By Dr. James Orr
Josiah Slivkoff is on a mission. On November 12, he brought that mission to Dillon.
He is so excited by what Jesus has done for him that he has quit his construction job and is traveling to cities all over the southeastern United States to share his story with total strangers. He has worked and shared in Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina and was on the way to Myrtle Beach and the Greenville/Spartanburg area before heading to Atlanta, Georgia.
Josiah is nineteen years old and from a Christian home in Kingsport, Tennessee. It is his desire to travel from city to city to share the Gospel of Jesus in the hope that people will give their lives to Christ.
His father contacted me out of the blue, having found my information on the web to see if I might be interested in helping Josiah along his way.
The Slivkoffs ore of Azerbaijani (a former Soviet province) descent and had lived in the Pasa Robles area of California.
Josiah and his brother had done something similar this past summer in California.
Having moved to Tennessee last year it seemed natural for Josiah to tell his story on this side of the continent.
Josiah began sharing Jesus with people when he was four but didn’t really understand what he was doing. As an eleven-year-old, he found the internet and internet pornography.
Curiously, some studies show that this is the usual age that boys become exposed to the vulgar danger.
Josiah knew it was wrong and eventually told his father about, but it wasn’t intil he was fifteen and dealing with thoughts of suicide that he realized that he hadn’t repented to his Heavenly Father. He felt “that he had failed God and wanted to die.I realized I couldn’t fix myself and asked God to take care of y sin for me.”
God began to remove this from his life and his love for Christ began to grow very rapidly.
After watching a television show called Travel the Road, he got the idea to travel America and share Jesus.
His first attempt this summer with his brother and some friends saw 32 people come to Christ.
Josiah worked construction and saved his money. He built a small bed in the back of his pickup truck to sleep in. He depends on 1 Samuel 12:24 as strength for his endeavors for God. “Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”
I received a call from Josiah and we spoke about meeting. I wanted to hear his story.
Since he was on his way to Myrtle Beach, I asked him to stop in Dillon where we met at the Pho’ Saigon Vietnamese restaurant next to Food Lion. I picked up the tab, and we had a wonderful conversation.
The forecast was to be in the 20’s that night so I made a call, and Ben Jackson of Floyd Dale put him up for the night.
I also called ahead and made contacts for him in Myrtle Beach to work with Impact Ministries and Mr. Todd Wood.
A very unusual young man, Josiah, is not ashamed of the Gospel that has saved him. Very quiet and reserved, he enjoys speaking to people one on one and is not afraid to go to a stranger and sharing his life story. It’s a trait that more of us need to find.
Josiah plans to continue his search for those who will list through December. Already four had responded in Charlotte. I pray many more will respond in the cities and days ahead.
