If you’re like me, you are wary about vision statements and long-range plans. They seem to come to fruition about as often as New Year’s resolutions. And they fail for many of the same reasons: People aren’t fully behind the statements, aren’t willing to sacrifice much for their success, don’t fully understand what’s required, don’t see a concrete plan behind the generalities, and don’t have leaders who live out the vision.

For me, then, it was refreshing to read the Geneva College article (p. 6) about how one Reformed document changed so much in that school. Here was a vision statement and long-range plan, of sorts, that had legs on it, and that has had an impact on the school and its students for several decades.

As a student at Geneva, I saw that Reformed perspective in action. I came to Geneva with little knowledge of its history, and no knowledge of the document, The Foundational Concepts of Christian Education, but I saw that Reformed perspective in every department. It was refreshing to see teachers who not only believed Christ in their hearts but could show us how that affected their educational discipline, from minute ways to major.

When I return to Geneva now, more than 25 years after graduating, I see even greater evidence that the Foundational Concepts are alive and thriving. I know that as a denomination with just one college, we tend to put the school under a microscope to look for things that need improvement. That can be helpful. But here is a forest-sized blessing that we ought not to forget.

•••

Speaking of the denomination’s educational institutions, another profound evidence of a vision achieved was seen in the RP Seminary’s 200th anniversary celebration. A speaker from outside the RPCNA remarked that he could scarcely imagine so many people from so many places coming to celebrate another seminary. Certainly, the focus of the evening (see article, p. 8) was in the right place, with God’s grace emphasized as the reason the seminary has remained true to its biblical goals, even through some very rough times and despite human faults along the way.

•••

We can take dominion of God’s earth in ways beyond the corporate and institutional, of course. The internet, and perhaps most particularly YouTube, have demonstrated the impact that one person can have very quickly. It’s inspiring when such media are used to glorify God. Such is the case with Sharon Sampson (p. 11), whose original camp song has blessed both new and veteran Reformed Presbyterians. That song has now gone viral on YouTube so that even more people can be blessed. A few years ago my oldest son was encouraged to put a video project on YouTube that he had created in school. No one could have anticipated that the video would be viewed nearly 300,000 times, nor the intense spiritual searching and discussions that would accompany it. Clearly, God chooses to bless the work of those who put legs on a biblical goal.