Mr. Douglas W. Phillips, Esq.:  Homeschool Conference Speaker and Workshop Leader Details

• Business: Entrepreneurship
• College: Alternatives and Application
• College: Preparation
• Family: Advice to Fathers/Men
• Family: Advice to Mothers/Women
• Family: Child Training/Discipline
• Family: Dating/Courtship
• Family: Hospitality / Food
• Family: Large Families
• Family: Marriage
• Family: Teens
• Family: Training Daughters
• Family: Training Sons
• Homeschooling: Fathers
• Homeschooling: Legal Issues
• Homeschooling: Motivation / Inspiration
• Homeschooling: Support and Opposition
• Personal Development: Leadership
• Personal Development: Life Purpose / Achievement
• Religion: Apologetics
• Religion: Bible
• Religion: Worldview
• Science: Creationism
• Social Studies: American History
• Social Studies: Biblical History
• Social Studies: Civics, Government, or Political Science
• Social Studies: Constitutional, Common, Criminal Law
• Social Studies: World History

NOTE:  Doug Phillips discontinued speaking in 2013.  The following are past presentations.

Building the 21st Century Man
Absent big changes, America and Europe are on a trajectory for epic disaster. What does this mean for the Christian family? For the Christian church? How do we prepare the sons of today to stand as heroic churchmen and visionary leaders in the perilous 21st century of tomorrow? Doug Phillips points out that crisis is opportunity in disguise. Every generation in church history has had its unique calling and we have ours today, which our sons will inherit. Every 500 years for the last two millennia there have been crises which resulted in a fundamental shift in civilization. With each crisis Christians had unique opportunities to advance the church and its influence over men and nations. As we fast approach what could be our generation’s own 500-year shift, Doug lays out principles for building the 21st-century man of God.

From Fear to Eternity (Developing a Christ-centered Perspective on the Home school Adventure)
For many, home education began as a frightening step of faith, but has quickly matured into an encouraging and holy mission to train warriors for the kingdom of God. What begins as a fearful step of faith, can, by the grace of God, culminate in a journey preparing precious souls for eternity. Doug reminds us of the true mission of the home schooling family. He encourages moms to see the high calling of their work and exhorts fathers to assume the great mantle of leadership that leads to multi-generational blessing.

How to Think Like a Christian
Have you ever wondered if there is a distinctively Christian approach to teaching math, grammar, history, etc.? Doug answers these and similar questions in this important introduction to Christian apologetics and the true meaning of a biblical worldview. This talk is appropriate for adults and high school students. It is especially important that home educators understand a Christian theory of knowledge and education if they hope to train their children to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Issues discussed include: Can academics be theologically neutral? What is the role of logic in a Christian worldview? Do facts speak for themselves? How may we defend the Bible? Lastly, how do we answer the problem of evil?

Victories: Moments Small and Large Which Define Christian Parenthood
Christian parents are surrounded with beauty. But in life’s business they often fail to see the thousands of precious victories God places in their lives as parents. In this heartwarming and inspirational message, Doug helps parents identify those victories, small and large, that truly make up the most important moments of their lives. He explains why the life of the Christian homeschool family is most conducive for cultivating important opportunities.

Persevero! The Indefatigable Spirit of George Washington
George Washington is not only the single most important figure in American history, but he may be the greatest leader of the last one thousands years. His was a life of providential blessing, passionate principle and unflinching perseverance. In this spirited talk, Doug Phillips draws some of the most important lessons from the life of Washington, drawing special application for the home school community.

Secrets of Successful Multi-Generational Visionaries
The bible is the story of multi-generational victory and generational failure. The history of the New Testament church from the time of Christ to the present includes many similar stories.

Uniting Church and Family
Within Christianity two extremes predominate. The first pits the local church against the family by segregating children from their parents and allowing youth culture to drive ministry activities. The second reacts to this crisis by rebelling against the authority of the local church. The first group has actually introduced false philosophies and evolutionary notions into their church structure, and the second has responded in frustration to what they perceive as an attack on the family. In this talk Doug demonstrates that God desires the church to become a child-friendly, father-reinforcing meeting that supports and builds family life. Similarly, the family is to grow as it places itself under the authority and shepherding of the local church. The local church is not meant to be a business, a bureaucracy, or a base for youth activities, but neither is the family meant to be an island.

