Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth and his family have made significant changes to their high-income lifestyles over the past seven years. In what he describes as a "religious awakening," Dr. Sleeth resigned from his posts as director of an emergency room and chief of staff at New England hospital, sold his home and moved his family into a house that is about the size of the garage at their old home.
Sleeth now spends his time lecturing, writing and preaching about creation care and the environment. He will tell those attending the 2009 General Assembly about the importance of changing their lifestyles to better recognize the things around them that make God's wondrous creation so vital to their lives. In lectures across the country, Sleeth stresses the importance and value of preserving the God-made things that people encounter every day.
Together with his wife, Nancy, and their two teenaged children, the family decided to make fundamental changes to their lives. They gave away about half of their material possessions, moved into a much smaller home, cut the amount of electricity they used to about a tenth of the national average and drastically reduced their use of fossil fuels. They no longer own a clothes dryer, garbage disposal, dishwasher, or lawn mower.
Sleeth is a graduate of George Washington University School of Medicine and has two post doctoral fellowships. He has been a member of the American Academy of Family Practice, the College of Emergency Physicians, and the College of Executive Physicians.