March 30-April 1 at the beautiful Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

The conference was extremely convicting and inspiring. Essentially, I was totally shown how, as a father, we must be “spiritually awake’ and involved with our daughters. Coming from a background where my parents were not intimately involved in my life and future, it is vital that I plan, not just for now, but for the future godly “seed.” This is a concept foreign to many Christians today. As fathers, we sometimes go on “automatic pilot” — but rather, we need to be constantly thinking things through, until we give our daughter away to a godly man. —Joe B.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 31, 2007 | Permalink

“Faithfulness to go into the fire is true success...” from Dr. Paul Jehle’s talk on What Every Christian Should Know About the Babylonian Empire at Vision Forum Ministry’s 2006 History of the World Mega-Conference. Dr. Jehle is one of the featured speakers at this year’s big national event for Christian families, The Jamestown Quadracentennial: A Celebration of America’s Providential History.

(To view this video clip, you must have QuickTime 7 installed — available as a free download.)

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 31, 2007 | Permalink

On our recent travels this month, the Phillips children we were treated to daily doses of Freddy the Pig readings from “Mimi” — my own dear mother and professional connoisseur of all-things-Freddy. This now makes three generations in our family line to have these books read to them by parents or grandparents.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 31, 2007 | Permalink

Perky the Wonder Duck “comes back to life” after being shot with a shotgun, dragged by a dog, and kept in a freezer for two days.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 31, 2007 | Permalink

“Blair concluded he would not excuse Catholic adoption agencies that receive public funds from the new anti-discrimination law.”

In addition to the greivous civil and spiritual implications for any nation that insists on anti-discrimination laws for sodomites seeking adoptions, there are important lessons about the devastating implications of socialism for families, home educators, pastors, lawmakers, and others. Those who take government money should expect the real possibility that they will be governed by ungodly statist regulations.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 31, 2007 | Permalink

Bob with my daughter, Virginia Hope

Some of the manliest and most visionary single men I know spend time in the company of babies. And they love it. They love to hold them, play with them, and rejoice in the hope which is new life.

They do this because they have rejected the culture of radical individualism that teaches men to view their lives in isolation of families and Christian community. They do this because they are around other men — now husbands and fathers — who speak of covenant, generational faithfulness, and the duty of men to raise up a godly seed.

They acknowledge that their own mission as men will likely someday be directly tied to their role as fathers. As single men, they prepare for fatherhood and they begin to pray for the babies that the Lord may choose to send to them. They recognize that children are a rich blessing to be greatly desired by any man who is, well — a man!

To this new breed of men, babies are a reminder that we are all heirs to the past and ancestors to the future. They remind them of their priorities in Christ. The presence of babies in the life of single men is an encouragement to pursue a Psalm 127 vision that someday their own families will be mighty in the land. Babies are a reminder that our spiritual fathers, like Abraham, were men who longed for the hope of children. They remind them that the greatest example of manhood in all of history rebuked other men who would not “suffer the children” to come.

The result is that single men who are around babies and family culture become highly motivated to “get their act together.” They experience positive, holy peer-pressure to set aside childish things and to be about the business of men. This means that they must prepare their fields without (Prov. 24:27) so they can start families of their own and have babies. Malachi 2:14 reminds us that “real men” acknowledge that the pursuit of a godly seed is not merely an afterthought. It is one of the key reasons delineated by the Creator for marriage. For all of these reasons, the presence of babies in the life of single men not only tenderizes their hearts to the preciousness of children, but it motivates them to be men of God.

In contrast, individualistic cultures prioritize lifestyles that have the tendency of inoculating young men against healthy, manly feelings toward babies and children. Our modern culture is radically individualistic. Not all of the expressions of individualism are inherently wrong, but the net effect has been devastating for our view of babies and manhood. For example, the modern trend of never-ending formal education tends to give men a “dormitory” vision of life, and to push marriages back later and later. The Bible encourages husbands to rejoice in the wife of their youth, which is why Christian culture self-consciously prepares men for marriage and family leadership sooner, rather than later in life.

