by John Avant | May 19, 2021 | Presidents Column
Very soon it will be Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the church. My wife and I think a lot about birthday parties these days, because we have six grandchildren! There’s always one party just around the corner, and we’re always thinking about what our precious...
by John Avant | Feb 17, 2021 | Presidents Column
Beginning in 1872 and continuing for almost 100 years, every summer, people would thrill to the sight of the Yosemite Firefall. Each night, someone would build a fire at the top of Glacier Point and then push all the embers over the cliff as people below shouted, “Let...
by John Avant | Feb 3, 2021 | Presidents Column
Opportunity is my word for 2021. Now, it may not seem like the road ahead is paved with opportunity these days. We face unprecedented political division, violence, disunity, injustice, persecution, and pandemic. But did you know, Jesus specifically told us that every...
by John Avant | Jan 27, 2021 | Presidents Column
When the pandemic first began, I had high hopes for the American church. After all, the two periods of the most rapid growth of Christianity in history have been during and just after global pandemics! (Specifically, the Antonine plague of the second century and the...
by John Avant | Jan 7, 2021 | Presidents Column
After yesterday, there is a desperate need for Jesus followers to help others understand who Jesus ACTUALLY is, what it ACTUALLY means that He saves, and what the gospel ACTUALLY teaches and the actions it inspires. I cannot stress enough how important this is for the...
by John Avant | Nov 9, 2020 | God's Kingdom First, Presidents Column
There are times in these days when I feel kinship with a sad singer sitting on the banks of a Babylonian river asking, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4 ESV). These are uncertain, evil, and anxious times. But today God is sovereign,...
