What was Vision Forum?

Ballantyne the Brave

Vision Forum’s catalog prominently featured books by both G.A. Henty and R.M. Ballantyne, whose works were republished by Vision Forum. (source, source) In 2008, the website Ballantyne the Brave was launched, and promoted in catalogs alongside the books. (source)

Run by two teenagers (one of them being Doug’s son), the site’s interactive home page linked to the books available for purchase over at Vision Forum (source), but the rest of the site was focused on a handful of articles and blogs written by several teens. Most of the blogs were simply reviews of the Henty & Ballantyne books, although some did cover other topics: in one article Botkin sisters explained why girls could and should also read the books. (source) According to the site, at least a few of the contributors (Douglas Phillips’ son and Geoff Botkin’s son) were also regular guests on San Antonio’s KSLR radio broadcast. (source, source)

Unlike most Vision Forum projects which were shut down at the end of 2013, the website for Ballantyne the Brave remained intact until mid-2014. Rather than assuming that the site received an exception from the VFM board, my guess is that this is likely due to it being a project of the for-profit Vision Forum, Inc. side of the operation instead. (source) The site went down sometime later that year. However, the blog itself ceased to be regularly updated as early as 2011. (source)

Blue Behemoth

Created by Vision Forum in 2007, BlueBehemoth.com was a website which offered various media downloads. It was created as a way for Vision Forum to expand their catalog to sell downloads of their materials in addition to the existing CDs and physical media. It also offered users the option to submit their own materials for selling through the site. (Source)

Blue Behemoth went offline in early 2014, around the same time that Vision Forum, Inc was also shut down. (Source)

Faith & Freedom Tours

The precise start date of Vision Forum Ministries Faith & Freedom Tours is unclear: in 2002, Doug Phillips is listed as having led such tours for “more than half a decade”. (Source) These events continued throughout the life of Vision Forum, and ended with the closing of Vision Forum Ministries.

Early tours focused on American history, touring sites such as Plymoth, MA and Williamsburg, VA. In 2010 and 2013, however, they had tours exploring Europe & a cruise in Greece as well. (Source, Source)

In her book, Building God’s Kingdom, Julie Ingersoll recounts her own experience at Reformation 500, a Faith & Freedom Tour event hosted in July of 2009:

“Reformation 500 occured over four days and included lectures, tours of the Boston area, a children’s parade, historical reenactments, and even as ‘debate’ between actors playing Charles Darwin and John Calvin. Vision Forum employees and volunteers were dressed as historical figures in an effort to ‘make history come alive’ for the children in attendance. Children were encouraged to meet the historical characters, listen to information about each, and get their signatues in autograph books they carried around. Children who obtained signatures from all the ‘Reformers’ won specially minted ‘coins of remembrance.'”

(Julie’s visit to the event was cut short after a staffer looked her name up online and proceeded to ask her to leave, as her previous book on gender studies was not something they wanted to “support.”)

As with many other of their conferences and events, the Vision Forum catalog often resold media recorded during these tours as educational tools in both their catalog (see screenshots, below) and online. (source)

Hazardous Journeys Society

Launched in 2012, the Hazardous Journeys Society was a project of Vision Forum Ministries which deviated from their typical homeschool-family oriented events. (Source) The website promised “world exploration” through principles of “dominion”, “risk”, and “manhood”. The society also produced a handful of films which were featured in the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. (Source)

The society was exclusively marketed toward “fathers and sons” and “men”, and emphasis was placed on stating that these journeys were being taken “to give glory to God” (source) Despite this, Doug’s wife and daughters do appear to have also traveled to the general area for at least one trip – their experiences were marketed as “Beall’s Adventures for the Ladies” and focused on local textiles, clothing, and food. (source) 

The Hazardous Journeys Society shut down at the end of 2013 with the closing of Vision Forum Ministries. (source) 

Jonathan Park

(Audio Adventure Series)

Jonathan Park was created in the 1990s by Pat and Sandy Roy. It was originally developed by the Institute for Creation Research and showed up in the 2005 Vision Forum catalog with the announcement that it was “now under the management of Vision Forum” and that they were working on producing a new season. (Source)

The series focuses on the fictional character “Jonathan Park” and his family and friends as they go on a variety of adventures. The focus of the series is to promote a Biblical-literalist view of young-earth creationism by refuting arguements for evolution and providing various scientific facts that are presented as evidence for creation. (source)

Based on my own personal recollections, The Winds of Change, which was the very first season that Vision Forum produced, immediately introduced brand-new character arcs and development. Jonathan was pulled out of school in favor of being homeschooled, and both of the main-character families were suddendly convicted to have more kids, resulting in pregnancies for both of the mom characters in the show.

