"Thanks so much for the copy of your business plan – I believe you are leading the way on an important development. Let’s plan to have some discussion on it while I’m in town." Dan Smithwick, President of Nehemiah Institute and Leader of the Alliance of Christian Worldview Ministries.
"Keep me in the loop. I am an example of a successful engineer who followed the experience path rather than the traditional college path." Pete Cyr, Manufacturing Engineer, Federal Aviation Administration.
"I must first of all say that I applaud your efforts. We need more educational alternatives in the US. In a nutshell, my contention is that accreditation is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition of educational quality and that reliance upon it is misplaced. There were some House hearings in 2002 relating to accreditation. The star witness was former Senator Hawk Brown of CO, who became the president of the Univ. of Northern Colorado after leaving the Senate. He told members that accreditation was pretty much a costly irrelevance … Representative Petri of WI introduced a bill that would have decoupled accreditation from eligibility to receive federal student aid of funds …Bureaucrats are not always completely honest people." George Leef, Author of Can College Accreditation Live Up to its Promise?, American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Director of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, previous Vice President of the Locke Foundation.
"I have read your prospectus through a couple of times with a great deal of interest. This vision is extraordinary and I would say vitally needed. I can remember commenting on numerous occasions over the past several years to this effect: Instead of the time and money spent on college, I wonder how much further ahead I might be now if someone had taken me aside and taught me how to start a business. Often it is the high school drop outs who end up employing all the highly trained college graduates." Dennis Woods, Headmaster of Classical Free Virtual Academy, Author of five books on theory and practice in political science and history, Recognized for his pioneering work in the field of education in the 2004 edition of Two Thousand Outstanding Academics of the 21st Century and Leading Educators of the World, both publications of the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, England.
"Our website gets thousands of hits per day … and can add links to promote your work at no charge…to advance the Work of our Lord … Your name comes up often as I speak to Dick Jones (Nehemiah Institute Field Representative) and Buddy Hanson (President of the Grace and Law Christian Policy Network, Author of God’s Ten Words, Choose This Day, Christian Civil Rulers Handbook, and Thy Will Be Done on Earth) from the [Alliance of Christian Worldview Ministries] Conference. Obviously you have made a positive impression on them and me. Thanks for your fellowship and encouragement." Pastor Paul Michael Raymond, Institute for Theonomic Reformation.
"Lynn just told me you know of a way to become an attorney without the law school … how? I’d love to know! ... I wish our family could sit in on Jim’s worldview study. I think this is an area we all have to constantly be on guard about. Satan is so sneaky and our own flesh is easily deceived … Even in this English class she had to read and write essays about gays, Christian gays, euthanasia, and other controversial topics ... I’m thankful we discuss openly as a family but taking a class like Jim’s would be good." Karen Grossman, Homeschool Mom.
"Wow- Then I can be a speaker at your family-based Christian university! Get working on it … I can hardly wait! I could be a VISITING PROFESSOR and share many of my messages. The only obligation you would have is to name a building after me! ... Perhaps our daughter, Vanessa, whom we have totally home schooled, even through high school, can be one of the first university students in your program. She’s very intelligent, musically talented, beautiful in every way and has the greatest father you could have ever have on your advisory board! "Dr. Don Bartlette, world renown educator and public speaker known for his personal experiences with child abuse and alcoholism in a North Dakota native American family and public school system.
"I like your website. It has promise of truly higher learning. I also looks like you’re embarking on an all-consuming project, and is thus reminiscent of NCBA’s beginnings. Best wishes for your every success. NCBA’s founder, John Grandbouche, would have rejoiced at seeing it – his ultimate goal was his vision for a Christian-oriented campus for educating Americans young and old." John Voss, President, The National Commodity and Barter Association.
"[At the Christian entrepreneurship conference] I especially appreciated your talk, Mr. Bartlett, on having a Biblical worldview in business: very thought-provoking and insightful." Abigail Paul, Publisher of Hidden Wisdom Magazine.
[Commenting on the Concourse offering of the Preparing for Marriage course.] "Wow! I have looked over the site and I am blown away. You are off to a great start!" Israel Wayne, President, Wisdom’s Gate, Author of Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview and homeschool conference speaker.
"I owe you an apology. I had no idea all that you have and are accomplishing through [the Concourse]. I just went to your website and looked around ... I was amazed! How about writing an article about this project and the options and resources available to home educators for THE HOME SCHOOL REPORT? We've got almost 1200 families on our mailing list ... I imagine some of them will be very interested in this." Gail Biby, Executive Secretary, North Dakota Home School Association.
"…and also visited [biblicalconcourse.com], I am very moved by your commitment towards your philosophical convictions. I have always read and heard about people following the path laid by God for them as they follow it diligently and sincerely, but you are the first person I have met like that, and under whom I have had the privilege to work also. I sincerely wish you prosperity in this godly journey." Keerthi Gunasekaran, Manufacturing Engineering Graduate Student from India.