Individualistic cultures breed materialism, the great foe of manly maturity. Materialism is poison to the single man. Success is defined by the acquisition of things, rather than obedience and the pursuit of spiritual objectives. Marriage and babies are largely viewed as an encumbrance to personal freedom. In addition, materialism trains men to demand immediate gratification. This leads to sexual impropriety, indebtedness, and even impatience and anger. In contrast, cultures that force men to deal with babies and children tend to encourage the manly disciplines of self-sacrifice, patience, and kindness.

Individualistic cultures are family-fragmenting by nature. The consequence is that the hearts of our single men become invested in destructive peer culture, rather than a balanced, multi-generational Christian community.

The simple truth is this: The longer men are away from babies, the more selfish they tend to become.

Single men need to be engaged in manly pursuits. They need the company of sturdy men and the influence of older, wiser men around them. But they also need to be around babies.

Frankly, men are designed to battle, but they need to know for what it is they are fighting. They fight for the King and for His Kingdom. This fight includes the defense of women and the little ones our wives have brought into the world (Neh. 4:14). But how will our men know the preciousness of the treasure they seek to guard if their love for babies is never cultivated?

We need men who learn early in their lives to treasure children. Men who love children tend to be the most visionary, stable, and self-sacrificing. We need a new generation of visionary young men. Visionary young men aspire to live lives of significance that transcend the here and now. This is why we need to place babies in the hands of our young men, and then talk to them about the true dreams and aspirations of the righteous man (Psalm 112, 127, 128).

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 30, 2007 | Permalink

Here is my theory: Men love gadgets because God made them that way — the men, not the gadgets. To put it another way: Men love tools because they help us accomplish one of our prime directives — to fulfill our duty as agents of dominion. From time to time, I intend to indulge my own interest in “gadgets of dominion” with a few blog posts on the subject. For today, click here to learn about how you can own your personal blimp, or here to see the latest heat ray technology which the government is strapping on the back of Hummers.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 30, 2007 | Permalink

One of the subjects to be discussed at this year’s Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy is the application of the principles of Scripture to the tremendously complex new bioethical issues which pastors, physicians, and courts must address in the years to come. By rejecting the Bible as the all-sufficient law-word of God when it comes to ethics, modern man is left with no set of transcendant principles to guide him. The result is that there appears to be an inverse relationship between our stunning biomedical technological advancements, on the one hand, and our ability to make sound ethical judgments concerning the wise application of such, on the other.

In the years to come, children will be born whose fathers died more than half a century before their own conception. In addition to creating a genuine fatherhood identity crisis for this new breed of children, numerous other ethical questions are presently before us, not the least of which is the biblical propriety of conceiving a child with the seed of a man with whom a woman is not married. This article details the new trend for men to become fathers long after their death, with women they have never met and with whom they share no marital relationship.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 30, 2007 | Permalink

Yesterday was the one hundredth anniversary of the death of one of my heroes, John G. Paton. Below is the introduction I wrote in 2001 to Vision Forum’s reprint of the autobiography of this giant of the Faith.

Almost five years ago, I was preaching on the importance of raising sons to be Christian men of vision when my friend Bill gave me an ancient, dog-eared edition of the book you are holding in your hands.

“This is the greatest missionary story ever written,” he said, “but that is not why you need to read the book.” Curious, I resolved to skim the opening chapters. Several hours and a bucket of tears later, with less than two hundred pages under my belt, I realized that I was perusing one of the most important books I would ever read. Since then I have carried a copy of this book with me to almost forty states and have quoted from it hundreds of times. When given an opportunity to preach on the subject of the family, it is often my practice to open the pages of this volume and read liberally from its content in the hope that others will get a glimpse of the beautiful vision for covenant faithfulness and biblical evangelism so magnificently communicated by the pen of this great Scotsman.

