Avant Ministries and Echo Ranch Bible Camp:

Who or what is Avant? They have been part of Echo Ranch from the beginning.

Avant Ministries was founded back in 1892 and was originally known as Gospel Missionary Union. GMU was dedicated to planting and developing churches around the world. GMU was one of the first evangelical missions organization to plant churches in Ecuador. In fact, Roger Youderian of the martyrs presented in the movie End of the Spear was a member of GMU. The connection with GMU and Alaska took place in the 1940s and ‘50s when they began church planting in the Southeast region of the state. Some GMU missionaries met Allen and Catherine McMurchie, who were homesteading on a piece of land adjacent to Echo Cove. Sensing a call from God, the McMurchies decided to donate the land where Echo Ranch is located to GMU for the purpose of creating a Bible camp. That’s where the story of Echo Ranch Bible Camp begins.

In 2004, GMU changed their name to Avant Ministries in an effort to broaden the range of where they could plant churches.

Full-time Echo Ranch staff members are Avant missionaries. They have all completed multiple training courses at Avant headquarters to prepare them for life as missionaries and working within a team. Echo Ranch missionaries fundraise their financial needs according to a budget set by Avant. Funds are sent to Avant and then dispersed to missionaries as salary, housing allowance, etc.

Avant also provides a lot of oversight for Echo Ranch, helping to recruit long-term and short-term staff, arrange fundraising projects, oversee long-term development, ensure team health, and so on. For example, when Echo Ranch needs to build a new facility or purchase a multi-thousand-dollar piece of equipment, Avant communicates to possible donors and helps raise the money to meet the need. Since ERBC’s first summer camp in 1964, Echo Ranch has partnered with churches that GMU planted back in the ‘50s. In this way, Echo Ranch gets to help continue the work of sharing Christ in Southeast Alaska that GMU missionaries began many years ago.

That’s the most important connection between Avant and Echo Ranch: their shared desire to see lives changed through the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Both groups will continue to innovate ways to reach out in love to all people in an ever-changing world.


For more information about Avant Ministries, call 1-800-468-1892 or visit www.AvantMinistries.org