When the closing of Vision Forum was announced, Pat and Sandy Roy launched a “Save Jonathan Park” fundraiser to buy back the series. (source) They were ultimately successful in keeping it running, and many new episodes have been produced in the years since. As of June 2025, the full series is still available for purchase online. (source)

Life & Liberty Defense Fund

Originally the Baby William fund, (source) the Life and Liberty Defense Fund was an emergency community fundraising effort designed to support various families in Vision Forum circles undergoing medical crises who refused government welfare.

From the VFM website:

“Inspired by the remarkable story of baby William Goforth, the Life and Liberty Medical Assistance Fund was originally established to provide limited emergency financial resources for prematurely born babies, which others, including members of the medical community, encourage to discard because of ‘quality of life’ issues or financial concerns regarding the potential expense of continued life support.

“Today, the fund is offered to assist women and children with a life-threatening medical crisis where the families in need recognize the sanctity of life for all living beings regardless of viability, potentiality, current health, minimized brain waves, or perceived quality of life, and where the families in crisis have insufficient means to meet the bills, but as a matter of conviction, will not apply for state welfare in any form.”   (Source)

Baby William was born more than three months prematurely in 2002, and survived against all odds (source) until the age of 22 years. (source)

Born to Joshua and Noelle Goforth, William joined a family who were no strangers to Vision Forum. Doug had waxed eloquent about Joshua and Noelle’s marriage in a previous article titled “Never Been Kissed: A Home-School Love Story.” (source) Noelle was the daughter of oft-featured Little Bear Wheeler, while Joshua had “joined Vision Forum immediately upon completion of his home education” and Doug Phillips himself had officiated at their wedding.

Later on, the fund was used in support of other families, including Rusty Lee Thomas of Elijah Ministries. (source)

Rescue Haiti’s Children

Shortly after the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, Doug Phillips and other Vision Forum individuals headed to Haiti with the following mission statement:

“My mission to Haiti is four-fold: First, I will be establishing one of the only distinctively Christian reporting operations to tell stories of both the present crisis and the work of Christians on behalf of the sick and the widows and the orphans in the midst of Haiti’s present horror. Second, I will be working to facilitate the rescue and delivery of orphans to Christian families in America. Third, I will be identifying specific families that need direct support from the people of God in America. Fourth, my team will be providing specific relief to people in distress.”  (Source)

In “special report” later posted by the organization, Doug Phillips claims that there is no evidence that American updates have ever led to trafficking, and  he calls for the orphans in Haiti to be adopted by American Christian families. He references missionaries being held captive, referencing individuals who were being held on kidnapping charges after trying to leave the country with thirty-three children (Source) He also refers to UNICEF as being anti-child due to their pro-choice stance. He reports seeing parents dropping their children off at orphanages, and claims that they did so with the hope that those children would be adopted by others.  (Source) 

The Facebook page for the project appears to track the journeys of several children the VFM team met in Haiti, several of whom appear to have eventually come to America in one capacity or another. (source)

Rescue Haiti’s Children was shut down in late 2013 with the closing of Vision Forum Ministries. (source)

The Christian Boy’s & Men’s Titanic Society

Also founded by Doug Phillips, The Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society co-hosted (along with Vision Forum Ministries) a handful of Titanic-themed events. (source)

While the stated purpose of the group was to honor the legacy of the men who died on the Titanic, they also (in 2006, at least) made sure to enjoy a “seafood feast of titanic proportions” and speak on gender roles and patriarchy during their memorial dinners:

 “Doug Phillips called us to hearken to the teaching of Scripture, with exhortations to be men of patriarchal vision who assert the created order and work for Christian civilization, living the lives of men willing to fight for the Lord, for their women, and for their children against the forces that decry manliness and honor.” (source)

The society’s largest event was the Titanic 100, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ship sinking with speakers, songs, tea, costumes, and more. (source) During this event, Doug passed along the leadership of this group to his oldest son. (source)

The society was first formed in 1997, and included just eleven members (Douglas Phillips and Wesley Strackbein among them) (source) The website for the Society was launched in 1998, (source) and was shut down in late 2013 along with Vision Forum Ministries. (source)

