The Scott Brown Family

“I am involved with the NCFIC because it is an organization which speaks to one of the most important issues of our times: the breakdown of the family and the recovery of the Biblical order to the church and the home. The near loss of the Biblically defined family is causing massive breakdowns throughout every area of society. With lightning speed, we have seen the disappearance of intact families: fathers who lead their homes, mothers who appreciate their Biblical role. We have also seen the almost universal appearance of children who live their entire lives dishonoring their parents. Not only this, but we have watched the church follow the patterns of the world, and have observed her participation in the very breakdown that is causing her own demise.

“Over the years, my sensitivity to these problems has only heightened, until several years ago, I set about to align with men who were sounding the alarm of truth and offering Biblical answers to the problems we are facing. Doug Phillips was one of those men, and Vision Forum was one of those ministries which the Lord has providentially raised up at this time in history to rebuild our Christ honoring foundations, one family at a time.

“The work of the NCFIC is about family reformation, and this dovetails perfectly with where the Lord has placed my own life and the life of my family. I am so thankful for Doug Phillips, Jim Zes and Don Hart who are courageous enough to pour out their lives for the truths that we must stand on. —Scott Brown

The Doug Phillips Family

Doug Phillips is a sinner, saved by grace. God was pleased to place him in the home of Howard and Peggy Phillips, two outstanding parents who loved him and poured their lives into him. His father personally discipled Doug for much of his life, taking Doug with him around the country, such that Doug had traveled with his family through 49 of the 50 states by the time he was 18. His father — a former candidate for President of the United States who served as Acting Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity under Richard Nixon — faithfully read both Old and New Testament to him at the dinner table, taught him constitutional law, public policy, and communicated to Doug a remarkable passion for history. They listened together to more than 2,000 audiocassettes on history, books, and theology.

As a young man, Doug was also discipled by Robert Gifford, a great preacher of the Word and pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, who communicated to Doug a passion for Christian apologetics and the sovereignty of God. Because of his father’s work as a statesman, Doug had the opportunity to spend time with, and learn from, many of the great Christian leaders of the last 30 years. It was during this time, however, that Doug came to realize that the greatest witness a man could offer for Jesus Christ was not what he knew, but how he lived his life as a father and a husband. It was at this time that God began to build a vision in Doug’s life for seeing the restoration of biblical manhood, godly femininity, and the Christian home.

While running a Christian newspaper in college, Doug met Beall, a young woman who ran a ministry to unwed mothers called “Alternatives to Abortion” (interestingly enough, Beall herself had been adopted). Five years later, on “the happiest day of my life — except for every day after that,” Doug and Beall were married. Doug attended law school for the purpose of developing skills that would help him defend home educators and Christian parents from State tyranny. He graduated from George Mason School of Law, where he studied under judges Robert Bork and Doug Ginsberg. He served for six years at the Home School Legal Defense Association in multiple capacities including staff attorney and Director of the National Center for Home Education.

In the Fall of 1998, Doug and Beall founded The Vision Forum, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas, devoted to producing books and tapes to help build up Christian families. Later, they founded Vision Forum Ministries (non-profit 501[c]3), a ministry designed to communicate a vision for the restoration of the Christian family and the rebuilding of culture for the glory of God. Much of Doug’s time is spent teaching with the hope to spur on Christian manhood and sacrificial fatherhood, and to see dads turn their hearts to their wives and children.

In addition to editing and writing numerous books, Doug founded the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy, The Christian Boys’ & Men’s Titanic Society, the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches, the All-American Boy’s Adventure Catalog, the Beautiful Girlhood Collection catalog, and the Vision Forum Family Books and Media catalog. Doug has appeared on numerous radio and television shows and has spoken at more than 100 home school conferences in 42 states. Along with Dr. John Morris, Doug is pleased to be the featured speaker at the Back to Genesis conferences hosted by the Institute for Creation Research, where he holds the title of Professor of Apologetics with their adjunct faculty. Doug is privileged to serve as one of the shepherds at Boerne Christian Assembly, a local church work which boldly proclaims the sufficiency of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, the continuing relevance of the entire Word of God to all of life, the priesthood of the believer, distinctively Christian education, and the importance of family-reinforcing local churches.

The greatest joys in Doug’s life are his wife Beall and the eight children that God has graciously given to them: Joshua, Justice, Liberty, Jubilee, Faith Evangeline, Honor, Providence, and Virginia Hope. May the Lord’s name be blessed forever! 

