Education and action are at the heart of what we do at American Vision. As a biblical worldview ministry, we seek to provide biblically faithful resources and training to fill the mind. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “as a man thinks, so he is,” which means that thinking precedes doing. Christians must become biblical thinkers before they can become biblical doers.
We have long had an idea for a project called Mandate 28, based on the two important “mandates” the Bible: the dominion mandate in Genesis 1:28 and the disciple mandate (the Great Commission) in Matthew 28:18-20. These two sections of Scripture call Christians to think and do and are the mission statements of the Christian life. Mandate 28 is organized by the acronym HEAL, which stands for History, Ethics, Apologetics, and Legacy. We must know what came before us (history), what is expected of us (ethics), why it is expected of us (apologetics), and what comes next (legacy). These are the building blocks for any worldview, but for the Christian these building blocks are drawn from the Bible.
We were recently approached by Pastor Aaron Hebbard about a dual-enrollment opportunity that we saw as a perfect fit for getting Mandate 28 started. Pastor Hebbard had already established accreditation with a Christian university and was wanting to utilize many of the AV resources for coursework. This is a work-in-progress of course, and what follows is Pastor Hebbard’s explanation of his vision for the program. We are excited to be a part of this and hope to expand this greatly in the coming years. –Gary DeMar
Family 101: Getting Our House in Order
Family 101 is a much-needed course designed to help Christians understand covenant life. The student will learn not only about the family, but about the important role of education—both our own and that of our children. The videos, audios, and printed works found in Family 101 will provide the encouragement and the education necessary to live faithfully to both God and neighbor.
Buy NowBy Pastor Aaron Hebbard
American Vision has long had the important mission and continues to have a solid reputation for providing robust Christian worldview resources. I was first introduced to American Vision as a homeschool father touring around the curricula hall at our state’s Christian homeschool convention. I was always drawn to their booth year after year and often bought something for myself since the resources were too advanced for my children at the time. As I matured as a homeschool father as well as an academic and kingdom-minded builder, I began to take seriously the whole process of discipleship, and concluded that Christian education, when properly understood, was actually formalized discipleship. Discipleship is obviously a biblical mandate, and education is a supreme route to this fulfilling this commission.
As a father and educator, and as one expanding in his commitments to worldview, culture, and dominion, I loved the growth process for myself, and poignantly asked myself these questions: what do I know now that I wish I had known when I was younger? What have I read later in life that I wish I had read as a student? And in God’s good providence, these questions led me as a father to implement these principles and culture into my family immediately; I became a medium of practical lifestyle for the sources that I was reading, which my children would read later. These questions also led me as an educator to build a curricular path for future Kingdom-builders, sources I wish I had been engaged in as a student. To read Rushdoony, Bahnsen, North, DeMar, Chilton, Jordan, et al. in my thirties and forties was good, but to have read them in my late teens and early twenties in the company of other likeminded students under the tutelage of a tried and true, knowledgeable man of Biblical convictions is worth its weight in gold. Certainly the Proverbs attest to this: “How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver!” (16:16). But alas, this was not the path of providence for me.
Yet, I must protest the scarcity I endured; just because it was not available to me does not mean that it should not be available for the next generation and the generations to follow. Indeed, we live in desperate times, and if we take a casual approach to not only retaining our next generations in the Faith, but to training our next generations to rebuild Christian culture with an eye on making the invisible Kingdom visible, then we will continue to watch the Christian culture decline into a mere shadow of what it should be, and when later generations arise from the ashes to rebuild, they will judge us for our apathy.
So here we are, in a wildly secular culture that celebrates slaughter of the unborn, sexual perversion at every turn, theft, blasphemy, and praising evil as if it were good, and denouncing good as if it were evil (Is 5:20). The visages of Christian culture have faded to black in the broader culture. Christians have been resigned—or resign themselves—to the four walls of a church building; and even within those walls, we cannot agree on what the church’s role is in culture outside those four walls, and so there we stay, debating endlessly. The time has come for faithful folks with a mind to work to arise and go forth from the four walls and begin to rebuild Christian culture, whether they are in the slimmest minority, standing Contra Munda, or whether they are able to gather troops around them for the cause; they must be about their Father’s business.