The Faith of Our Fathers & League of Grateful Sons & Normandy: A Final Farewell & Operation Meatball & Bridge to History: Connecting Our Future to the Past

The precise beginning of the Faith of our Fathers project is a bit murky. In 2007, the project is described as having begun “nearly three years ago” in conjunction with the League of Grateful Sons film project, and include The Jamestown Quadricentennial as a part of the project. (source) Later descriptions, however, put the date further back and omit the Quadricentennial: “The Faith of Our Fathers Project is a ten-year effort launched by Vision Forum Ministries in 2001 to tell the stories of the providence of God in the life of the veterans of the Second World War.” (source)

Another description reads: “The Faith of Our Fathers Project began on December 7, 2001, on the sixtieth anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On this day, hundreds of WWII veterans from across America gathered in Fredericksburg, Texas—the hometown of Admiral Chester Nimitz—for an unforgettable tribute of honor to the sacrifice and heroism of soldiers who fought in the Second World War. A parade was held, commemorative speeches were given, and interviews with WWII vets from Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima were recorded on film.”  (source) 

In 2002, a part of the Faith and Freedom Tours was also given the “Faith of Our Fathers” title, which further contributes to the difficulty of precisely tracking this project. (source) A category on the Vision Forum online catalog is also labeled, The Faith of Our Fathers, and includes a variety of historical materials. (source) The earliest mention I’m able to find of this particular Faith of Our Fathers project was in 2004, where Doug was collecting donations for the project in preparation for the making of the League of Grateful Sons film–although it appears that the working title at that time was Faith of our Fathers. Doug’s pitch made sure to include the information that, “To his knowledge, Bill Henderson was the only man in his group to remain a virgin until marriage.” (source)

The League of Grateful Sons was a project which “would take the crew halfway around the world, shooting in Texas, Hawaii, Guam, Japan, and on Iwo Jima itself” in 2005. (source) The film crew “sought to record on film the wisdom of those surviving men whose lives were forever marked by thirty-six days of hellish warfare.” (source) The footage from this trip was made into a film by the same name which was sold by Vision Forum.

In 2011,  Normandy: A Final Farewell project was launched and funded on Kickstarter (source). “The Faith of Our Fathers Project is now preparing to stand one last time with WWII’s few remaining heroes on a defining battlefield from their youth—the beaches of Normandy.” (source) The tour was later sold as an online virtual tour & study course for $59 (source)

The Final Farewell project was stated to be the conclusion of the Faith of Our Fathers project (source). However, after the closing of Vision Forum Ministries in 2013, Doug’s daughter wrote that plans had potentially been underway for some level of participation in the 70th anniversary of D-Day: “My dad wrote [to a WWII veteran] and said basically this — We have a deal for you — stay alive until the 70th, read your Bible, seek the Lord and God willing my children will be there to stand by your side for the 70th. He accepted.” (source)

This plan was reworked by Dougs’ daughters, who launched their own organization Operation Meatball. While their site lists Operation Meatball as having begun in 2017, although the earliest posts date back to May of 2014. Regardless, they list the trips to Iwo Jima and to Normandy as being early inspiration for the organization. (source)

As of 2022, Operation Meatball also has launched its own side-project, Bridge to History: Connecting Our Future to the Past which is “an international education program to give school children a hands-on experience and understanding of WWII that will help set the tone for a life full of responsibility, patriotism, gratitude, and an understanding of God’s hand in the history of our country.” (source)

San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF)

Originally launched in 2005 (source) and operating until the close of Vision Forum Ministries, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival was an annual event showcasing a variety of Christian-made films.

Early on, many of the films included in the festival were very low budget and made by small groups or individual families. (source) In later years, the festival included films such as Fireproof and Courageous, by Sherwood Pictures. The festival occasionally featured speakers and presenters outside such as Sen. Rick Santorum, the Duggar family, Ray Comfort, and Stephen Kendrick. (source, source, source) The SAICFF also hosted an Academy event, which was designed to teach filmmaking skills and featured presentations from speakers such as Geoff Botkin, Kirk Cameron, and Stephen Kendrick. (source)

Generations (formerly Generations with Vision)

Overview

Status: Active

Director: Kevin Swanson (source)

Staff / Team Members: I’m unable to find current information about the rest of the Generations team at this time.

