May 2005 Archives

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 31, 2005 | Permalink

It is amazing what a boy can accomplish when he sets his mind to it.

The first mission given by God to men was to be a problem solver. (He was to perform taxonomical classification on the animals.) Since then, men have always been geared at problem-solving dominion works. Boys are men in the making. So we should not be surprised when boys attack projects — as small as building sand castles, or as big as plowing a field — with gusto. This is especially true when they have ownership of the mission.

The little boy pictured above is Master Joshua Phillips, age eleven. Joshua informed me that he wanted permission to move a three hundred-pound log from one end of a beach, through the water, to place it on the shore at the other end of a beach in the midst of stormy weather, “just to see if he could do it.” Permission was granted.

For the next hour, I watched with amazement as “he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done” (to quote Edgar Guest) with amazing focus and “did it.”

Never underestimate the power of a boy on a mission.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 27, 2005 | Permalink

Two decades ago, home educators were being scolded from pulpits, persecuted by social workers, and mocked by the intelligentsia of evolutionary academia. Now they are not only the fastest growing and most influential new educational movement, but they are consistently bringing home the bacon in diverse national academic competitions.

Congratulations to Nathaniel Cornelius, a thirteen-year-old home school youth from Minnesota who won the $25,000 grand prize at the 2005 National Geographic Bee on Wednesday. The Associated Press reports that “Cornelius, of Cottonwood, represented the Marshall Area Home Educators Association. In addition to knowing his way around, he plays piano and classical guitar and enjoys photography. He also represented Minnesota in the 2003 and 2004 National Geographic Bees.”

The winning question: “Lake Gatun, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal system, was created by damming which river?” The answer: “Chagres River.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 26, 2005 | Permalink

God bless Mike (president of Home School Legal Defense Association) and Elizabeth Smith who were kind to take the Phillips family out for dinner after the FEAST home education conference last weekend. Mike and I both brought messages to the Texas home school community. I spoke on “Making Wise Decisions About College and Life After Home School.”

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 26, 2005 | Permalink

My son Howard Honor Phillips asked for a shave. So he got one. Check it out. (Requires free QuickTime player.)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 26, 2005 | Permalink

Date: May 30, 2005
Purpose: Memorial Day Picnic Extravaganza
Sponsor: Scott Brown and Trinity Baptist Church
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Besides being a super speaker and director of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, Scott Brown is just one of the greatest guys on the planet. Besides being one of the greatest guys on the planet, Scott Brown has a beautiful farm and every year he opens it up on Memorial Day to a thousand people for what surely must be the ultimate all-American, family-oriented, Christ-honoring Memorial Day celebration on the planet.

I will be there this year with a trailer from the new Faith of Our Fathers project, as well as testimonies and images from Iwo Jima. It will be a day to meet and honor WWII vets and an opportunity to give thanks to God for his protection over our nation. The event includes hayrides and authentic military jeep rides. Food will be served at noon — traditional southern bar-b-q and fixins. Bring your own lawn chairs. No charge, but a donation would be appreciated.

Click here for the details.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 25, 2005 | Permalink

To identify and understand the importance of this image to biblical creationism, check out the latest on JonathanPark.com.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 25, 2005 | Permalink

The history of the rise of home education as an organized modern American movement can be traced to the year 1983. That was the year that The Teaching Home magazine emerged to sound the virtues of home education. It was the year of the first gathering of state home school leaders to plot a national strategy for the defense and propagation of Christian home education. It was the year that Dr. Raymond Moore’s book, Home-Spun Schools: What Parents Are Doing and How They Are Doing It, began to receive wide distribution. It was also the year that the Home School Legal Defense Association was founded by an aggressive and visionary young attorney named Michael Farris.

For some, home education was a response to a perceived crisis in government and private education, but for many, especially the leaders of the movement, home education was no mere reaction, but an affirmation of fundamental biblical principles regarding both the content and methodology of Christian discipleship and training of children. Furthermore, home educators insisted that their movement was not an innovative new approach to schooling, but the revival and improvement of an historic approach to training leaders.

