, precious relationships with my siblings. Without homeschooling, I don’t believe this would have happened. We love each other and would rather spend time together as a family than go our separate ways. We are not highly peer-focused and peer-dependent, but we can enjoy rich, meaningful friendships with others outside our family.

As I have discovered great resources – books, lectures, websites, etc. – I have continued to learn throughout life. “Homeschooling” might be a misnomer – the system is really a lifestyle that doesn’t begin and end with the ringing of a bell like a “school.” Rather, it is about having a close relationship with Christ our Savior, understanding His Word, applying it to everything as His disciples, and doing this in the context of personal relationships and caring for others as disciple-makers.

You seem to have a real love for studying and learning. Do you have any tips for parents or students on how to cultivate such an attitude?
One powerful element of any training, I believe, is expectations. My parents gave me opportunities to learn, and they expected me to take full advantage. We are all too often impacted by the low expectations our culture places on young people. Homeschoolers have a unique and God-blessed opportunity to give their children avenues of exploration. Instead of confining them to a strict program, let them take something apart, see how it works, and then figure out how to put it back together. Let them come up with a business idea, market it, and see how tough yet rewarding and fulfilling it is to sell something for a profit.

I can’t point to a specific time in my life when this occurred, but as I matured there was a clear transition away from prioritizing video games, excessive involvement in sports, peer dependence, and other distractions. As my “stop doing” list grew (to borrow from Jim Collins in Good to Great), I set about new, worthier endeavors such as reading great books, listening to lectures from great men, studying Scripture, and so forth. I still have much to learn and I don’t always optimize my time like I should. But I believe we all have so much God-given potential if we will just start expecting great things and getting rid of the distractions.

What advantages do you see homeschooled students potentially having over their government-schooled peers in effecting long-term cultural change?
Our advantages completely depend on what we do with the tremendous abundance that we have been given. Jesus said that to whom much is given, much is required. Occasionally, people tell me they wish that when they were my age they could have had what I now have. This helps me reflect with gratitude on those things I often take for granted. At the same time, if I quit progressing today, I am much worse off for having squandered the rich treasures of blessing God has abundantly given me.

Our challenge, as one of my friends says, is to do what we can, where we are, with what we have. Some people assume that if they don’t have “ideal” foundations – not growing up in a Christian, homeschooling family, for example – they might just reach a plateau. They feel like they can’t move beyond where they are, and it will be up to the next generation to pick up the baton and progress a little further. I submit that this is not biblical thinking; we are commanded, no matter how great or small our advantages, to be wise and faithful stewards. Even if we feel like we have been given little, we are also told by Jesus that if we are faithful we will be trusted with much.

Homeschoolers must have a long-term vision that extends even well beyond our own lifetimes. We must seek to be disciples and disciple-makers of Christ. We are fools if we rest on our laurels rather than building and moving beyond where we are now and what we have now. I recently had a conversation regarding whether people can have an impact in the public schools; even as I challenged the other person to consider the inherent impossibility of systemically changing the establishment, I was challenged to consider what I am doing to positively impact others. Am I content to be separate from everyone else, or am I taking active steps to fulfill the Great Commission as I follow the Lord and teach others to obey all of Christ’s commandments?

You’ve been involved in a wide variety of opportunities and ventures since graduating from high school. What are some of the key things you’ve learned along the way that might be helpful to other young people considering their future course?
I have experimented a lot, that’s for sure. God has blessed me with wise counselors, and I have done well to heed them. I have had to mark up the times I unwisely did my own thing as “learning experiences.” That’s the first lesson learned – honor those in authority over you, and heed the counsel of older, wiser people when you make big decisions.

Over the years I have pursued traditional college and nontraditional schooling (accelerated distance learning). I have sought internships and a variety of work experiences for companies in Texas, Tennessee, and Kansas. Along the way I have seen the truth from Proverbs confirmed: in all labor there is profit. I have not been afraid to try new things and get a lot of experiences along the way.

Someone told me to fail small, fail fast, and fail forward. When you experience new things, you are bound to mess up. I have seen that it is best, relatively early on in life, to learn from my mistakes, be humble, and move forward. I have a vision for being a wise steward, and part of this entails entrepreneurial activity. To be entrepreneurial means I have to take risks, learn along the way, and always be ready to readjust my course. I have learned not to expect anyone else to “hold my hand” through life. I am called by God to stand up and take personal responsibility for using the talents, time, energy, and resources He has entrusted to me.

Can you tell us about your new website and what your vision is for it?
I am excited to do so! My friend, Mark Stubblefield, and I recently launched a site that is part of a larger, long-term vision for Christian journalism. Our initial project is http://eventbloggers.com/ where we will cover a variety of conferences and events. Next year, Lord willing, we will launch http://providencereport.com/ to provide an avenue for disciple-making, equipping, encouraging, and informing the body of Christ about what is happening around the world. We want to advance the good news of the Gospel and the providence of God in ruling over all men and nations. Our vision is to provide a distinctly Christian resource for journalistic excellence so that families have a trusted place to go for news, commentary, and interaction with others concerning the big events and issues of our time.

Any additional comments you’d like to share?
Thank you, Natalie, for this interview and for giving me this opportunity to share. We have such a great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I want to glorify Him alone for everything good He has done in and through my family and me. I encourage my fellow homeschoolers to stand firm, be bold, and move forward as faithful disciples and stewards. Homeschooling parents are my heroes because they teach and lead Christ’s followers who will multiply the resources and disciples of God’s Kingdom for the remainder of history. Never forget, even in times you are tempted to be discouraged in the midst of darkness and confusion, that God shines His bright, brilliant light through you as you seek and serve Him wholeheartedly.