Special Appeal: Help the Botkin Family Bring a Gospel Message of Family Discipleship to Europe

June 2, 2008

A Special Request from Doug Phillips

I would like to make a special appeal on behalf of another ministry — one that is very dear to Vision Forum, and a ministry with whom we have had the pleasure of working very closely over the years. In my personal view, the ministry of the Geoff Botkin family and The Western Conservatory is one of the most important and innovative Gospel works in Christendom when it comes to communicating a vision of the biblical family and cultural renewal for Jesus Christ. The effectiveness of this ministry stems from the power of their personal example and the biblical potency of their message. We continue to receive stunning testimonies from many of the people whose lives have been transformed by the ministry of the Botkin family at Vision Forum events like the Father and Daughter Retreat, the Christian Filmmakers Academy, and the 200 Year Plan.

The Great Commission commands believers to make “disciples of nations,” and to teach them “all things whatsoever I have commanded.” The Botkins are serious about this Gospel mission. And they recognize the need to bring timely practical messages to the Church around the world in order to fulfill the discipleship component of the Great Commission. This is why I am excited about a great opportunity which the Lord has set before them to bring the discipleship message to Christian families and churches in Europe who are hungry for sound, practical teaching to help them recapture their families for Christ and disciple a generation which is grateful for the rich Reformation heritage of Scripture which once transformed countries like England and Scotland, but is now largely forgotten. The Botkins have received just under a dozen important requests to speak at key locations in Scotland and England. Mr. Botkin is not a man to turn his back on such heartfelt requests and is making every effort to take his family to the UK this summer to address these deep moral needs, from dismal neighborhoods in Glasgow to the depressed areas around Southampton. I want to help him raise the 19,400 British pounds needed for a significant missionary journey that will illustrate the valuable lessons of biblical daughterhood, family discipleship, multigenerational faithfulness and visionary parenting.

Today I want you to consider supporting a very special missionary endeavor — one that involves an entire family with a critical message. The greatest demand for the Botkin family is the question-answer session, where the entire family interacts with British families on the recovery of family culture and lost orthopraxy. But they are going prepared to open the Scriptures on a great number of topics. In Glasgow they will explain the forgotten doctrines of marriage and the honoring of parents. In Birmingham they will reintroduce ideas of multi-generational family life to a nation that has forgotten its 2000 year Christian history. In Wales they will demonstrate how brothers and sisters can be best friends in a wide gospel mission. In Winchester young men will hear how they can face the greatest challenges of the 21st Century. In Devon there will be many lectures on the culture of the home and how that will build the recovery of Christian civilization.

If you want to help make it possible for the Botkin family to enlarge the Gospel mission of discipleship, then go to this link to contribute directly. In so doing you will be sending light into a dark corner of the world that was once the light of Christendom. Beall and I will personally be making a donation to this work, and I want to encourage you to consider doing the same.