Home education was, after all, the original method of education. From the patterns and precepts of Scripture, it is clearly a God-blessed method of education. It seems reasonable to assume that over the course of history, more of the world’s population have been home educated than all of the people who were primarily educated in government and private schools combined and then multiplied by a factor of one hundred. (Think about it.) Historically, a significant percentage of our nation’s leaders (some of the most articulate and best-educated men in history) were privately educated at home by their parents, through self-study and with the aid of private tutors. As David McCullough points out in his latest book, 1776, a common denominator of the generals who began the war with George Washington and ended the war with him, is that none of them had a “formal” education outside their home.

Despite its historicity and track record of success in our own nation, the rise of the modern organized home education movement was met with tremendous hostility during the early 1980s and well into the 1990s. Nearly a century of statist educational philosophy, compulsory school attendance laws, and evolutionary education methodologies had brainwashed the nation into believing that education must be regulated by the state in order to “protect children from harm.”

The first wave of modern home educators (the “trailblazers”) found themselves under attack from three different groups:

First, they were under legal attack from government statists in the form of lawmakers, social workers, school superintendents, psychologists (serving as “expert witnesses” in trials), leftist legal groups, and judges who sought, at best, to restrictively regulate home education, and at worse, to criminalize it. (Under the able leadership of Michael Farris, then president of HSLDA, the enemies of home education have been, and continue to be, repulsed. I am thankful to have played a very small role as an attorney on the staff of HSLDA, where I served as Director of the National Center for Home Education.)

Second, home educators endured constant ridicule and harassment from extended family, friends, and even strangers who believed that home education was destructive to the child’s proper socialization, financial well-being, and job potential.

Third, home educators were under spiritual attack within their own churches, primarily from pastors with children in government schools and Christian school organizers (often also pastors) whose credibility and financial stability were challenged by the growing exodus of children from their institutions and the success of home education. Then, like now, home educators endured the worst forms of ostracism, harassment, and name-calling — not from the secularists, but from professing Christians in their own local churches who insisted that educational methodology was neutral or subjective, and who objected to home educators defending their practices from Holy Scripture.

But economic and practical success breeds sympathy. (How we might wish that it was principle which bred sympathy!) By the mid-nineties, the tide began to turn. With the continued decline of government education, the economic and spiritual failure of the traditional Christian school model (often merely a form of baptized government education), with the number of home educators now in the millions and growing, and with the legal rights of home educators being vindicated to a greater or lesser degree in all fifty states, politicians and pastors began to realize that home educators could no longer be dismissed as a merely reactionary or fringe group. Home education was here to stay.

Ultimately, in the face of rapidly growing numbers and unprecedented educational success, Christian school advocates of all stripes were forced to essentially adopt the position: “If we cannot wipe them out, let’s sell to them.” And thus began a wave (much of which has proven to be downright beneficial to everybody) of Christian school advocates supplementing their incomes (and sometimes supporting the notoriously challenging economies of private Christian schools) using home schooler dollars. In recent years, these advocates have become more willing to acknowledge and even cautiously (ever so cautiously) bless home education as long as home educators do not dare to offer a theological justification for their methodological approach to training children.

In the final analysis, the persecution of the early years served to test and refine the thinking of Christian home educators, to facilitate the organization of home educators at the regional and state levels throughout the nation, to develop the political savvy and organizational strength of the movement, to create an environment of political freedom for home educators, and to develop a diverse and rich market of materials such that there is seemingly no limit to the curriculum options available to home educators. Though the movement is diverse and anything but homogeneous, it is distinguished for its emphasis on restoring the culture of Christian family life, a revival of multi-generational thinking and principles of biblical patriarchy, an emphasis on character training and academic excellence, and an emphasis on historic, Hebraic (Deuteronomy 6), relationship-driven training.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 24, 2005 | Permalink

Click here to read the article.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 24, 2005 | Permalink

I received in the mail from my father today this magazine from March of 1980. I am currently the age of my father when he appeared on the cover of Conservative Digest. May the Lord allow me to honor my father and live up to example of Christian leadership he has set for each of his children.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 24, 2005 | Permalink