The Don Hart Family

“Like so many of you, my family has been blessed beyond measure by the labors of the NCFIC. Sharing a few thoughts regarding the mission of the NCFIC and a brief testimony about its impact in my family is an opportunity for which I am grateful. It is a privilege to honor and encourage a work which seeks to glorify God by uncompromisingly proclaiming His truth in addressing the defining issues of our day. Much could be said regarding these issues, but they turn on whether Christians are willing to embrace a distinctly biblical worldview. As Christians grieve the crisis of wickedness so apparent today, we must examine ourselves for blind spots wherein we may be complicit in such wickedness. Frankly, as Christians, we often seem disdainful of the law of God and ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. While we claim to believe that the Bible is true and sufficient, we often disconnect our beliefs from our practice, assuming that the Bible is silent or irrelevant on many issues and denying our duty of obedience to our Sovereign God. For generations, we have gradually allowed a distinctly biblical worldview to become an uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and abnormal condition rather than the normative pattern for our lives. Consequently, we need a call to repentance lest we replace the godly inheritance of our forefathers with a legacy of shameful unfaithfulness. We must wholeheartedly love, trust and obey the Lord our God. The standard which honors God must be raised. Sounding this call to action by passionately communicating biblical truth and vision to Christian families is central to the mission of the NCFIC.

“My family has been profoundly impacted by the NCFIC's steadfast pursuit of its mission. Blessed to be raised in a Christian home by a faithful father and mother who were true to both God and family, my heart was nonetheless often grieved by the ongoing and systematic destruction of families which was so common not only in our community, but in many churches as well. As I matured, the paths to be avoided became easier to discern; however, my vision for the paths to be followed, the wonderful blessings of God to be diligently pursued, was sadly lacking. When God gave me a wonderful, godly wife, and began to bless us with children, I struggled to lead my family through the minefield of worldly and vain philosophies which seemed poised to destroy us. As I struggled to identify solutions to obvious problems, God providentially introduced me to the NCFIC. I felt a bit like a parched desert traveler led to an oasis. I was greatly encouraged by Doug Phillip's teaching, which not only coherently identified perils which might cause one to stumble, but emphasized even more strongly a godly vision of victory and joy. God used the NCFIC to blaze a narrow, but clearly discernible, path of biblical truth into which I could faithfully lead my family.

Through the biblical teaching and resources offered by the NCFIC, God pierced my heart with truths like the blessing of children, the curse of debt, the duty and joy of a father’s spiritual leadership and discipleship in the home, the beauty of biblical femininity and motherhood, the vitality and economy of the home, the importance of the local church in the lives of families, biblical order and unity between church and family, the generational blessing associated with covenantal faithfulness in the family, and God’s revelation of Himself in the context of family, (the church as the bride of Christ, God as our Heavenly Father, His own as His children, believers as brothers and sisters in Christ).

“What is the mission of the NCFIC? I see it each time I look into the eyes of my daughters and my son. Where are your hearts, my little ones? Their reply is simple and silent. Where is your heart, daddy? Am I a blessing, daddy? Are you willing to be the stepping stone for my children, daddy? Will you be faithful for generations you may never see, daddy? Will you be a part of a faithful remnant? Do you believe, daddy? Will you trust and obey, daddy? Will you do it His way, daddy, or do you know a better way? Will you disciple me, daddy, or will you send me away? Daddy, will you love my mommy and protect her and provide, or will you send her away? Am I important, daddy, as important as your toys and pleasures? Can I trust you, daddy? Can I trust God, daddy? Is He like you, or are you like Him? Where will you lead me, daddy? Where is your heart, daddy? Little eyes full of so many questions. Do you have vision, daddy? How will you answer? Turn your hearts, men. Our mission starts at home.” —Don Hart

The Jim Zes Family

“My family considers it an honor and a privilege to know, serve and work with the NCFIC alongside Scott Brown Doug Phillips and Don Hart. This is such a crucial work of God in our nation today. It is our desire and commitment to further the message and ministry of the NCFIC in every way possible. We believe that our country, our government, our churches, and our families today are suffering the consequences of disobedience and rebellion to God’s Word regarding church and family, and that repentance and a Biblical reformation — laying a new foundation — are necessary to reversing the rapid decline of our culture. The call to obedience and submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of life and practice must be clearly and faithfully sounded, especially to Christians who are unwittingly contributing to the destruction of our nation through their ignorance of God’s Law and their acceptance of cultural norms. This is the heart and mission of the NCFIC — imparting a multigenerational vision for covenantal faithfulness and Biblical obedience in our homes, churches, communities, and nation. More than ever, men need to be trained for leadership in the gates of the land; fathers need to be discipled to be the prophets, priests, and kings of their homes; women need to be encouraged in their Biblical role as helpmeets and keepers at home; mothers need to be exhorted to love their husbands and children; children need to be taught to honor their parents and elders; and Christians need to be equipped to defend the Faith. The NCFIC is dedicated to providing the tools to be able to do this, through books, tapes, conferences, and retreats.

“We are very thankful that the Lord is using the NCFIC “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). May God make Biblical reformation in our land a reality in our day. May our children and grandchildren succeed us in advancing the Kingdom of God and discipling the nations, beginning with their own families.” —Jim Zes