Homeschool Vision of Victory
If a generation is to rise up and call America back to its biblical foundations, it must surely come from the ranks of Americas homeschoolers. But home education is not an end in itself. It is only a God-ordained means of accomplishing His purposes in the home, in the heart of a young person, and in society as a whole. Doug will discuss the historical significance of the homeschool movement, the true objectives of home education and the importance of a long-term multi-generational vision of victory. This inspirational session is for everyone who needs to be reminded of the beauty and greatness of the homeschool vision.

The Promise: The Beauty and Power of the Fifth Commandment (God's Requirement for Children of All Ages)
Is it well with your soul? The Scriptures say that being well and honoring your father and mother are inextricably linked. Honor your father and mother is the first command with a promise. It is a promise linked with spiritual and physical prosperity, including long life. Yet this foundational command is largely ignored and resented by teenagers and adults alike. As a young man Doug purposed before the Lord to make it a life goal to honor his parents. In this foundational talk, Doug addresses challenging issues like: How do wise parents instill honor in their children? What does the Bible say about the way we are to respond to perverse authority in parents? In what way are adult sons and daughters to honor their living parents? What are the consequences for dishonoring parents? How does our culture promote dishonor? Why do children who never learn to honor their parents consistently experience failure in marriage and business? How can adult children restore honor to relationships that have long been tinged by dishonor?

The League of Grateful Sons
Multi-generational faithfulness is a defining theme of Scripture. But multi-generational faithfulness only occurs when fathers tell and sons ask. As executive producer of the documentary, The League of Grateful Sons, Doug Phillips has just completed a four year, 23,000 mile investigative journey interviewing the fathers and sons of the Word War II generation. What he has to share about his discoveries may change the way you look at your parents and grandparents. In this power packed message, Doug explains how and why we must collect the testimonies and providences of God wrought in the lives of our fathers, and how we can encourage our elder loved ones to open their hearts and lives to this present generation of home educators. If you have ever wanted to know how to interview your grandparents or hoped to drink deeply from the life stories of your fathers, this message is for you.

Homeschool Vision of Christianity & Culture
Are we training our children just to get a good job and make money? There are many voices calling us in a multitude of directions. God has called us to seek His kingdom first. When we have a kingdom vision, we can address the details of life with fervor and purpose. This message will present a Biblical vision of impacting our culture for Gods glory.

The Blessed Marriage
Once upon a time in America children looked forward to marriage and parents actively trained their children to be good husbands and wives. Today, we live in an age in which marriage is mocked and belittled. Even within the Christian community most have embraced an unbiblical view of marriage that demeans the beauty and nobility of this holy union. Some Christian parents are compensating for the challenges in their own marriages by sending wrong messages to their children. They do this by advocating an unbiblical view that singleness is preferable to marriage. The greatest tragedy is that these children grow up unprepared for marriage, and without having ever witnessed a really positive example of biblical marriage. In this significant message, Doug outlines what the Bible teaches on marriage, offers a historical perspective on some of the great Christian marriages throughout history, and documents what the Scriptures teach about building a joyful, Christian marriage. (This is a psychology-free talk.)

The Visionary Father's Role in Home Education
(The Restoration of the Biblical Family Through Father-directed Home Education)
The defining crisis of our day is the disintegration of the family. Much of this crisis can be directly attributed to the failure of men to enthusiastically embrace the responsibilities associated with their high calling as husbands and fathers. The greatest need in the homeschooling movement today is for fathers with a life vision and a burning passion for their families. In this encouraging message, Doug Phillips will discuss in very practical terms the fathers role in home education, including the biblical mandate that husbands treat their wives as beloved helpmeets, co-laboring with them on a divinely inspired mission for the Lord Jesus Christ. He will communicate a vision of the joy of fatherhood by drawing from Scripture and his own personal experience as a boy who was mentored and discipled by a loving father.