I must study war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons must study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study paintings, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain. (John Adams, Patriarch)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 23, 2005 | Permalink

You are in possession of a natural and good understanding and of spirits unbroken by adversity, and untamed with care. Improve your understanding for acquiring useful knowledge and virtue, such as will render you an ornament to society, an honor to your country, and a blessing to your parents and remember you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions. (Abigail Adams to son John Quincy)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 23, 2005 | Permalink

Simon and Schuster was kind to send me a few pre-release copies of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough’s latest masterpiece, 1776. I have with gusto devoured nearly half of the volume. My household has been gathering in the living room and at the dining room table over the last few days for lengthy readings. Look for my complete review of the book by next week.

In the meantime, check out my personal dialogue with Professor McCullough on the question of whether the Abigail Adams of the Founders era would in any way identify with the feminists of our own.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 23, 2005 | Permalink

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile — hoping it will eat him last. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb. (Sir Winston Churchill)

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. (Sir Winston Churchill)

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. (Sir Winston Churchill)

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. (Sir Winston Churchill)

It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. (Sir Winston Churchill)

The price of greatness is responsibility. (Sir Winston Churchill)

The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning. (Sir Winston Churchill)

To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Respectfully submitted by Douglas Winston Phillips

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 23, 2005 | Permalink

Every action done in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those who are present. (Rule #1 of the 110 in Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 21, 2005 | Permalink

Bill Potter, my friend of more than twenty years and comrade tour leader for our Faith and Freedom Tour, provides insightful book reviews for Vision Forum on our special Book Blog. This week, Bill reviews the new biography entitled Robert Lewis Dabney: A Southern Presbyterian Life, by Sean Michael Lucas, published by Presbyterian and Reformed.

Lucas’s book will not be remembered as the last word on Dabney, but his writing is nonetheless a mostly credible contribution to remembering this great Reformed father. (P.S. The book takes a mild potshot at me for the sentiments communicated in my booklette Robert Louis Dabney: The Prophet Speaks.)

Bill (who named one of his own children Dabney) has been a student of Dabney for more than three decades, and is eminently qualified to evaluate Lucas’s work. As a book critic, however, Bill Potter is a man of great restraint. You will note that he neither unleashes both barrels on Lucas, nor does he schmooze over the author’s PC psychologizing.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 20, 2005 | Permalink

With Memorial Day just around the corner, Vision Forum continues our year-long sixtieth anniversary tribute and “last goodbye” to our fathers of the World War II generation. (Read more about the Faith of Our Fathers Film Project.)

During our 25,000-mile journey of honor, we stopped to film the octogenarian veterans as they visited the burial plots of fallen brothers at Oahu’s Punchbowl. In the above picture, I am standing beside the grave of Robert R. Graham, Jr., Cmdr. U.S. Navy, the father of a dear friend to Vision Forum Ministries.

There were hundreds of opportunities to speak with our sons, encourage them to have hearts of gratitude and honor, and to exhort them to bold manhood. (The above pictured grave is the marker of John Butler, father of “Johnny Boy,” featured in our field report on “The League of Grateful Sons.”)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 18, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 18, 2005 | Permalink

Courageous comments from a man who would be an outstanding president.

As a Christian, I do not want women in our military to be trained as “warriors.” In fact — because I believe it is the role of men to protect women — I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WOMEN SHOULD BE IN OUR MILITARY AT ALL, IN ANY POSITIONS! If, at some point, we are involved in a truly Godly, Biblical, Constitutional war that is really self-defense, women might help in some capacity, as volunteers. But, even then, it would not be necessary for them to be members of our Armed Forces. (Michael Peroutka)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 18, 2005 | Permalink

Vocational Reality for Aspiring Filmmakers
This seminar addresses trends and opportunities affecting the generation of pioneering filmmakers who venture outside Hollywood. Geoffrey Botkin establishes the scriptural legitimacy of filmmaking as a vocation, along with the inherent dangers of this vocation. He points the students to important spiritual and academic qualifications for venturing into this arena. He offers perspective on how to develop vision and how to get started with small family productions.