Here is our latest contribution to the task of rebuilding Christian culture: in collaboration with Sovereignty College, we will build a college program especially designed for young Kingdom builders to enter culture with an eye on making the invisible Kingdom visible. This takes the decades of work under the belt of American Vision to the next level. Providing great curricula for parents and students will never cease (Deo volente), but we want to walk the students through the curricula in a formalized discipleship education as a viable option over against the modern educational system. Expensive college degrees have already shown chinks in their armor; students are not counting the cost, going into unsustainable debt, and practicing irresponsible stewardship. People are catching on; college enrollment is now in its 11th year of decline (https://nscresearchcenter.org/current-term-enrollment-estimates/).
Here are some basic parameters to the program that will illicit great advantages for the student and family. The program is primarily—though not exclusively—designed for dual enrollment homeschool students. Time and space does not permit me to tell you the myriad of advantages of dual enrollment, so I will save that for another time. The courses that the student takes with us during their junior and senior high school years will count toward college credit. The goal here is to have the student graduate with an Associate of Arts degree concurrent with high school graduation. Of course, we will play to our strengths with our emphases on history, ethics, apologetics, and legacy of postmillennialism (HEAL). Should the student want to pursue another college or university to finish the Baccalaureate degree, the units are backed by Colorado Christian University, regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, and are the student’s best option for full transferability.[1] The high school students will be able to enter the four-year university as juniors, two years ahead of their peers. This would put them on the track to graduate at age 20 with their Baccalaureate degrees, and, we might add, with half the debt they would otherwise accumulate had they gone there for the full four years.
Worldview 101: A Biblical View of the World
Utilizing audio, video, and printed material, Worldview 101 will equip the student with the tools necessary to ‘think God's thoughts’ about the world and the created order. It will reveal and re-direct the humanistic thought patterns that exist in each of us. The Enlightenment promised freedom, but brought slavery to man's ideas instead. Worldview 101 points the way forward to true freedom of thought in Christ.
Buy NowFor those students who would stay with us for the full four years, we have taken great strides to reform the broken educational systemic disaster.[2] Here is where we really begin to take seriously the mission of rebuilding Christendom. The junior year will consist of exposing and experiencing the variety of spheres of sovereignty that make up culture: arts, media, business, church, medical healthcare, education, family, government, and domestic and commercial real estate. We study these with the intentionality of exercising dominion in the Name of Christ.
In the senior year, the students will narrow their focus down to just a few of these spheres and actually engage in these spheres by means of internships and apprenticeships, a lost art we intend to reinvigorate. They will put flesh-and-bone hands to work and experience the reality of that industry under the guidance of a solid Christian mentor in that field. It should go without saying, but to be plain, we will again play to our strengths by emphasizing the things we do best: inspiring a postmillennial work ethic, defending the Faith according to the Word of God, understanding and fulfilling our placement in history, and keeping God’s Word as the ultimate standard for all of life.
If this vision-cast has stirred you up, there are a few things that you can do to co-labor with us. First, if you are someone or know someone personally that would be a Kingdom-minded candidate, come take this adventurous ride with us, and together we will begin to rebuild Christendom in local pockets. Second, spread the news to anyone else who may benefit from this program. Third, perhaps you are not interested in a degree but want to take some of our classes for personal growth, then we invite you to join us as well. Fourth, if you are a local industry leader in the spheres that we have mentioned, and you would be willing to spend a week or more with a student working him/her as an apprentice or intern, then we want to hear from you. Fifth, contact us to ask us further questions that we can address that others might want to know also.
For more information about Sovereignty College and first-year course offerings, please click here: https://sovereigntycollege.com/class-overview/
Keep the Faith and soldier on!
[1] Keep in mind that we will teach our material, our way, by our standards; this will not be dictated by Colorado Christian.
[2] Note the one caveat in the latter two years: these units are not accredited, but we can explicate and articulate the true value of accreditation and how we can overcome this in a later communiqué.