My name is Tom von Olszewski.  I was born in New Jersey where I grew up going to a Baptist church.  After high school, I attended Liberty University for about two years before being accepted into the Army Warrant Officer Flight Training program.  After flight training, I was based in Honduras, Anchorage Alaska, and El Paso Texas before I resigned.  After getting out of the military I spent the following summer working at an all boys christian camp in upstate New York where I helped train 14-16 year-olds to become leaders and future camp counselors… basically helping to make them more resilient and help develop their judgment and decision-making skills.  After that, I became an airline pilot for a few different companies.  Around this time I met my beautiful wife Christina.  We dated for about 9 months and got married about a year after we met.  We met through a long string of friends and dated long distance as she lived in Austin Texas and I lived in Lynchburg Virginia.  After getting married, we lived in Virginia for a few years and eventually moved to Texas.  There, we started a junk removal business and spent a few years learning to run a small business and spent time with Christina’s side of the family.  Amos was born and we began a new chapter into parenthood.  The economy ended up not being conducive to small business ownership and I went back to the airlines.  I eventually got hired at Alaska Airlines which allowed us to move to Alaska in pursuit of a lifestyle with more adventure for our family as we build a life together.

I grew up knowing the truth of the gospel at an early age and have always thought of myself as a Christian since about 6 years old.  In college, I gained more of a foundation in my understanding of a Christian worldview and basic theology.  I started gaining a more legitimate understanding of all the implications of the gospel more so around the age of 23 while stationed in Honduras in the Army after reading “The Way of the Master” which gave me a new perspective on what may have been a misunderstanding on my part about how salvation really worked. I began to understand more about the nature of my relationship with the Lord and how a Christian not only just believes in Jesus, but also repents from sin.  I started to see my true standing before God as a guilty sinner (pre-faith in Christ).  I began to understand how much salvation is a heart issue, and not simply an act of checking the box or death insurance.  I didn’t have a single moment of conversion as you often hear in dramatic testimonies, rather, I describe it as a long journey of sanctification with no clear beginning.  The Lord continues to strip away my sin and my selfishness and mold me more and more into his intended vessel of righteousness.  This is not my own doing, in fact, I don’t even take credit for my faith and repentance!  It is purely a good work of the Spirit that I have any hope of redemption, and I am forever grateful for His grace.