How to Finance and Distribute a Christian Film
The issue of distribution and financing is crucial to the future of the independent Christian film industry. Rich Christiano and his brother have successfully financed, directed, filmed, and marketed several Christian films with budgets between $50,000 and a $1 million. Rich has developed a helpful model for finance and distribution success which he shares in this seminar.

A Step-by-Step Look at Producing and Independent Christian Film
Taken from one of the Director’s Workshops, held at the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, Rich Christiano explains, step-by-step, how he produced and directed Time Changer. He provides tips on how you can produce a quality Christian film for under $50,000.

Symposium on Creating Scripts that Glorify God
In this message, Geoffrey Botkin communicates biblical principles of story selection, story structure, the heroic tradition, character, theme, and basic mechanics of writing. He answers the question: How does a scriptwriter communicate sound doctrine in the context of a commercially viable and culturally powerful script?

The Twelve Most Common Mistakes of Beginning Directors
This seminar allows the aspiring director to learn from the experience of Christian directors who have come before him, thus helping him to avoid costly and discouraging mistakes.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 17, 2005 | Permalink

www.jonathanpark.com

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 17, 2005 | Permalink

One of the most exciting projects that the Lord has given to Vision Forum is the privilege of producing (to our knowledge) the world’s first family-friendly, biblically sound, home school family, creation adventure radio drama — Jonathan Park. Vision Forum inherited the radio broadcast just over a year ago from our dear friends at the Institute for Creation Research. The show broadcasts in more than a dozen nations and on networks around the United States. Our mission has been to honor the vision and high standards established by ICR by bringing the show to the next level of technical excellence, artistic craftsmanship, and integrity of message. Of course, we really enjoy the opportunity to imprint each episode with the unique family-building, Christian culture affirming ministry emphasis of Vision Forum.

Our producer/director/scriptwriter Pat Roy has done a wonderful job of weaving together exciting storylines filled with high adventure, mystery, and discovery, while modeling Christ-honoring relationships among the key characters. The show seeks to communicate truth artfully, while avoiding trendy, crass, or philosophically bankrupt verbiage and attitudes.

Of course, the heart of Jonathan Park is the desire to help young men and women grow in their love of the Creator and their appreciation for his wonderful (though sin-cursed) creation. Each episode is a powerful teaching tool that comes complete with online study guides and home school programs that can be downloaded for free at www.jonathanpark.com.

This month, we wrap production on the last of our first thirty-six half-hour episodes. We begin writing the next twelve segments in March. I would personally be grateful for your prayers that God would bless our creativity and vision.

In the meantime, if you enjoy great radio drama, may I suggest that you contact your local Christian radio station and ask them to consider carrying Jonathan Park.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 16, 2005 | Permalink

First, delight in the glory that is gelato.

Next, proclaim your joy to all thirty-seven people within a forty-foot radius from where you have smashed it all over your face.

Finally, stick it in your father’s face.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 14, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 14, 2005 | Permalink

God be praised. An eleven-ounce baby was delivered by Caesarean. Her legs are no longer than an adult’s pinkie and her feet are about the size of an adult’s fingernails. Weighing eleven ounces, Kalea Lyn Allen was delivered three months premature by Caesarean section.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

This year, Vision Forum’s Christian Filmmakers Academy (a technical boot camp for aspiring culture changers) is pleased to be joined by professional adventure cinematographer David Rasmussen.

In addition to being a creationist and a home school father, David is a noted cinematographer and filmmaker who has shot on Mount Everest and K2. His work has been featured on The Discovery Channel, The Travel Channel, and National Geographic.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

Veterans Marine Colonel Bill Henderson and P-51 Mustang pilot Bill Brown share a common faith in Jesus Christ, a common passion for their families, and a common experience serving the nation together during the battle of Iwo Jima.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

The Faith of Our Fathers film project stops to remember the women and children cruelly executed during the Japanese occupation of Guam, as well as many who died for their profession of Christianity.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father and he will shew thee, the elders and they will tell thee. Deuteronomy 32:7

