A Monday calling
New learning center to hold fundraiser at church
The fundraiser for the Avant Christian Learning center will feature the Waller Co. Band, a family whose music centers on faith, hope and values.
Students learn practical life skills while in community with one another during a summer session with the Avant Christian Learning Center.
Photo submitted to the Times Observer Students of the Avant Christian Learning Center are pictured. Students recently engaged in learning life skills such as shelter building as a culminating project, based off of the children’s book series “The Boxcar Children.” Using nature as a classroom, these local children built a teepee together during a recent summer session.
The fundraiser for the Avant Christian Learning center will feature the Waller Co. Band, a family whose music centers on faith, hope and values.
Students learn practical life skills while in community with one another during a summer session with the Avant Christian Learning Center.
Photo submitted to the Times Observer Students of the Avant Christian Learning Center are pictured. Students recently engaged in learning life skills such as shelter building as a culminating project, based off of the children’s book series “The Boxcar Children.” Using nature as a classroom, these local children built a teepee together during a recent summer session.
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A fundraiser for the new Avant Christian Learning Center will be at 4 p.m. Monday at the Youngsville First Methodist Church on 179 Davis St. in Youngsville.
Beginning at 4 p.m., food trucks, games and putt putt will be available. Multiple vacation auctions will be held in addition to prizes, gift baskets and a service led by The Waller Co. Band from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The Waller Co. Band is a family-rooted ensemble with John Waller, his wife Josee and three youngest children. John Waller, a Georgia native, first gained national attention as the front man of According to John, which was an active band in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, debuting with the song "The Blessing." Next, he launched a solo career with songs featured in films like "Fireproof," starring Kirk Cameron. Touring for nearly two decades, Waller stepped away to focus on his family in 2018. He and his wife raised 10 children together with one point going from five children to nine in one year due to the adoption of three.
Now, years later, unexpectedly, everything changed when Waller and his sons casually started to play music with him, a discovery for something completely new was found prompting them to write songs based on themes of family, marriage and parenting.
"Family has always been the most important thing to me," Waller said. "My dream in music always took me away from my family. I told God that I didn't want to do that again. Even when I do at some point step down, I want to be able to turn this over to them and let them continue Waller Co."
The 2007 song "While I'm Waiting" is John Waller's most famous worship anthem, which has over 33 million YouTube views and is now a staple in the family's live sets and worship gatherings. The band's latest release is "Jesus, I Still Believe," on July 3. It was made in collaboration with singer-songwriter Allan Scott, known for his moving song "Not Alone" from the original motion picture Just One More.
Waller shared the story behind their next song, not officially released yet, called "Daddy's Here." When youngest daughter Journee asked him if she'd see him as she got older, because as she put it, 'you're already old,' his response was that he'd try his best to stay for as long as he could but that if he wasn't around, he'd be with Jesus. What started out as an Instagram post describing his conversation with his daughter was then encouraged by co-writers to turn into a song.
"It's interesting because being 55 years old and having a seven year old has been kind of weird for me. It's been great, but she almost feels like a granddaughter cause I'm definitely old enough."
Discovering Journee's singing voice, the videos have gone viral, increasing the band's Instagram fans count from 7,000 to 50,000 and on Facebook from 70,000 to more than 200,000 on Facebook.
"God's doing something with that song. That's definitely unprecedented in my career ministry and it's just so much fun to be a family band in this season of life," Waller said.
The song is scheduled for an official release on Aug. 21.
Avant Christian Learning Center is a Christ-centered, nature-based learning community launching this fall and is serving families in Warren and Chautauqua County. Admission to Monday's fundraiser is free, but registration is appreciated and will include an entry to win a gift basket. For more information, check out Avant Christian Learning Center's Facebook page or webpage: https://avantclc.com/family-fun-night