Missionary Patriarch is the true story of how a father’s faith and multigenerational vision would be used by God to transform a son into a persevering patriarch through whom tens of thousands would come to Christ. It is a tale of filial devotion, of trust in the sovereignty of God, of the beauty of the Bible’s covenant promises, of vision for the family, of love for the lost, and of unflappable, indefatigable courage in the face of adversity.

Originally published under the title John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides, we have renamed the book as a tribute to the man who embodied the very best of biblical patriarchy. Himself the progeny of a line of faithful fathers and a descendant of the Scottish Covenanters, Paton was a man of supreme vision and marked devotion to his father. (Paton drew from the example of the shepherding skills of his own father, to allow him to shepherd and become a father to generations of redeemed savages.) His bearded visage; his clear, but prophet-like Gospel preaching; his intolerance for compromise; his love for the worst sinner; and his legacy as an evangelist whose ministry is bearing fruit even now, almost one hundred years after his death, have rightly earned him the title “Missionary Patriarch.”

John G. Paton had the type of childhood we would associate with biblical training for spiritual greatness, a training which included: a multigenerational Christian heritage; the example of a remarkable Christian father; a happy home filled with daily devotion to God; a small, but highly personal local church distinguished for its “oneanothering” and piety; and a home-based education that transformed him into a genuine auto-didact, a quality that would serve him well for the rest of his life. Paton was thirty-three when he was ordained to preach in the New Hebrides, an island chain named by Captain James Cooke consisting of about thirty mountainous islands inhabited by heathens of the worst sort—violent, man-eating savages. After visiting the island and engaging in a skirmish with the natives in 1774, Cooke declared that “no one would ever venture to introduce Christianity...because neither fame nor profit would offer the requisite inducement.” But missionaries did come, many of whom were subsequently murdered by the islanders. Undaunted, Paton arrived in 1858, where twenty years earlier, the first missionaries to the island, John Williams and James Harris, were clubbed to death immediately upon disembarking their vessels.

Paton’s own trials as a missionary were epic. But through the worst he responded as a true Christian and patriarch. He dealt with superstition, with savagery, and with heartwrenching sorrow, ever-persevering with a Job-like trust in the sovereign will of God. With valor he faced circumstances difficult for modern American Christians to comprehend. Not only did he lose his wife and son within months of his arrival, but he actually had to guard their graves for days to prevent the natives from exhuming their bodies and eating them.

The ever-merciful Lord sustained me to lay the precious dust of my beloved ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite breaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round and round with coral blocks, and covered the top with beautiful white coral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and much-frequented shrine during all the following months and years when I labored on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst difficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord and is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that spot still green—where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that land for God in which I had “buried my dead” with faith and hope. But for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there, I must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave.

Of special interest to me is that through the darkest hours of his life as a missionary, the memory of his father served to inspire and motivate this remarkable man. Paton was an old man in his twilight years when he wrote the autobiography, but even then, his heart was full of gratitude and overwhelming love for his father. In what surely must be one of the most poignant and beautiful passages ever written on true love between a father and a son, Paton describes the day his father commissioned him to do the work of the Lord:

My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half-mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence...

His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: “God bless you, my son! Your father’s God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!”

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him—gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I was round the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his face towards home, and began to return—his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as He had given me.

The appearance of my father, when we parted—his advice, prayers, and tears—the road, the dyke, the climbing up on it and then walking away, head uncovered—have often, often, all through life, risen vividly before my mind, and do so now while I am writing, as if it had been but an hour ago. In my earlier years particularly, when exposed to many temptations, his parting form rose before me as that of a guardian Angel. It is no pharisaism, but deep gratitude, which makes me here testify that the memory of that scene not only helped, by God’s grace, to keep me pure from the prevailing sins, but also stimulated me in all my studies, that I might not fall short of his hopes, and in all my Christian duties, that I might faithfully follow his shining example.

May God give us such fathers! May God give us such sons! John G. Paton died in 1907 at the age of eighty-seven. I have taken the liberty of including in this volume a tribute to him published in that same year by Arthur T. Pierson, who also likens Paton to a “patriarch.”

