The Master and His Apprentices textbook and companion teacher guide are officially available through Christian Book Distributors (Christianbook.com).  Founded in 1978, Christian Book Distributors, or CBD, is the world’s largest catalog and internet company specializing in Christian products – with over 500,000 books, Bibles, DVD’s and more.  CBD has been a leader in supplying quality homeschool curricula since they published their first homeschool catalog back in 1997.  Today, CBD handles the e-commerce sites and product distribution for organizations like Focus on the Family, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Teach Them Diligently.

Working with CBD to share The Master and His Apprentices is special for me due to the role that CBD played in my grandmother’s life.  Grandma Ferguson was a woman who relied on the Lord with her whole heart and purposed to serve Him in all areas of her life.  She and my grandfather served as missionaries in Central Africa for almost 40 years, raising 5 kids in the “bush.”  When my grandpa died in Africa, just over 20 years ago, my grandma settled in the US and poured herself into new ministries and areas of service.  Even though she was aging and physically unable to get around as she previously had, she daily found ways to impact the lives of countless people around the world.  One of those areas was identifying quality Christian resources and sharing them with others.  So often she was Spirit-led in discerning who needed to receive what and at just the right time.  I think she had to have been one of CBD’s most frequent customers – often purchasing books and other materials in sets of 5, 10 or more.

Grandma was a prolific reader who especially enjoyed the writings of Christian authors like Amy Carmichael, Andrew Murray, and Oswald Chambers.  Grandma didn’t just read something quickly and move on, but instead, let the words soak into her being and change her daily life.  For example, when my father and his siblings were growing up, and one of them said something they shouldn’t have, she would ask, “Was that true, kind, and necessary?”  She made it clear that one’s words needed to meet all three requirements which was such a great way to teach a young person to tame their double-edged sword.  Years later, my dad shared these words of wisdom with my mom, and she incorporated them into my own childrearing years.  Someday, if I am blessed with a family and children of my own, these words will be passed on to yet another generation.  However, it wasn’t until recently that we learned where Grandma had picked up this treasure, and not surprisingly, it came from reading one of Amy Carmichael’s books several decades ago.

The written word has such a powerful ability to impact lives, and Grandma used these tools to do just that.  Nevertheless, she couldn’t have found and provided resources to so many others if it wasn’t for a CBD making them available in the first place.  Almost two months ago Grandma Ferguson went home to be with the Lord, so she never heard that The Master and His Apprentices is now available through Christian Book Distributors.  Nevertheless, I know she would have been a proud grandmother, realizing that this gives the curriculum another opportunity to spread and impact lives as it clearly shows the supremacy of God in a discipline that so often overlooks His existence.  For these reasons, and more, I am excited to partner with CBD where you can now find The Master and His Apprentices textbook and teacher guide here.