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KANSAS CITY, Dec. 4 /Christian
Newswire/ -- After much prayer and an extensive six-month search, Avant
Ministries International Board of Directors announced the unanimous appointment
of Dr. Jack Elwood as their choice for president/CEO. Dr. Elwood, a former
international missionary to Taiwan, will take office on January 11, 2010.
Elwood's passion for ministry was a key to his selection. "I was carried away by
his passionate heartbeat for Christ and for people around the world who need
Him," said Avant board member Ross Drown.
Elwood noted, "I am deeply humbled and profoundly honored to join a mission with
such a vibrant past and an even brighter future. I will seek to honor the Lord
and the great men and women of faith who have come before me. I will seek also
to raise up the next generation of leaders for the harvest so that one day soon
there will be a living church for all peoples."
Dr. Elwood brings over 25 years of ministry experience to Avant. He began his
ministry with the Navigators in Taiwan, serving 14 years as a field missionary.
He spent the following 15 years in pastoral roles in churches in California,
Virginia, and Colorado. Most recently, he has worked in the Washington, D.C.
area with the Washington Area Coalition of Men's Ministries. The National
Coalition of Men's Ministry selected him as Pastor of the Year for 2007.
"Jack is a proven and visionary leader, an exceptionally gifted communicator
with a contagious sense of humor. Above all, he is a faithful and capable
servant of Jesus Christ," said Steve Holley, executive pastor of Immanuel Bible
Church in Springfield, Va. "I am convinced that he will prayerfully lead Avant
into a new and exciting season of advancing the gospel of Christ throughout the
world."
Dr. Elwood holds degrees from Point Loma College in San Diego, California and
William Carey International University in Pasadena, California, and earned a
Doctor of Missiology from Biola University in La Mirada, California.
Dr. Elwood and his wife Joan have been married for more than 30 years and have
four adult children and three grandchildren.
Founded in 1892, Avant Ministries is one of the oldest
missionary sending agencies in North America. Avant is a non-denominational
ministry that recruits, equips, supports and serves missionaries in over twenty
countries globally.
Avant exists to plant vibrant, mature, reproducing churches where the church
does not exist. The goal of Avant is to produce a biblical, mature, reproducing
church in as short a time as possible, trusting God to achieve amazing results
beyond imagination.