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 Vision Christian College is a part of the fruit of the visionary labour of three men with a God given desire to place sound, legitimate, Bible College teaching into the hands and hearts of Christians and churches everywhere.
After little more than thirty years since its foundation, Vision Christian College network now ministers to over 130,000 students though our ministry arms in over 140 nations around the world, through more than 8000 churches, denominations and parachurch ministries who use Vision as one of their preferred colleges
Additionally there are thousands of unregistered students though our missions work who cannot afford to pay or who are in countries where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still forbidden or strongly discouraged.
How did such remarkable growth occur? It began with...
Two Men with a Vision
Dr. Ken Chant - (M.R.E. Th.D) Dr Ken Chant is an Australian who began his ministry in 1952 as an assistant pastor in two Baptist churches in Adelaide. He was ordained in Melbourne in 1954, as a pastor in the CRC Churches International, so he has been actively involved (as of 2008) in Christian ministry for 54 years (ten of which he and his family spent in the USA). A brief summary of his ministry would include the following -
- he has pioneered eight churches and pastored several others, including serving for five years as the associate pastor of what was then Australia's largest pentecostal church (the Adelaide Crusade Centre)
- for several years he was the editor of two of Australia's most successful charismatic/pentecostal journals
- he has been the principal of four Bible colleges (in Australia and the USA), has taught at Christ for the Nations (Dallas), Oral Roberts University (Tulsa), Youth With a Mission (Hawaii), and spoken at crusades, conferences, and seminars in Australia, the UK, the USA, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, and New Zealand
- he has the fully-earned degrees of Master of Religious Education (M.R.E.) and Doctor of Biblical Theology (Th.D), and for the past 25 years has been devoted to a ministry of writing and teaching, throughout Australia and overseas.
Ken is currently the director of Vision Christian College for Australasia. He is also the author of more than 40 books, including many college texts. In addition he has written large amounts of curriculum material, lecture notes, and scores of magazine articles. Although committed to the pentecostal movement, Ken has always been ecumenical rather than parochial, and he has often ministered in other denominational settings. Hence the students enrolled in one or other of the Vision Christian College programmes come from a wide array of churches and denominational backgrounds. In 2004, Ken and his wife Alison (who herself has a master's degree in Christian counselling, and is a sought-after speaker) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They have four children and seventeen grandchildren. Ken is also associated with the Internet Bible College . Dr. Stan DeKoven
Dr. Stan DeKoven -(D. Min., Ph.D.), is the President of Vision International University , with which VCC Australia is associated. Dr. DeKoven has doctorates in psychology and theology and is the author of many of Vision's textbooks on Christian ministry and counselling.
Stan has a diverse background in Education, Business, Military and Psychotherapy. He has pioneered two very successful businesses while consulting with others nationally and internationally. Stan has earned a Bachelors in Psychology from San Diego State University, a Masters in Counseling from Webster University, a Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology for the Professional School of Psychological Studies, and is completing his second Ph.D. in Leadership from Berne University. Dr. DeKoven holds credentials in School Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy, and clinical membership in many professional organizations. He specializes in Leadership development, and assisting executives achieve their potential in the marketplace. Stan is also the Director of CCC's West Coast office.
VCC is a product of the joint vision of these two men. In the providence of God, they first met (in 1986) in San Diego, California, where they discovered a kinship of call and purpose in the Lord, and merged their two ministries to form VCC.
The story began more than a decade earlier. In 1974 Ken Chant started the Launceston College of Theology (in Launceston, Tasmania), and simultaneously, Joseph Bohac and Stan DeKoven (in San Diego, California) began Logos Institute, a local-church training program in practical ministry and counselling.
Four years later Dr. Chant moved his school to Sydney (Australia), while in the USA Logos Institute continued as a counselling ministry and training centre, and Dr. DeKoven pursued personal studies in psychology and theology. More changes took place in 1982 - Dr. Chant moved to the United States, where he established his program in Minneapolis (Minnesota)
Dr. DeKoven returned to San Diego (having earned his doctorate), where he continued to expand the Logos program and in the same year, Dr. Randy Gurley (who is currently Chairman of the Board of Regents and Executive Vice-President of VIU began a teaching ministry that eventually merged with Vision.
Then in 1986 Dr. Chant brought his program to San Diego (California), where Vision Bible College was legally established as a non-profit corporation, and where two years later, in the providence of God, he met Dr. DeKoven. These two men found an immediate affinity in Christ, united their hearts and visions, and began the network of affiliated campuses that (barely a decade later) became established world-wide, with thousands of students.
Dr. Chant and his family returned to his native Australia in 1990, but prior to his leaving, Vision Bible College, under Dr. DeKoven's direction, had expanded to its present university status.
A site was purchased in the beautiful community of Ramona, California, where its world headquarters are still based. A local campus and a counselling centre are also located at this site. In 1992 the American College applied for and was granted full Institutional accreditation with the Accrediting Commission International of Schools, Colleges and Theological Seminaries.
In 1993 Vision Christian Ministries (USA) affiliated with St. Michael's Baptist Church and was renamed Vision Christian Church International, and California Christian College was renamed Vision International University.
In the meantime, in Australia, the College was re-named Vision Christian College, and its program has continued to flourish under Dr. Chant's leadership. We now have local church (Resource Centres) campuses established in many parts of Australia and New Zealand, plus several hundred students in both countries who are doing the course by correspondence.
Dr DeKoven has provided the entrepreneurial drive for the global expansion of VCC, and Dr Chant has provided much of the teaching material (especially in theology). But the educational philosophy under-girding the College, its international vision, its dynamic concepts, all stem from the work of the Holy Spirit in both men and in the team that works with them.
The Third Man, Rev. Denis Plant  Now the Principal and CEO of Vision Christian College began his role in Vision after creating the Internet Bible College, which is essentially the internet version of Vision Christian College Denis has enjoyed a teaching ministry for over 30 years.
He has established two Bible Colleges, one of which is now the denominational Bible College for the Foursquare Churches in Australia, and he has taught in several other bible colleges in Australia and around the world.
Denis has served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea where he was the last ex-patriate Principal at Lighthouse Bible College with the Foursquare Churches at Madang Papua New Guinea.
When he returned to Australia he arrived with a vision and determination to place a Bible College on the Internet. His familiarity with their material convinced him that, of all the material available, the material of Vision Christian College was the most suitable for this work
The Faculty - The International President of VIU is the Rev. Dr. Stan DeKoven (Ph.D, D.Min.), San Diego, California.
- The President of VCC in Australia is the Rev Dr. Ken Chant (M.R.E., Th.D);
- The Principal/CEO Internet Bible College is Pastor Denis Plant (Ph.D Christian Ed).
- The registrar of our External Studies program is Mrs. Patricia Hart. Ad.Di. Christian Ministry.
We also draw upon the skilled and diverse faculty attached to the American campus of Vision International University and Vision Christian College in Australia.
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