Making Wise Decisions about College and Life After Homeschooling
Have you ever heard the expression, "If you don't know where you are going, any train will get you there?" This is precisely the situation most Christians find themselves in when it comes to making decisions about college. Doug Phillips examines the biblical principles that parents should consider when determining whether or not college is a wise choice for their child. The discussion includes a historical overview of the relationship between the Christian community and the university, and a hard look at the realities of both the classroom and the culture of the modern college. In this eminently practical discussion he also examines realistic alternatives to college including apprenticeship, entrepreneurial training and mentorship. Doug is currently conducting a little experiment in mentoring with a small cadre of dynamic home school graduates, who study 8 hours a week with him such subjects as apologetics, law, theology, and biblical worldview.

Providence and Perseverance: The Importance of History to Christian Home Education and Discipleship of Leaders
This present generation lacks hope. Our children don't know who they are, where they came from, nor where they should be going. Psalm 78 reminds us that God has ordained the telling of providential history to children as a primary means of communicating hope to the next generation. Doug Phillips explains the doctrine of Providence and the legacy of faithful believers who have persevered. He provides parents with a practical defense of providential history against the liberal revisionists of our day and inspires home educators to make the discipline of providential history a core element of their home education.

Controversies in American History
Have you become the victim of revisionist perspectives on American history that discredit the providential role of God in America? Doug will summarize the key topics covered in his Christian Controversies in American History and provide a
Biblical grid and historical background to evaluate Pilgrim/Indian relations, the Salem Witch Trials, the Faith of the Founders, and the legitimacy of the War For Independence. This is critical for believers who hope to understand and defend the Christian legacy of American history.

Rebuilding a Culture of Virtuous Boyhood: Biblical Wisdom and Timely Tips for Transitioning Our Sons Into Noble Manhood
There is a sacred window of time in a boy's life when everything is possible. He can rescue damsels in distress, explore uncharted lands with Columbus, or ride with Stonewall Jackson. But this window is shrinking. Fewer boys care about
the heroes and histories of the past. Somewhere amidst the computer death-games and the visual assault of television, the boys of our culture have forgotten what it means to be a boy and to dream the noble dreams of youth. Few parents ask the question, "Does the Bible give me principles for a boy's play-life?" In this session, Doug outlines the Biblical principles of play and recreation for children. 

What's a Girl to Do? (What the Bible Says About How a Girl Should Spend Her Time)
There is a growing desire among home educating Christians to raise feminine, virtuous daughters with hearts for family and children. This is a Biblical goal, but how do you promote femininity and virtue in a culture that conspires at every level against the Christian woman? Specifically, how do you invest a girl's time before marriage so that she is best prepared to serve Christ as a Proverbs 31 woman? In this session, Doug examines the Bible's direction concerning the training of mature daughters.

Six Millennia of Home Education and Covenant Faithfulness
All of us have recently experienced a remarkable event: the birth of a new century and a new millennium. But have you stopped to consider the Biblical significance of this event to Christians, or the history which brought us to this unique moment in time? Our generation is shamefully ignorant of the spiritual history behind this present day. Doug will lead us through six millennia of Christian history, outlining the legacy of God's covenantal faithfulness to believing families, tracing key events which defined the generational succession from Adam to Christ, and from Christ to our present day. God has always blessed distinctively Christian, home-directed education and judged those who depart from this model in favor of a pagan approach to child training. In this millennium year, it is crucial that we recognize the awe and the wonder of God's legacy of faithfulness to covenant-keeping Christian families, and embrace with vigor the challenges of the next century.

Have Dominion Over the Earth
A Home Schooler's Vision for Christianity and the Culture - Are we training our children just to get a good job and make money/ There are many voices calling us in a multitude of directions. God has called us to seek His kingdom first. This session will present a biblical vision of impacting our culture for God's glory. When we have a kingdom vision we can address the details of life with fervor and purpose.

The Wise Woman's Guide to Blessing her Husband
The Christian community is full of dear ladies discouraged because their husbands lack vision to lead the family with gusto. In some cases, the men are simply overwhelmed with present responsibilities. In other cases, they lack a biblical framework for household leadership. It certainly does not help when men have poor role models in their own lives, which is the case for a growing number of husbands. Often wives cry out, Help, my husband just doesn't get it," or, "I want more children, but mu husband says no," or even, "My husband is nervous about home schooling." But, too often, wives contribute to the problem through a wrong response. The great news is that the Bible anticipates this crisis of leadership in the home and provides crystal clear direction for wives."