Once upon a time, Christian students around the world knew the story of John G. Paton. Today, not one in a hundred have heard of this great missionary. If we hope to raise happy and heroic sons and daughters, it is up to us to remind our children that God has given a “great cloud of witnesses” and we are to learn from their victories and losses, from their strengths and their weaknesses. Surely, John G. Paton ranks as one of the great men God has given to His Church.

I am personally grateful for the privilege of republishing this great work, and I hope untold thousands will be inspired by the legacy of heroism, fatherhood, and covenant faithfulness so beautifully communicated in this volume.

By His Sovereign Grace,
Doug Phillips
San Antonio, Texas,
September 2001

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 29, 2007 | Permalink

A daughter of a former slave, and a much-loved woman who sang for 80 years in her church choir, died at the age of one hundred and fourteen. The secular press commemorates her death by noting her strong faith, Sabbath keeping, and love for others.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 29, 2007 | Permalink

A California wife saved her seventy-year-old husband from a mountain lion by poking the cat in the eye with a pen and beating it with a stick.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 29, 2007 | Permalink

”..Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” Proverbs 5:18

A beautiful image of one of the happiest couples in the world. Happy 25th anniversary.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 29, 2007 | Permalink

Thank the Lord for a tremendous start to the New Year. I have just returned from three weeks away from home, two with my family outside the United States, and a third away from San Antonio in intensive planning meetings with key leaders and staff as we seek the wisdom of the Lord to be the wisest steward of the vision and mission which we believe the Lord has given to us. In my view, it pays to dedicate the first month in twelve to planning, strategy, and prayer, if one hopes to wisely steward time and resources for the next eleven. For those of you who can still devote some important strategic prayer and planning time to this inaugural month of 2007, here are a few verses of encouragement concerning the preciousness of the time which the Lord has given to us:

Teach us to number our days that we may present a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:16)

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 4:5)

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. (Colossians 1:10)

He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. (Proverbs 18:9)

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 29, 2007 | Permalink

From Pat Roy, Director and Producer of the Vision Forum Jonathan Park Radio Adventure:

...I just read the most powerful creation book that I’ve ever read! The author explains in clear detail how mutations and selection actually work in the human genome. Without directly attacking evolution, this man completely destroys evolution on every single page of this book, simply by explaining how it all works. After fifteen years of working in the Creation movement, this — in my opinion — is a must-read for anyone who is a Christian leader. Never before has anyone (creationist or evolutionist) ever addressed many of the issues brought up in this book.... It’s called, Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome, and it is by Dr. John Sanford (invented the “gene gun”). It is published by Ivan Press....

Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome is available to purchase from Vision Forum.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 23, 2007 | Permalink

This is a really interesting story about children uncovering a mint car buried by their grandfathers. Their grandfathers left it for them to discover in 2007. Read the full story here.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 23, 2007 | Permalink

“Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us...” Psalm 123

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 21, 2007 | Permalink

Last year, the Vision Forum Ministries team hosted ten national family conferences and collectively traveled to more than twenty-five regional home-school conferences. Throughout our travels, we preached and taught while in pursuit of a solitary mission: the glorification of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as we face the defining crisis of our generation — the battle to defend, restore, and advance the biblical family. We thank God for the opportunities He gave us to minister this last year, even as we now look toward a big slate of events in the year 2007, including a once-in-a-lifetime event: The Quadricentennial Celebration of the providential founding of America at Jamestown. We must rejoice in providence if we are to persevere as a people. As a staff, Vision Forum Ministries dedicates this year to equipping fathers and mothers in the Lord, celebrating the providences of God to His people, and encouraging the biblical family. We invite you to join us!