At the site of a Japaneze Bonzai charge Colonel Bill Henderson relates his personal memories of the war.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

Dr. George Grant offers an excellent comparison of Augustine and Aquinas on his Grantian Florilegium. We were delighted when George joined Vision Forum as a judge and speaker for the 2004 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 12, 2005 | Permalink

This last weekend, Vision Forum was grateful for the opportunity to be represented at the Arlington Home School Book Fair in Texas (with 5,000 in attendance), at the Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania conference (7,000 persons strong), and at the Georgia Home Education Association (5,500 in attendance — up dramatically from past years) where I keynoted. The wonderful news is that Christian home education remains, hands-down, the fastest growing and most inluential educational movement in America.

This year’s GHEA state home school conference included a graduation with more than two thousand people in attendance.

This year, I brought a message to the graduates and attendees which addressed a biblical vision for godly dominion and culture. The Lord was also kind to give opportunities to present messages on how sons and daughters can honor mothers and fathers, how wives can bless (even visionless) husbands, and how fathers can communicate vision and leadership in their family’s home education program.

My soon-to-be-twelve-year-old son Joshua is not only a most able personal assistant to me, but an absolute delight as a son and companion.

Two years ago, Vision Forum graduated from our internship a very impressive, godly, and principled young man named Nathanial Darnell. He and his able brother Joseph have not only started a top-notch film company called Valor Visual Media, but have already produced a significant film (carried by Vision Forum) called Remember Alabama. Joseph is pictured above helping to run the filming of the GHEA conference.

When on the road, we are always delighted to see our good friends. One of the more impressive home school family businesses we see on the road is Rhino Technologies, run and managed by the Mark Reinhardt family. Their daughter Hannah has been a special blessing to my children for many years.

Ken Patterson, the accomplished leader of GHEA, has been assisting or leading the state home school conference every year since 1988. This year, he retires. Georgia Christians owe Ken a debt of gratitude for his many years of service in presenting a conference with speakers committed to a distinctively biblical vision of education.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 11, 2005 | Permalink

At the risk of opening a complex can of worms, I would like to ever-so-briefly address a common misconception held by some Christian parents struggling with children in rebellion.

The point I want to make is this. No Christian family has the authority to excommunicate one of its own members. No individual has the authority to excommunicate. In fact, no one has the authority to excommunicate except the local church which (pursuant to Holy Scripture) is required to excommunicate habitually rebellious, unrepentant, covenant-breaking members.

Excommunication is an official ecclesiastical pronouncement of the local church. When conducted pursuant to Scripture and under the authority of a local church, it carries the authority of Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 18:18). It is an enormously serious determination because the legitimate excommunication of a genuine Church of Jesus Christ binds not only the members of the local church, but all true believers to treat the excommunicant individual as a “heathen and a publican.” This is not a statement that the local church or the individual know the eternal destiny of the excommunicant person, only that pursuant to Matthew 18 (et al.), the individual is acting like a heathen and is to be treated as such until they demonstrate genuine repentance and are restored by the same body which excommunicated them. In the meantime, no Christian is to eat with, or treat as a “brother,” an unrepentant excommunicant.

Families with rebellious children who profess faith in Christ may petition their local church for formal church discipline of those children. This is possible only when the children are members of the local church where discipline is to be enforced. Whether or not a parent requests and the local church brings ecclesiastical discipline on a habitually rebellious family member, a family may discipline its own members. But note: The discipline of the family is different from the discipline of the church.

Parents may (and should) withhold blessings from unrepentant, covenant-breaking children. This may include withholding birthrights, inheritances, and a host of privileges which rightly belong only to covenant-keeping children. Furthermore, there may be serious implications for the “who, what, when, and why” of how godly parents direct their interactions with unrepentant, covenant-breaking children. In fact, there must be serious and significant implications. But none of this is the same thing as an excommunication.

Rebellious Christians may cease to be members of a local body. But rebellious children never cease to be the children of their parents. The parental bond is essentially non-severable.

