by John Avant | Feb 27, 2024 | Presidents Column
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV). “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor...
by John Avant | Jan 30, 2024 | Presidents Column
“Goodness, unless deeply rooted, diminishes with age” (François Fénelon). I have thought a lot about that quote as we move into the new year. It’s from a rather obscure theologian who lived more than 300 years ago, but it speaks right into my soul today. One of the...
by John Avant | Dec 29, 2023 | Presidents Column
More than twenty years ago, our little Boston terrier died at Christmas time. I grieved so much. And then I got the flu. It was not looking like a very good Christmas. I was lying there in my living room, sick, when Donna said that someone had come by to visit. I was...
by John Avant | Nov 30, 2023 | Presidents Column
“I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV). Don’t you love that verse? I sure do. But it’s shocking to realize that the one who heard these words from the Lord had...
by John Avant | Oct 30, 2023 | Church Leadership, Disciples, Personal Growth, Presidents Column, Say Yes to God
I sometimes think that my second greatest enemy in the spiritual battles I fight is me. Of course, my greatest enemy is the same attacker we see in Genesis 3 in the first spiritual battle of history. What was his strategy? To persuade Eve and then Adam to pursue...
by John Avant | Sep 25, 2023 | God's Kingdom First, Men's Content, Presidents Column, Say Yes to God, Six Responses to God
I have been sharing about each of Life Action’s six responses to God that prepare us for revival. So far we’ve looked at five: Humility, Honesty, Repentance, Forgiveness, Obedience. Today we look at the sixth response: Kingdom-First Living “Seek first his kingdom and...