2007 Events

America’s 400th Anniversary: A Celebration in Jamestown of America’s Providential History

It will only happen once and in your lifetime — America is celebrating the four hundredth birthday of its founding in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. To commemorate America’s first four hundredth birthday, Vision Forum Ministries is hosting a national celebration the week of June 11-16 to express gratitude to the Lord for the great things He accomplished through Captain John Smith and those who joined him in founding the Jamestown Colony. This week-long celebration will be held on Ft. Pocohantas (part of the ancestral estate of John Tyler who keynoted the 250th anniversary celebration of Jamestown) and will include orations from some of the greatest Christian speakers of our day, thrilling Faith and Freedom mini-history tours, games, boat rides, dramatic presentations, fife and drum music, colonial firearms demonstrations, the exciting culmination of the Jamestown 400 National Treasure Hunt, and much more.

Join families from across America as we gather at this important Ebenezer stone of God’s faithfulness and remember His many providential blessings on our nation. The Jamestown Quadricentennial: A Celebration of America’s Providential History, to be held in the Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown triangle, is an event that will only happen once, so mark your calendars. More details, including registration information, will be posted on our Web site in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned!

As a special gift for you, Vision Forum is pleased to offer to anyone who requests it, a copy of my message, “The Providential Meaning of America’s 400th Anniversary.” This message is helpful for home schoolers, moms and dads, pastors, and anyone with a passion to study the providences of God through the founding of America. Hone your apologetic skills and be able to give an answer for your gratitude to the Lord on a timely issue that will be widely discussed in the year 2007. To receive this free CD, send a written request with your full name and address, or call us at 1-866-440-0022, ext. 280.

Click here to stay tuned for more information about the Jamestown Quadricentennial.

The 2007 Father and Daughter Retreat

This important retreat is designed to address the critical relationship between fathers and daughters. The 2007 Father and Daughter Retreat will be hosted at the beautiful Callaway Gardens®, home of one of America’s finest butterfly conservatories. With special guest speakers Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin, authors of the best-selling book from Vision Forum, So Much More, this special weekend’s events will speak to the heart of the relationship between a father and daughter in today’s society, where so many cultural influences attempt to pull young ladies away from their parents and God-ordained protection. This retreat enables fathers and daughters to draw closer together while building love, trust, and hope for the future and their walk before the Lord.

My husband and daughter were immensely blessed by the event, and I am enjoying the “side effects.”

My heart has been filled to overflowing! ... I’ve witnessed my daddy be encouraged as he soaked up the teaching of godly men and my sister and I have been renewed through the fellowship and the righteous example of like-hearted girls. —Anna C.

The 2007 Father and Daughter Retreat will be held at the beautiful Callaway® Gardens, in Pine Mountain, Georgia on March 30 - April 1, 2007.

Click here for more information about the 2007 Father and Daughter Retreat.

The Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society Eleventh Anniversary Banquet

For eleven years, the Christian Boys’ and Men’s Titanic Society has been training young men to put women and children first. On April 13, just before the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we will gather in Washington, D.C. for a gala celebration featuring great food, the manly music of Charlie Zahm, and inspirational messages.

A highlight in recent years for the men of our family has been attending the Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society Dinner. Three times my three sons and I have driven into D.C. for this auspicious annual event. To be in the company of men as we remember the life-sacrificing heroism of men and boys over ninety years ago is good and sobering for the soul. At each dinner we have been stirred by the historical reality of what took place that awful night in 1912, and yet buoyed to a new level of commitment to live as honorable men in our day. Especially to live sacrificially as Christian men, leading our families with humility and Christian love in a world with its own icebergs dead ahead. —Bernie B.

Click here for more information about the CBMTS Eleventh Anniversary Banquet.

The Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy

Our motto: Before you spend four years and $75,000 to learn Charles Darwin’s philosophy of law, take four days to get the Founding Fathers’! The Witherspoon School is a four-day crash course in biblical principles of law and public policy, especially designed for young men who desire to influence our nation toward righteousness in the civil realm.

