Welcome to my blog. My name is Tom Short.

My highest calling and that for which I want to be known is simply being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I began following Christ in the summer of 1972 as a result of reading the New Testament for myself. Later that summer, while attending the state fair, I found a simple piece of literature that made the gospel message clear to me.

I suppose these two events that brought me to Christ are part of the reason I believe so strongly in the power of the Bible to transform a life and the need to take the gospel message to the people.

By the time I finished high school, I had become a deeply committed Christian. I wanted nothing more than to know the Lord and to make Him known throughout the whole world. I committed myself to fulfilling the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I’ve commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

In 1977, at the ripe age of 20, I married my lovely wife, Roz. 10 months later, we had our first of five children, all of whom we have sought to raise the the ways of the Lord. Today, those children are all raised and now Roz and I have become grandparents. We enjoy seeing yet another generation of people rising up to follow the Lord.

In 1978, I helped lead a team of faithful Christians from our home in Columbus, Ohio out to College Park, Maryland where we planted a church near the University of Maryland. Those first months in Maryland were extremely trying. The students were so resistant and the enemy of our souls had established this area as one of his demonic strongholds. It was at this time that we gave ourselves freshly to daily prayer and the bold, public preaching of the gospel. Before long, many souls were saved and disciples made. I began receiving invitations from other Christian leaders to come preach on their campuses.

In 1989, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia where I pastored a church for two years. We then moved to San Diego, California where I pastored for another five years.
But during this time, God was calling me back onto the campuses. In 1994, I made the commitment to resign from from my church and go back onto the campuses.
The Lord made it clear to me that He intended the campuses of America to be my future pulpit. Since that time, I’e preached on well over 100 campuses throughout America and Europe. I’ve also traveled extensively to Southeast Asia where I’ve had opportunity to teach student conferences and lead gospel crusades.

Nowadays, I spend much of the school year on the road, displaying our gospel banners and preaching God’s word to yet another generation of our nation’s youth. Each day, lives are being changed: believers are strengthened, back-sliders come back to the Lord, hard-core skeptics have their unbelief challenged and open-minded unbelievers find answers to their honest questions.

Although I spend most of my time evangelizing the lost, I am most deeply burdened that the people of God – the followers of Jesus Christ – grow to spiritual maturity and experience the life-transforming power of the gospel. Way to many of us never grow, never mature and are never fruitful in service to the Lord. Over time our faith becomes stagnate and our relationship with God becomes stale. Might that not be the case with me — or with you. I hope this blog can help motivate you to grow to become a mature Christian and to embrace the values that mark a true follower of Christ.

Back in the mid-70’s, I committed to reading the Bible every day. I’ve kept this promise for nearly four decades. In the summer of 2013, I learned how to journal using a simple method called SOAP. Basically, I read a portion of Scripture, trust God to lead me to a particular verse that speaks to me and then meditate on it with the SOAP method. SOAP stands for Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer. I explain it more in a video here.

Most of my blog entries will be my SOAP journaling for the day. Some of it will be very personal; some not. I offer these personal journal entries with the hope that (1) you, too, will be motivated to seek God in His Word every day and to meditate on the Scripture using the simple SOAP method and (2) you will learn, grow and benefit from my personal meditations, applications and prayers.

Brothers and sisters, following Christ is serious business. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is the highest calling you will every have in life. Don’t be lethargic or apathetic about this call. Follow Him with ALL your heart. Let His Word transform you from the inside out. Determine to live your life in a manner worthy of the One who gave His life for you! That’s what I’m committed to doing! I hope you are as well!