"It was great to meet and chat with you in Chicago . And, thanks, especially for seeking me out in the airport and engaging in that helpful discussion we had on the [Concourse] . I think it’s starting to sink into the gray matter! I’m passing this on [to others who] may be fascinated with [the Concourse] concept and perhaps be of help… I plan to take more time to study your site and dialogue on these things." Eric Smith, Headmaster, Dominion Christian School, Grandview , MO.
"Your [Concourse]sounds so good. The boys filled us in, and printed a copy of your business plan. And you are doing so much research, how do you find the time?!!! We are excited, it seems like so many things will gel together, thinking of where our boys are at…Maybe our music will fit somewhere. Keep us posted on the university news." Bettie Lou Stegman, Homeschool Mom, Neche, ND.
"I am interested in what you are doing. The Concourse concept as well as the family business network represent encouraging developments for those with a Christian perspective." Pastor Greg McManus.
"Could you write up a blurb about your web page and what you do and email it to me? I'd like to post it on our Trivium list, if you would like me to." Laurie Bluedorn, Classical Education Authors and Speakers, TriviumPursuit.com.
"I finally got time to sit down and read through the material you sent me. Excellent! I am going to share the “Secularization…” article with our Academy Administrator. Relativism is not only rampant in academic areas but in theology as well. The American “Evangelical and Pentecostal” churches will soon be just as relative in theology as the mainline churches have become. We need [the Concourse] and other “schools” to give rigorous education to our Christian youth to prepare them to be the mighty last-days heroes that God has ordained them to be. I would love to visit you some time you are in the area if it is convenient." Pastor Tom Olson, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Cloquet, MN.
"I checked out your website.. This is really intriguing. I think you're really on to something with this idea so I'll be watching as it develops and maybe help spread the word." Cathy Duffy, Home School Conference Speaker, home education movement leader, Author of Government Nannies, 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, & Christian Home Educator's Curriculum Manual.
"Iappreciate the information you sent. After reading it over, I am sincerely in agreement with you as to the need for a Biblical worldview for our children and youth. In fact a friend of mine, Dr. Ralph Loomis, Ph.D.(Harvard) who teaches at a college in Duluth, MN (I come from Minneapolis) and I have joined together to conduct Biblical Worldview Seminars, to help Christians understand the issues in our world today, of which they mostly are ignorant.
One of the elements in our educational system of our country, from grade school through the university is, as I am sure you realize, the almost total grasp of humanism, evolution, secularism, and socialism that controls our educational system. Most parents do not know what their children are being indoctrinated with, when they send them off to a secular college. This is why I am thankful for the program you are promoting. If there is any way I can be of help to you, I am willing to be of assistance." Dr. John Stoll, MDiv, ThM, PhD, pastor, professor, Bible conference speaker, marriage & family counselor and author of Principles for Christian Maturity.
"I think that your acredidation article ...would be timely up here. Would you be able to come up as a vendor... I would like to see your work represented up here as a way to get more people to understand "private" homeschool as opposed to "state funded" public school in one's home...and "home college" is a thought provoking idea. I also see it as a way to network specialized talent in a way that could set the stage for a future brick and mortar, Church administered college. A brick and mortar school, under the Church's ecclessiastical authority, could operate both on and off campus. In Alaska especially, with our far-flung communities whose primary resources are now what the state provides, would have their horizons broadened in a Biblical way. Such an arrangement, though family oriented, could also avail itself of distant talent under the auspices of the extended Church family and under Church authority." Steve Mailly, Alaska home education leader.
The Faith & Freedom Network |
COMPLEMENTARY QUOTATIONS
"Every week, shell-shocked parents contact Worldview Weekend wanting to know what they can do to get co-ed Johnny or Susie back on the “Christian” track once they’ve left for college. ...'The night life was just as shocking. Surely this wasn't Stanford—it was |
"Walk into Microsoft or Google with evidence that you are a brilliant hacker, and the job interviewer is not going to fret if you lack a college transcript. The ability to present an employer with evidence that you are good at something, without benefit of a college degree, will continue to increase, and so will the number of skills to which that evidence can be attached. Every time that happens, the false premium attached to the college degree will diminish." ~Charles Murray, Wall Street Journal |
"... liberal educators rejoice every time a bright, Christian teenager enrolls in one of their premier institutions. And why not, they've gained intimate access to the young, impressionable mind of another potential opponent. Ponder this for a moment: How better for the left to win a cultural war than to convince Christians and conservatives to attend their schools, or to reflexively equate "quality" education with an institution like Harvard, which as we've seen, favors militant secularism and left-wing political ideologies ... "
-- Michael P. Farris, J.D., Chancellor, Patrick Henry College |
