The Vision
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

It was not a dark and stormy night. It was nice out in fact. More importantly, the conversation was good. Jeff, Caleb and I sat out past midnight on my front porch arguing and talking, considering the merits of Christian music, examining the virtue of the family, and the vice of the state, looking at the finer points of Calvinism's five points. As time passed I found myself looking forward to waking my wife and telling her about our conversation. When I finally did wake her I announced, 'We have achieved study center." That conversation was what we came here for, to be able to wrestle with big issues in a small setting. There was nothing forced about the conversation, no study guide to follow. There was no diploma being sought. There would be no report in Christianity Today about spurious revival at the Sproul house. The evening began with a meal, a fine one at that, and conversation. After dessert, our two guests and our family gathered for family worship. We prayed, we sang, we looked to the Word. Denise and I put the children to bed, and then we talked some more. I was, and am, excited.

What happened wouldn't make for a good action movie. There were no dramatic special effects. Jeff didn't slay anyone in the Spirit. Though we sometimes disagreed, there was no rancor, no attacking. The ideal snuck up on us, and hit us with a sublime sublimeness. The evening possessed a simple beauty, the beauty of simplicity.

This issue we look at the ideal. I have drunk deep of the culture's amusement with cynicism. I spend a great deal of time bemoaning how things aren't. I practice the prophetic art of pronouncing woe with an acute snideness. I'm waiting for Denise to ask me what Steve Camp's wife once asked him, 'You are always singing (with me, thank goodness, it's talking and writing) about what you're against. When are you going to sing about what you are for?" Here it is, enjoy it while it lasts.

What should the church look like? What are its gifts? What about the family? There is much to avoid, but what should we be seeking after? What about the culture? Is it nothing but a black hole, or can the Christian counter-culture really be a counter-culture ? What about the state? Is our task merely to undo, or is there something to do, a goal to aim toward?

The Highlands Study Center, and Saint Peter Presbyterian Church will never be ideal. Perfection will only come when we are fully subsumed under the church triumphant when Christ comes in the fullness of His glory. But our desire is to be more than a repository of propositions, more than a rear-guard action trying to stem the tide of cultural collapse. We want to serve as a model, a flawed model to be sure, but a model nonetheless. Every Thought Captive, in like manner, will never reach perfection. One reason is that it is ill-equipped for its task. We try in these pages to translate the study center experience into something you can read. We would like for all of you to be up late, talking over critical matters with friends and family. If that can't happen, at least we hope you'll have a fruitful and fulfilling conversation with what you are reading.

To step closer to the ideal we see, however, you need to come see us. Give us a call and stop by for dinner, or a morning, or an evening. Bring your questions, bring your visions of the ideal. Come to one of our studies, and get to know the regulars. In fact, it would be ideal in our book for you to become a regular. We have built it. We hope you'll come.