The State bears the sword. The family bears the rod. The Church holds the keys to excommunication. Each jurisdiction must be honored and respected. No family has the authority or the ability to “excommunicate” a child.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 10, 2005 | Permalink

Dear Doug, I wanted to thank you again for coming to the GHEA conference this weekend and being such a blessing to the homeschoolers of Georgia. We have come to understand that family-worship is a huge part of not only the foundation of a Christian home but of a Christian homeschool education as well. Unfortunately we have been sporadically faithful in establishing a formal family worship for years. This weekend I saw ‘The Family Worship Book’ by Terry L. Johnson on the Vision Forum table and quickly bought it. The results, in just a few days, have been wonderful. We have discovered that Gabriel, our 4 year old, responds to question/answer type study. Last night I asked the children what was book of the Bible that we have been reading from? “Matthew!” yelled Gabe; and all of our mouths dropped open. “And who speaks in Matthew?” I asked, “Jesus!”, he responded. We have started to memorize the catechism for children in the back of the book, i.e. “Who made you?”, answer: “God.” “What else did God make?”, answer: “God made all things.” Last night as I laid Gabe down and turned out the lights, he asked me a question. “Daddy, do you know what?” “No Gabe, what?” A little boy’s voice from the darkness said simply, “God made all things for his own glory.” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes and my voice shook as I said “Yes, son he certainly did.” God bless you Doug and to God be the glory, he has and is working a great ministry through Vision Forum. Kevin P.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 10, 2005 | Permalink

The note entitled “Tragic Irony” on Messiah’s Web site offers one personal insight.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 10, 2005 | Permalink

...Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. (Genesis 24:60)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 8, 2005 | Permalink

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. (Proverbs 1:7-9) My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. (Proverbs 6:20-23) Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. (Proverbs 4:1-4)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 8, 2005 | Permalink

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. (Psalm 128)

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 8, 2005 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 8, 2005 | Permalink

Vision Forum Ministries is pleased to announce....

The 2005 Christian Filmmakers Academy

A Technical Boot Camp for Aspiring Culture Changers

• More than sixteen hours of formal classroom instruction from seasoned industry professionals
• Personal discussion and interaction with school faculty and guest lecturers
• Opportunity to network and build professional personal relations with like-minded individuals interested in independent Christian filmmaking

Who Should Apply

• Aspiring filmmakers, home educators, Christian students, and industry professionals who want to broaden their grasp of diverse skills necessary for independent Christian film production

Dates

• Monday Evening, October 24 to Wednesday Evening, October 26
• Concludes evening before San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival

Classes Include

• Introduction to Christian Philosophy of Independent Film
• Lighting techniques
• Camera-work
• Editing basics
• Graphics
• Animation
• Compositing
• Live critique/analysis of students’ work, ideas, and projects
• Questions and answers
• Production logistics
• Money and scheduling
• Finding projects, choosing projects
• Making public affairs documentaries
• Producing a human interest short
• How to direct a television multicamera studio project

Admission

• $345 per student
• $50 discount per registration for two or more family members in attendance
• Bonus 50% off normal SAICFF admission fee

Register here!

The main theater at the Gonzalez Convention Center is where this year’s film festival will take place

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 4, 2005 | Permalink

In the last sixty years, fewer people have visited the island of Iwo Jima than have climbed Mt. Everest. Resting at the base of the Bonin Island chain, Iwo is one of the most remote and isolated clumps of volcanic rock and sand in the Pacific. Except for vegetation and the small Japanese military installation that guards the lonely airport, there is little sign of life anywhere on this remote four-and-half mile long outpost.

Of all the remaining battlefield monuments to the Second World War, Iwo Jima is singular. It is an entire island largely untouched for sixty years and dedicated to the memory of one month in the Spring of 1945 when more than 100,000 men were locked in a battle unprecedented for its bloodshed and iconic in its significance to the American people.

Even beneath the surface, there are reminders. More than eleven miles of underground tunnels and fifteen hundred rooms once housing 21,000 Japanese defenders remain. One can still find bayonets, boots, and even skeletal remains in open view, undisturbed and exactly where they have rested for more than half a century — haunting reminders to a vicious conflict in which 70,000 American fighting men descended on this speck of an island for what would become the defining battle in Marine Corps history.