I highly recommend the Witherspoon School for any man considering a career in law. This is not simply a seminar of practical advice, though of this it has much; it is a full-fledged introduction to the biblical foundations of law itself. From the Torah to the Constitution to today’s political controversies, Witherspoon is a firehose for the refreshing water of truth. —Hosea H., Liberty University Law Student

With a new facility of European grandeur and an improved schedule and speaker lineup, the 2007 Witherspoon School is expected to be held in July at the elegant Bavarian Inn overlooking the Potomac River in the West Virginia countryside, just a short drive from Washington, D.C. More details are expected soon.

Click here to stay tuned for more information about the Witherspoon School.

The 2007 Father and Son Retreat

The father and son relationship is one of the defining relationships in the universe. In fact, before there was a universe, there was the eternal Father who loved the eternal Son. We should not be surprised, therefore, that Satan has reserved his most fiery darts to alienate Christian fathers from their sons. With this in mind, Vision Forum Ministries launched its Father and Son Discipleship Retreats, designed to build a biblical vision for unity and love between the men of a family. Join us once again at the beautiful Crooked Creek Ranch, situated among 12,000-foot peaks near Winter Park, Colorado, August 10-13, for the 2007 Father and Son Discipleship Retreat.

I was really blessed to be able to spend this weekend with both my son and my dad. I learned for the first time of the multi-generational legacy of Christian fathers that preceded me. I have been able to see my father in a whole new light. His honor and sense of duty and dedication has [been] revealed to me and I now have an increased feeling of the responsibility that I have to maintain this legacy. —Wayne

Click here for more information about the 2007 Father and Son Retreat.

The 2007 Christian Filmmakers Academy

On October 22-24, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival will be holding its third annual Christian Filmmakers Academy for aspiring filmmakers, home educators, Christian students, and industry professionals who want to broaden their grasp of the diverse skills necessary for independent Christian film production.

[T]hank you for the fabulous film academy that my daughter Caroline and I attended. We had opportunity to personally interact with most of the speakers as well as sit under their teaching and this was such a blessing! In addition to all of the great theology, doctrine, and vision, we especially benefited from Ken Carpenter’s session featuring a mock production meeting. It was so practical for the young filmmakers there like my daughter and for us who are trying to support them.... Thank you to the Botkins, too, who worked tirelessly, I know, in preparing for the academy and took time to talk to so many people, including us. As always, we so appreciate Doug’s vision for this industry and pray it will come about. Thank you so much! —Cathie B.

With hands-on practical training on equipment and lighting, to tips from industry professionals, instruction on creating musical scores, and lectures on how to write a winning, God-honoring script, the 2007 Film Academy will be an incredible time of vision-casting and skill-building by strong Christian men who are leaders in their fields.

To register or for more information, please visit the SAICFF Web site.

The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival

The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Jubilee Awards exist to encourage the production of films that inspire the highest ideals and most noble biblical values, with a commitment to holiness. The 2007 film festival is scheduled for October 25-27 at the Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. Visit the SAICFF Web site for more information and to register to compete for the $10,000 “Best of Festival” Jubilee Award. Remember, the submission deadline for the 2007 competition is August 1, 2007.

I think I can honestly say, with little hindsight required, that SAICFF will prove to be a defining point in my life not only as a filmmaker, but more importantly as a new father and a Christian. It was wonderful to spend the week with people who shared a passionate belief in God’s ability to speak to the culture through film, and who responded to the idea of families creating art together, not with cynical accusations of nepotism, but with genuine appreciation, love, and enthusiasm. Prior to the festival, I had not fully contemplated and appreciated the value of working with family. That has changed because of you, your staff, and your informative speakers. Thank you for giving my wife, my brother, and me for such a wonderful experience to share together. —Richard R.

To register or for more information, please visit the SAICFF Web site.

The 2007 Faith and Freedom Tour

Once upon a time, there were giants in the land. Though forgotten by some, our nation’s landmarks stand as testaments of God’s providential mercies. To build a future for our children, we must remember the past through the lens of biblical Christianity. Toward this end, Vision Forum Ministries is hosting the 2007 Faith and Freedom Tour in Plymouth, Massachusetts, November 19-26, 2007.

