The Vision

Dear Bob,

"Laurence, please don't stay here. Get back in the van and come home with us." Steve was losing control. I had never seen him like this before. Overcome with the trauma of losing a friend, a good-bye hug had turned into a clinging embrace, and a plea for me to reconsider my future. "Don't stay here. Come back with us. Please Laurence, we have to stick together."

The year was 1975. I was 17 years old, and 1300 miles from home. I have to admit, the appeal was tempting. The conference that our youth department had attended was over. And now, Steve, Ralph, Johnny and the rest of the old gang were going back home without me. I was staying to go to Bible college. That was the plan.

After they left, I went up to my dorm room and unpacked all my worldly possessions. The room still looked empty. The dorm was empty; classes wouldn't begin for two more weeks. I lay down on my bed, stared at the ceiling, and asked myself, "What am I doing here?"

The answer, from a human standpoint, was simple. I did it for you, Bob. Fast forward 22 years to 1997. I made a similar decision, but now, accompanied by my wife and three children under 3 years old, without the security of a job, leaving all that was familiar, I moved to Virginia to fulfill my role at the Highlands Study Center. Why? For you, Bob. For you.

Ever since God gave me new birth, my life's goal has been to help people follow Christ. If God thought it important enough to take on flesh and dwell with men, well, who am I to not heed His call, regardless of the circumstances? R.C. and I dreamed of this for two years. If we could start a study center, Bob would have a place to come and learn. Why, we could begin a publication addressing all the important stuff that Bob would need to know. Bob could come sit at our table, play with our children, help in our garden, and all the time be learning about apologetics, spiritual disciplines, hermeneutics, theology and biblical family dynamics.

You should know that R.C. and I talk about you all the time. We pray and agonize over what is to be written and taught next that will reach you, convict you, and free you. We spend our days wondering when you will respond to the call that we are sending out a call to have the courage to evaluate your schedule, your family, your church, your life, and make the appropriate changes.

Each issue of this publication is targeted with you in mind. We want to help you see the weaknesses of the church, the importance of the family, the dangers of the government, the clarity of Scripture, the direction of the culture, the means of living the Christian life and well, also so you will know how our chickens are doing.

Many people like you have been changed by the study center's ministry. There are families who are homeschooling their children, young men entering the ministry, folks from liberal denominations becoming Reformed in their thinking, young men and women forsaking the dating scene and opting for biblical courtship. We have had resident students from LSU, King College, Virginia Intermont, Princeton and others who have lived with us and learned more about their Lord and the kind of life He desires that they lead. Many have come to the community and college studies that we hold weekly to be challenged in their thinking and to expand their knowledge of God.

For nearly three years we have produced this publication in an effort to awaken the people of God to obedience, challenging the normal and comparing it to the biblical. None of this has been easy, Bob. Whenever you take a position you expose yourself to ridicule, misunderstanding and attack. Sometimes the wounds we bear are from friends, "friendly fire" that is painful because they do not understand. And what we do here is a lot of work. There are deadlines for articles to be written, lessons to be prepared, guests in our homes, traveling away from our families, counseling the hurt and confused, clarification to the inquirer, and correspondence to be answered. (Of course rarely do we get a whole newsletter to answer, like you.)

But that is why we are here. That was the plan. Despite the workload, we do have a great time. There is excitement in seeing the differences taking place in people's lives. Study center life is like no other. We farm (well, we try to farm), we have folks in our homes several nights a week, we smoke cigars on the porch, laugh with students and guests around the dinner table after a wonderful meal. And we always talk of the things of God. There is no subject that is unwelcome, no philosophies that we fear, no questions about God that we shy away from. Heck, twist our arms and we'll even talk about ourselves.

Here at the Highlands Study Center we're doing all that we can to help you live a life of simplicity, separation and deliberateness. And of course, we're doing all we can to help ourselves do the same. There isn't much money or glory in what we do here, but we do it all for you, Bob. For you.

This whole issue of Every Thought Captive has been designed with you in mind. But then, every issue we have ever done has had you in mind. But in this issue, lest you think, "Boy, that R.C. and Laurence sure are giving so-and-so what for!", in the following,pages you will find yourself addressed and called to be accountable. So read on, dear brother. Be edified, challenged, changed. And let us know how you are doing. We started all this with you in mind. That was the plan.