This is a destination where old men go to remember the fallen comrades of their youth. It is an island where sons go to honor their fathers.

And one day a year, the Japanese government opens Iwo Jima to the small handfuls of veterans and their families and friends who come to remember and pay homage to the fallen.

On March 12, 2005, the Vision Forum Faith of Our Fathers film team hit the beaches of Iwo Jima with more than eighty aged veterans who battled on those same black sands in 1945. Our day on Iwo was part of a journey of honor — a three-week tour of the Pacific in which we sought to record on film the wisdom of those surviving men whose lives were forever marked by thirty-six days of hellish warfare. It was a mission of multi-generational faithfulness dedicated to honoring our fathers and remembering the providence of God over the World War II generation.

Though we were astonished by the stamina and persevering spirit of these grandfather heroes, we knew they would never again return to the island. There will be no seventieth celebration with 95-year-old men walking the beaches, combing through the caves, or climbing the 546-foot Mt. Suribachi. This was it — the closing adieu to an event which has remained with these men every day of their life for sixty years. This was the last time to speak of ancient battles with ancient warriors. It was the last time to smell the air, to sift the sand, and to weep where beloved brothers exchanged with blood their own futures so that children yet born could have the hope of peace. It was the final farewell.

But among our group of pilgrims was a very special band of brothers, each united by a common loss, a common legacy, and a common heart of gratitude. Theirs was a story within the broader story; a record of devotion so compelling that we often labored late into the night to capture, record, and process each precious testimony.

We called them “The League of Grateful Sons” — and their story is the true tale of boys who spent their life loving and dreaming about the fathers who never came home from Iwo Jima.

The Father Who Never Died

“Johnny Boy” was five years old when he received this letter from his daddy — Lt. Col. John Augustus Butler, Sr. It was the latest of many communications his father had sent since departing for the Pacific. Each note was filled with encouragement, manly counsel, and fatherly love prepared from fields of battle by a man who would not allow a world war to interfere with his duties to instruct his son.

But this letter was different. It was the last communication Johnny Boy ever received from his “proud dad.”

Note the date — February 18, 1945, the eve of D-Day. On February 19, Lt. Col. John Butler would hit the black sands of Iwo Jima as commander of 1st Battalion, 27th Regiment, 5th Marine Division, leading over one thousand men into the fight for their lives against an entrenched Japanese enemy. Fourteen days later, the popular battalion commander and devoted father of three would lose his life in the performance of his duty, fighting on the frontlines.

It is now sixty years later, and Johnny Boy is a grandfather.

I first met John Butler, Jr. on the plane to Guam and was immediately taken by this sixty-five year old son’s irrepressible passion for his father. Within moments of making his acquaintance, he was unfolding documents and showing me precious letters of the man he loved.

He literally grabbed one member of my team, looked him in the eye, and asked, “Have you heard of my father? Do you know the things he did?” He pulled out an accordion file-folder, crammed full of dozens upon dozens of letters — letters exchanged between “Johnny Boy” and “Daddy”; love letters written between his father and mother; letters written to his mother by men who served under his father’s command.

And then there were pictures — scores of them — photos that catalogued his father’s life and testimony.

Great things happen when fathers love and disciple their sons. That is why, for sixty years, this son has loved the daddy who never came home. For sixty years, he has read and re-read his father’s instructions to him. For sixty years, he has remained devoted in his heart to the man whose wisdom and love, communicated through battlefield letters, has been a guiding light in his life.

He put it simply: “I feel like my father has always been here with me.”

At this point, the words of the Eternal Son came to our minds:

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth...’ (John 5:19-20)

The Heroism of the Fathers is the Legacy of the Sons

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. (Psalm 78:2-7)

For the sixtieth anniversary of their father’s death, John Butler, Jr. and younger brother Clinton (only four months old when his father was killed) decided to return to the island where their father was ushered into eternity. It was to be a pilgrimage of sonship to remember and give thanks for the man who in death left a legacy of love and devotion.