Goals, Vision, & Products:

According to their mission statement, Generations seeks to “equip families and churches around the world through our daily radio programs, discipleship resources, curriculum, events, and retreats. By God’s grace, we estimate we have been able to reach 100,000’s of people in all 50 states and at least 100 different countries.” (source)

Generations Radio has been steadily producing radio broadcasts/podcasts since 2003, wherein Swanson and various guests discuss culture, current events, and doctrine.

The Generations website also sells a wide range of homeschool curriculum, and assures parents that they’ve “worked very hard to integrate Scripture into our Christian Discipleship curriculum. We don’t want random verses scattered about like holy water sprinkled over the material. God’s Word must speak authoritatively—but also relevantly—to every subject, so we include hundreds of verses in each of our textbooks, tying biblical truths in to the material at hand.” (source)

Connection to Vision Forum:

Kevin Swanson was a speaker at multiple Vision Forum Ministries events, and Vision Forum sold a variety of books authored by him and event speaches featuring him. (See Catalogs) Meanwhile, Doug Phillips also spoke at at least one Generations event. (source)

The Generations with Vision website listed Vision Forum among their “Partners and Supporters” (source), and Doug Phillips (among other Vision Forum personalities) was featured on Generations Radio. (source) Swanson also wrote about attending Vision Forum events on his blog, described Doug as his “good friend”, and stated, “I’m thankful to the Lord for the visionary leadership of Doug Phillips with this Film Festival.” (source)

On Doug Phillips blog, meanwhile, Doug had high praise for Kevin as well: “One of my favorite unsung heroes of the home school movement in attendance this last week is Kevin Swanson, pictured above with his wife Brenda. Kevin is a man of many talents. He serves as a pastor in a family-integrated assembly which is part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the host of a radio show called “Generations,” and the leader of one of the most influential home school organizations in America, the Christian Home Educators of Colorado. Kevin is simply off-the-charts fantastic. A man of tremendous creative energy, indefatigable optimism and passion for biblical patriarchy, he and the outstanding men and women of CHEC are helping to craft one of the most influential and Christ-honoring state home school movements in America.” (source)

After Doug Phillips’ had confessed to the “inappropriate relationship with a women”, Swanson addressed the matter in a broadcast of Generations Radio, stating that he was praying for Phillips and his family. After generally condemning Phillips’ actions (the specific details of which, at that time, may not have been known to Swanson) Swanson also stated that “if you have a sexual problem, take your sexual energy and take it into this holy marriage bed, this thing that’s pure and undefiled, and use your sexual energy there, that two will become one. Rather than sex leading you into sin, let it lead you into unity with your wife.” (source)

Homeschool Summits

Overview

Status: Active

A Project of: Kevin Swanson’s Generations (more info) & CHEC (source)

Team Members: Daniel & Megan Craig (source), as well as various other couples listed only by first name (source)

Goals, Vision, & Products:

Launched in 2017 (source), Homeschool Summits offers virtual homeschooling events featuring a wide range of well-known homeschool speakers and presenters, curriculum authors, vendors, and more.

Registration for the live events is offered for free, but much of the content is placed behind a paywall after a certain window of time post-launch. (source)

According to their FAQ, “Homeschool Summits is a project brought to you by CHEC and Generations, both non-profit organizations based in Colorado that exist to help parents raise their children to love and serve God. CHEC is a Colorado-based organization that defends homeschool freedom and helps families to homeschool with confidence.” (source)

Browsing through the site’s home page reveals a range of event topics from “God-Centered History” to “Homeschool Family Relationships”, with descriptions such as “The heat is turning up on followers of Jesus around the world — and we’re not about to hunker down in our homeschools, because our aim in homeschooling is raising our kids to exalt Jesus Christ, Lord of the universe. But we’re easily distracted — and only if Jesus is our foundation and focus in everything will our homeschools stand firm through the storm.” (source)

Connection to Vision Forum:

Kevin Swanson and Generations connection to Vision Forum has already been covered in the section above. (See more)

Daniel Craig was a featured singer at Vision Forum events History of the World Mega Conference (source) and Titanic 100 (source)

Multiple speakers featured in the various Summits overlap with Vision Forum regulars and supporters, from Kevin Swanson to Doug Wilson, George Grant, Ken Ham, Bill Potter, Geoff & Victoria Botkin, Nancy Campbell, Scott Brown, Kelly Crawford and more.

Ladies Against Feminism (LAF) / Beautiful Womanhood

Overview

Status: Mostly Defunct: the website is down, but the Facebook page continues to occasionally repost articles.

