Thomas W. Silkwood is a native of Indiana and Illinois. He graduated from Lincoln Christian College in 1980.  Upon graduation from LCC, he moved to Thailand at the invitation of a veteran missionary there. Tom’s first term as a missionary was taken up with language study and medical work, due to his experience as an E.M.T. Tom married Gayle (Smith) on his first furlough home. Tom and Gayle have three children: Jeff, Kim, and Kari.

On their return to Thailand, Tom continued with his medical work and evangelism but began doing more multimedia work. He primarily worked on duplication of old filmstrips for the mission. This ministry grew from a part-time ministry to the founding of Freedom Films Productions in 1989. In 1995, the ministry began working in video production. Although Freedom Films Productions was already part of the Good News Productions, International team, it became a full regional center in 2000.

As regional director, Tom’s goal for GNPI-Thailand is the same as it was in the beginning, to share Christ in the heart language and culture of a people group using appropriate technology. The studio is uniquely located to do just that, as Chiang Mai is considered to be the number one city for outreach to Southeast Asia and Southern China.