Vance H. Havner

He was born in western North Carolina in a place called Jugtown on October 18th, 1901. He grew up with a wide variety of educational opportunities from his early days at the Hog Hill schoolhouse to his college years at Catawba College, Wake Forest University, and the Moody Bible Institute. He also benefited from the overnight visits of circuit riding preachers who stayed at his home during their trips to the local church. And yet, it was the young boy’s habit of going off to spend time alone in the woods that cemented his relationship to Christ and set him on a lifetime mission of sharing those experiences with the world.

During a preaching and writing ministry that spanned over seventy years and took him to major cities across America, he would always retain a special fondness for the quiet country ways of his youth. This southerner wrote over thirty-eight successful books, using his unique sense of humor to communicate God’s truth in everyday language. His warmth and delivery endeared him to a host of diverse groups and earned him national attention as a gifted wordsmith and popular conference speaker. He was truly a man blessed with the rare ability to turn a phrase that sticks in the head and the heart.

You may not recognize his name, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen one of his many observations posted on a church sign or printed in a bulletin. Although he passed away in 1986, his work lives on. Today many a preacher, speaker, or writer will open their work with what is called a “Havner-ism” to get their audience’s attention.

In today’s quote we pay tribute to the life’s work of Vance H. Havner who once said,”Some people are like wheelbarrows; useful only when pushed and very easily upset.” — Vance H. Havner