Founders: Jennie Chancey & Lydia Sherman (source)

Other Authors & Editors: A lengthy list of site authors can be found here. In 2011 (around the time Jennie and her family moved to Africa), the site management was turned over to “a team of editors”, though their identities are not specified. (source)

It is likely, but not certain, that Kelly Reins, a previous author on the site (source) is one of the individuals still posting on the Facebook page: the page has promoted and linked to her Plexus sales page on multiple occasions. (source)

Goals & Vision:

The Ladies Against Feminsim / Biblical Womanhood site largely consisted of a variety of articles (many reposted from other sites) and links to other sites. The topics focused on included feminism, modesty, motherhood, family matters, abortion, homeschooling, and many other issues. The topics tended to focus more on culture and opinion more than on doctrine. (source but also see various other links throughout this section)

An early version of the About page read, “This site is dedicated to the proposition that men and women are not identical creatures. Are we equal in human worth? Yes. Equal before the throne of grace? Absolutely. Equal in dignity? Indeed. But when it all boils down to it, if you insist that ‘equal’ means exactly the same, you will have to fly in the face of biology, historical fact, biblical Truth and just plain common sense. In many ways, woman is not equal to man; and, by the same token, man is not equal to woman. They are different creatures with differing roles. Will we complement each other in our distinctive, God-given roles, or will we tear each other to shreds in a territorial dispute? LAF promotes the former. We are for maidenhood, modesty, virtue, intelligence, womanly arts and femininity. Join the new revolution!” (source)

During the first few years the site was up, Jennie did reply to comments and reader questions at length in a dedicated section of the site. (source)

While physical products available were mainly just “merch” style items, (source) the site did post many links and ads to a wide range of other websites and stores (source), and also included a recommended list of products. (Source) (Including, of course, Vision Forum). (Source)

Connection to Vision Forum:

In addition to Jennie Chancey herself being a Vision Forum author and speaker, the site frequently recommended Vision Forum books and cds, (source) and featured articles by many of the same individuals involved in the Vision Forum circles. (source)

The links section of the site also listed both Vision Forum and the Beautiful Girlhood catalog as “sponsoring sites” (source), and it is also worth noting that Jennie was credited with helping to create the Beautiful Girlhood collection to begin with. (source)

One of Jennie’s speeches for Vision Forum was titled, “Why We Must Be Ladies Against Feminism”, (source) and can still be listened to here.

Doug also linked to the site from his blog (source), and Jennie’s writing were also featured on VFM‘s site at times. (source)

Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences

Overview

Status: Appears to be defunct (website is no longer online)

(Former) Board Members: An early version of the advisory board lists Isaac Botkin, Wade Myers, Don Hart, Gregory Botkin, and Geoffrey Botkin (source); later versions remove Wade Myers & Gregory Botkin and add Matthew Clark and James Vernier. (Source)

(Former) Team Members: Geoffrey Botkin, Victoria Botkin, Isaac Botkin, Elizabeth Botkin, David Botkin, Nadia Botkin, Anna Sofia Botkin, Lucas Botkin, Ben Botkin, Audri Botkin, and Noah Botkin  (source)

Goals, Vision, & Products:

Early versions of the Western Conservatory website appear to have lofty goals of the organization being an intellectual powerhouse, listing “divisions” that include names such as The Canterbury Study Center, Providential Technologies Laboratory, Western Media Group, The Global Humanitarian Council, and The International Diplomacy Network. (source) 

Early versions of the website list the organization as being a public charity (source), and include details on donations being tax-deductable. This descriptions is absent by 2012, (source) and later on they specifically clarify that they are not a charity. (source)

Actual products sold by the Western Conservatory tended to focus on the same topics Vision Forum did, such as homeschooling, filmmaking, history, family, and worldview. (source)

Connection to Vision Forum:

In addition to various members of the Botkin family being frequent speakers and presenters at Vision Forum Ministries‘ events, they were also involved in the creation of Vision Forum projects such as the League of Grateful Sons. (source) Many of the dvds, cds, & books in their product catalog could be purchased directly from the Vision Forum store. (Source, source, source)

It is worth noting that various Botkin family members authored or produced some of Vision Forums most well-known products and philosophies: the 200 Year Plan was created by Geoff (source), the book So Much More was authored by the Botkin sisters, and the dvd The Return of the Daughters was produced by the Botkin family through Western Conservatory.

Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences is also listed as a 2010 sponsor of the SAICFF. (Source)