Illinois Christian Home Educators Convention!

Justin and I had the privilege of attending the ICHE Convention this past weekend. Wow! Our vision was renewed, we were refreshed, encouraged, and inspired by the ministry we heard and the people we visited with. We both came away with a stronger conviction about home education and the reasons to make such a decision. The keynote speakers this year were Voddie Baucham, Kevin Swanson, and Mike Farris. All were outstanding and spoke the truth about home discipleship, the laws and legal issues surrounding homeschooling, and worldview...among other topics.

Here is an overview written by Mr. Dave Johnson from one of V. Baucham's keynotes:

What is a Worldview by Voddie Baucham
Here is a summary of yesterday's workshop by Voddie Baucham What is a Worldview?

Have you ever wondered why the American church looks so much like the world? In his first presentation, Voddie Baucham answered that question for us in clear and unequivocal terms. Less than 10% of American Christians have a biblical worldview and only 51% of pastors have a biblical worldview. But in order to affect a remedy, it is imperative that we understand what a worldview really is and how it relates to education.

Pastor Baucham explained that our worldview is the "big picture," the true basis of all our decisions. It is those ground floor assumptions about truth and reality we base our lives on. A person's worldview doesn't need to be put into words, it is obvious from watching their life.

A worldview functions like three common items. It is the eyeglasses through which we view life. It is a map with which we navigate. It is a jigsaw puzzle picture we use to make sense of the puzzle pieces life hands us. An incorrect worldview, like wearing the wrong prescription glasses, means we cannot not properly focus. Using the wrong map causes us to miss the guiding landmarks we need, and not having the correct puzzle picture means that life's events are deemed meaningless and incomprehensible.

Pastor Baucham turned to the scriptures to underline the importance of educating the mind. Matthew 22:37, Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 10:3-6, and others teach us that Christianity is an intellectual faith and we need to understand these concepts and use them to battle false worldviews. He also explained that the hard sciences are founded on Christian faith and urged home educators to seriously pursue studies in those subjects.

A worldview is formed wherever a person spends most of their time. Public school students spend over 14,000 hours of their life at school. The de facto worldview of the public school system in secular humanism, as its proponents openly declare. It's most basic elements are an atheistic view of God, a consideration of mankind as merely a product of mindless evolution, a belief that truth is relative, knowledge is materialistic and naturalistic, and ethics are only a cultural phenomenon. Since this worldview dominates the media, politics, education, and even the church, it is easy to understand why 75 to 88 percent of evangelical youth have abandoned their faith by the end of their freshman year of college.

Pastor Bauchman challenged home educators to fight this trend. He noted that the most important factors in determining whether a child will remain in the faith as an adult are where, when and how the child is educated, and who was his discipler-teacher. Our mission, as home educators, is much larger and more important than teaching academics and preparing our children for a career. We are building a generation of right-thinking Christians truly enabled and impassioned to impact our communities, our nation, and our world for Jesus Christ.

David Johnson
May 25th, 2007