Biblical Economics: The Entrepreneurial Endeavor
Christian entrepreneurship is purposeful. It involves the calling of men to live fruitful, productive, creative, problem-solving, dominion-oriented, kingdom-advancing, Lordship-loving lives. This is manifest as men advance their roles as fathers, reformers, leaders, servants, masters, and visionaries. Come join Doug Phillips as he casts the biblical vision of entrepreneurship that impacts all families.

Bringing Your Family into the Business
So what can you do to bring your family into your business? Whether it be our wives, sons or daughters, learn from Biblical principles how to include them in your business.

Vision for the Future
After a day chock full of great advice from some of the nations top Christian businessmen, we must ask and answer the question, Where do we go from here? Doug will give us the next step as well as lay out a vision for our future entrepreneurial ventures.

How Home Educators Can Win the Battle for Christian Media and Culture
The battle for Christian culture is essentially a religious battle. It is the battle of competing faiths as communicated through aesthetics, lifestyle choices and media. Home educators are as vulnerable as the rest of the culture to the fiery darts of Satan as communicated through pagan culture, but they are also uniquely suited to wage war on the negative influences within our culture by presenting a bright and hopeful vision of victory. In this thought provoking and inspiring message Doug emphasizes the role of Hollywood and media on the family, and presents a strategy for warfare that weds orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

Developing a Biblical Worldview of Film and Media
Here is the bad news: We live in the most media-saturated culture in history. Hollywood is poisoning our youth with images and worldviews that are at war with the gospel and toxic to our children. Here is the good news: home educators are leading the charge to build a replacement industry to Hollywood built on biblical principles and dedicated to "taking every [frame] captive to the obedience of Christ."

The Family Table
In today’s fast-paced culture, the family table — once a central part of life for believers — has been all but neglected as families have become disconnected and domesticity has been eschewed. Doug shows from Scripture how the table is to be a place of peace, discipleship, hospitality and cultural transformation. It is the place where some of the greatest glories of Christian culture are manifest.

Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey
When Ernest Shackleton called for hardy men to join him on a near-impossible “hazardous journey” across the South Pole, many responded, but only 27 were chosen. All 27 endured harrowing circumstances. All 27 survived. As we enter the challenging world of the 21st century, the call of the day is for Christian men to make their own hazardous journeys against a culture fraught with peril. The stakes are high and the obstacles enormous, but a glory awaits those who persevere.

Into the Amazon: Why Men Must Worship the Creator, not the Creature, And the Great Battle Against Radical Environmentalism

Inheritance and Heritage in the Family Economy

How to Love and Lead Your Children

The Blessed Life of Honor – At Work and Home

The Earth is the Lord’s

• Licensed attorney
• Founder: National Center for Family-Integrated Churches
• Founder: Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy
• Pastor: Boerne Christian Assembly
• Former Director: National Center for Home Education
• Former attorney (for six years): Home School Legal Defense Association
• Founder and president: The Vision Forum, Inc.
• Founder: The Christian Boys & Mens Titanic Society
• Founder: The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF)
• Founder: Christian Filmmakers Academy
• Adjunct Professor of Apologetics: Institute for Creation Research
• Co-author: Weapons of Our Warfare
• Compiler and editor: Robert Louis Dabney: The Prophet Speaks
• Compiler and editor: Poems for Patriarchs
• Compiler and editor: The Letters & Lessons of Teddy Roosevelt for His Sons
• Author: The Birkenhead Drill
• Author: The Little Boy Down the Road: Short Stories and Essays on the Beauty of Family Life

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 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, The All-American Boy's Adventure Catalog, The Beautiful Girlhood Collection catalog, and the Vision Forum Book Catalog. Doug has appeared on numerous radio and television shows and has spoken at more than 100 home school conferences in 42 states. In June of 2007, Doug spearheaded the Jamestown Quadricentennial, a celebration of God's providential in America's history which drew more than four thousand visitors to Virginia's historic triangle. 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!