Vision Colleges - Who Are We?
Who Is Vision Colleges and what do they offer? Vision Colleges is the umbrella covering for the ministry of Vision Christian College, Vision International Colleges, the Internet Bible College, Vision International University and the Texas University of Theology.
Through the internet, we bring easier access to our flexible learning programmes to reach nations and people previously unreachable. Now students, once denied the opportunity to study the word of God, are enabled with our regular students – with the Vision Internet Bible College.
After little more than thirty years since its foundation, Vision Christian College now ministers to over 150,000 students through our ministry arms in over 145 nations worldwide, through more than 8000 churches, denominations and para-church ministries who use Vision Colleges as one of their preferred colleges.
Additionally, there are thousands of unregistered students through 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.
The Remarkable Growth Of Vision Colleges
It began with two men with a vision. Dr Ken Chant and Dr Stan DeKoven
In 1974 Ken Chant started the Launceston College of Theology (in Launceston, Tasmania). Simultaneously, Joseph Bohac and Stan DeKoven (in San Diego, California) began Logos Institute, a local-church training program in practical ministry and counselling. In the providence of God, they first met (in 1986) in San Diego, California, where they discovered a kinship of ant call and purpose in the Lord and merged their two ministries to form VCC.
Four years later, Dr Chant moved his school to Sydney (Australia) while in the U.S.A. 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. In the same year, Dr Randy Gurleys, the current Chairman of the Board of Regents and Executive Vice-President of V.I.U., 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. 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 worldwide, 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 (U.S.A.) 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 renamed 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 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). 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 teams that work with them.
Others have contributed and have made an enormous impact on the growth and development of the ministry.
Rev. Dr Ken Chant O.A.M. M.R.E. Th.D
Founder and President - Vision Christian College, Vision International College and the Internet Bible College. Member, Board of Directors - Vision International University (USA)
Rev. Dr Ken Chant O.A.M. (M.R.E. Th.D) is the founder and President of Vision Christian College, Vision International College and the Internet Bible College. He is also a member of the International Board of Directors for Vision International University (U.S.A.). Ken has been married to Alison, his bride, for over 60 years, and both are still active in ministry.
Dr Ken began his ministry in 1952 as an assistant pastor in two Baptist churches in Adelaide. Ken was ordained a Pastor in the C.R.C. Churches International in Melbourne in 1954. He has been actively involved in Christian ministry for 68 years.
A 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
- in 1974, in Launceston, Tasmania, he founded Vision Christian College as a Bible correspondence school, which has since expanded to a local-church based college, with more than 5000 campuses and 100,000 students in 150 countries
- he has been the principal of four Bible colleges (in Australia and the U.S.A.), 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 U.K., the U.S.A., Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Greece, and New Zealand
- he has the fully-earned degrees of Master of Religious Education (M.R.E.) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, with a theology major).
- For the past 30 years, he has been devoted to a writing and teaching ministry throughout Australia 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. He is the composer of several choruses that have been published in various collections, notably Fill My Eyes and Be Glad Ye Sons of Zion.
Although committed to the Pentecostal movement, Ken has always been ecumenical rather than parochial, and he has often ministered in other denominational settings than the C.R.C. Students enrolled in one or another of Vision College programs come from a wide array of churches and denominational backgrounds.
Ken and his wife Alison (who herself has a master’s degree in Christian counselling and is a sought-after speaker) celebrated more than 60 wedding anniversaries. They have four children and twenty-one grandchildren.
On June 9th, 2014, Dr Chant was listed as having received a Medal in the Order of Australia (O.A.M.), General Division, in the Queen’s Honours List
Dr Stan DeKoven
International President of Vision International University and founder/President of the International Training and Education Network
Dr Stan DeKoven is the international President of Vision International University and founder/President of the International Training and Education Network. Vision/ITEN specializes in establishing and supporting local, church-based Bible Colleges and distant educational programs. Through their unique “Bible College in a Box” system, they presently serve more than 4000 Resource Centers in over 150 countries and over 150,000 students through its affiliated ministries.
Rev. Dr Denis Plant
C.E.O./Principal of Vision Christian College, Vision International College, Founder - Internet Bible College
Rev. Dr Denis is the C.E.O./Principal of Vision Christian College, Vision International College, and the Internet Bible College founder. He is also the Senior Pastor of The Word Christian Fellowship, a church he pioneered in Minto N.S.W. He is happily married to Rosalind, a dedicated coronary care nursing sister who has served faithfully alongside him.
Denis has enjoyed a teaching ministry for over 40 years. Moving up through the ranks of the local church, he became a pastor with the Foursquare Churches in Australia and later pioneered several churches in N.S.W.
He taught in several Bible colleges in Australia and around the world and has established two Bible Colleges, one of which is now the denominational Bible College for the Foursquare Churches in Australia.
With his wife, Rosalind Denis served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea, where he was the last expatriate Principal at Lighthouse Bible College with the Foursquare Churches at Madang.
Dr John Delgado
President of Vision International University Florida, now the Texas University of Theology (TXUT)
Rev. Dr John Delgado runs the Hispanic wing of Vision International University is the President of Vision International University Florida, now the Texas University of Theology (TXUT). This is one of the two universities that Vision Colleges works with to offer Degrees to Vision students in Australia. Dr John has dedicated his life to the ministry for over 45 years and is recognized internationally as a conference speaker and teacher to Pastors and Christian Leaders.
He is the President of the Texas University of Theology, a Christ-centered learning institution designed to equip students with a degree in theological studies and Christian counselling. TXUT offers Christian degree programs in advanced biblical studies and Christian counselling. The University is designed to help individuals enhance their effectiveness in vocational ministry, Christian service, and divine calling.