What a glorious week it was for me to walk the beautiful autumn-arrayed grounds of New England that had, three and four hundred years prior, been tread by a more noble band of self-sacrificing men and women. Each day I was challenged as I gleaned truth from yourself and the other well-spoken guides, and each day my theology was strengthened, my love for history increased, and I departed with a greater desire to know more. Many, many thanks for another tour of lasting impact! —Hannah

Click here to register for the 2007 Faith and Freedom Tour.

All of our events have limited space, and many sell out quickly, so now is the time to consider your plans for the year. We hope to see you at one or more of our ministry events in 2007 and pray God’s blessings on you and your family.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 18, 2007 | Permalink

The absence of doctrinal teaching and preaching is certainly one of the causes for the present lamentable ignorance of the church. But a still more influential cause is found in the failure of the most important of all Christian educational institutions. The most important Christian educational institution is not the pulpit or the school, important as these institutions are; but it is the Christian family. And that institution has to a very large extent ceased to do its work. Where did those of us who have reached middle life really get our knowledge of the Bible? I suppose my experience is the same as that of a good many of us. I did not get my knowledge of the Bible from Sunday school, or from any other school, but I got it on Sunday afternoons with my mother at home. And I will venture to say that although my mental ability was certainly of no extraordinary kind I had a better knowledge of the Bible at fourteen years of age than is possessed by many students in the theological seminaries of the present day. Theological students come for the most part from Christian homes; indeed in very considerable proportion they are children of the manse. Yet when they have finished college and enter the theological Seminary many of them are quite ignorant of the simple contents of the English Bible.

The sad thing is that it is not chiefly the students’ fault. These students, many of them, are sons of ministers; and by their deficiencies they reveal the fact that the ministers of the present day are not only substituting exhortation for instruction, ethics for theology, in their preaching; but are even neglecting the education of their own children. The lamentable fact is that the Christian home, as an educational institution, has largely ceased to function.

Certainly that fact serves to explain to a considerable extent the growth of ignorance in the church. But the explanation itself requires an explanation; so far we have only succeeded in pushing the problem further back. The ignorance of the church is explained by the failure of the Christian family as an educational institution; but what in turn explains that failure? Why is it that Christian parents have neglected the instruction of their children; why is it that preaching has ceased to be educational and doctrinal; why is it that even the Sunday schools and Bible classes have come to consider solely applications of Christianity without the studying the Christianity that is to be applied? These questions take us into the very heart of the situation; the growth of ignorance in the church, the growth of indifference with regard to the simple facts recorded in the Bible, all goes back to a great spiritual movement, really skeptical in its tendency, which has been going forward during the last one hundred years - a movement which appears not only in philosophers and theologians such as Kant and Schleiermacher and Ritschl, but also in a widespread attitude of plain men and women throughout the world. The depreciation of the intellect, with the exaltation in the place of it of the feelings or of the will, is, we think, a basic fact in modern life, which is rapidly leading to a condition in which men neither know anything nor care anything about the doctrinal content of the Christian religion and in which there is in general a lamentable intellectual decline.”

—John Gresham Machen, What is Faith?, pp. 21-23, Eerdmans Publishing, 1965

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 15, 2007 | Permalink

Statistically speaking, there are really only two key groups having many children. The first are Muslims. The second are Christians (often home educators) whose hearts have turned to Christ and then to home, and who see the blessing of the fruit of the womb as God’s reward.

Now the secular world is beginning to take notice of this trend towards fruitful wombs. If you have not seen it already, you might be interested to watch the nationally broadcast interview with Ken Carpenter on the joy of large families. Ken is a tremendous man, a personal friend, and a featured speaker at the 2006 Christian Filmmakers Academy. He was interviewed on ABC News Nightline. I am grateful for his bold stand for the blessing of the fruit of the womb.

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 12, 2007 | Permalink

Posted by Doug Phillips on January 4, 2007 | Permalink