It gives a son confidence to know his father was a man of character. John, Jr. describes his father this way:

My father’s story is one of love, the love between him and my mother, love for and faith in God, a love for humanity and the men he led, and great pride in the Marine Corps he served. Those whom he led and those who knew him, speak of his exceptional character, genuine friendliness, and the superb leadership of his battalion in training and in combat.

In the providence of God, several of the men traveling with us knew the devoted father of John, Jr. and Clinton. They had served along side of Lt. Col. John Butler during the war and were able to give first hand accounts to his sons.

Most notable among these men was Col. Gerald Russell, the senior ranking veteran of Iwo Jima on our trip. A member of the first U.S. Marine Corp Officer Candidate’s class in American history, and a battalion commander at the age of 26, Russell (now 88) was wounded on Iwo the day Lt. Col. Butler was killed. Russell, who following Butler’s death would later take command of his battalion, explained:

There were a lot of leaders whom men followed who they did not like. John Butler was not among them. He was a man’s man. Everybody loved him. He was the kind of man that would prepare his boys for battle by going man to man, putting his arms on them, and whispering personal words of encouragement to them.

Growing up, Johnny Boy knew this about his father. His mother told him. He heard report after report from men who had been friends with his dad. But he also knew it experientially. He knew it because John Butler, Sr. was a man who modeled true fatherhood by taking time to prioritize the mission of giving counsel to a son — even in the thick of battle.

John, Jr. explained how his father’s life of heroic leadership at home and in the battlefield became an enduring testimony of hope in his own life:

His image and deeds always loomed large and have been a major influence in my own life.... His smiling image was always on the mantelpiece over the fire place in the living room of our family home, and my mother, who never remarried, and never considered another man in her life, spoke often of their life together in stories told over and over again.

John Butler, Jr. spent many hours opening his heart with the Faith of Our Fathers film team. As he presented to us ancient letters, we knew we were peering into something sacred and wonderful. His father had written him directions on how to live life. These directions were a guidepost for him. His father had demonstrated tender love through his written words. These words were the vehicles whereby the boyish hurt over the loss of a father was transformed into a lifetime of honor, gratitude, and vision. In short, his father had given him an inheritance more valuable than gold; he had given himself.

In addition to his general call for his son to be a boy of faith and prayers, two themes emerged in the Butler letters: (1) Some things are worth fighting for; and (2) Take care of women and children.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 4, 2005 | Permalink

In the wake of First Lady Laura Bush’s numerous inappropriate remarks of sexual double entendre at her husband’s expense delivered at this week’s press conference, Michael Peroutka offers this rich insight:

In his historically instructive book, Myths in Stone: Religious Dimensions of Washington D.C. (University of California Press, 2001), Jeffrey F. Meyer, a professor of religion at the University of North Carolina, says this about President George Washington’s concern about ceremony and domestic behavior:

“[He] sensed that everything he did was significant. From the procedures to be observed in high government rituals down to questions of domestic etiquette — how the president should relate to leading citizens and to ordinary citizens, what kind of house he should occupy, and what clothes he should wear. All of these issues, he realized, were expressive of the status of the president. He understood that all these items would, to use contemporary jargon, ‘make a statement.’”

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 3, 2005 | Permalink

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2)

With all due respect to our First Lady, we appeal to older women and women of influence to set the right example for our daughters by avoiding the type of coarse, sexually-immoral joking which Mrs. Laura Bush engaged in this week at the expense of her husband. Having survived the shame of the Clinton years, we also urge our First Lady to hold her vows to Christ above her desire to be humorous and culturally relevant. (By the way: Can you imagine the response if her husband had said about his wife the sort of things she said about him?)

Here are some additional insights from two faithful men:

• ”Our First Lady’s ‘Coarse Jesting’” by Scott Brown
• ”Mrs. Bush’s Remarks To Washington Press Corps Embarrassing, Lacking In Discernment” by Michael Peroutka

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 3, 2005 | Permalink

The girls decide to give the CJ a bath for its twentieth birthday.

...this also serves as target practice for the next fluffy bunny hunt.

Posted by Doug Phillips on May 2, 2005 | Permalink