Art Ally, founder of the Timothy Plan and pioneer of Biblically Responsible Investing, has a pretty incredible story that few people know about. I’m his daughter, and I’d like to share it with you.
12
Nov
2018
11
Apr
2019
Talk about a turnaround. Last year, the Virginia men’s basketball team made history with an ignominious upset loss in the NCAA tournament.
It was a different story Monday night (April 8). When the Cavaliers won the nationally televised championship game over Texas Tech, they gave their coach the opportunity to reach a massive audience with an explicitly Christian message of redemption.
When the buzzer went off Monday, Virginia head coach Tony Bennett lowered his head and prayed, “Thank you. I’m humbled, Lord.”
The Cavaliers prevailed by 85-77 in the overtime win over the Red Raiders after a last-second victory in the semifinal round against Auburn the previous Saturday.
“I think there was a bigger plan going on here,” Bennett said in a post-game press conference, according to FoxNews.com. “I wasn’t needed but I was used in it, and I hope that it’s a message for some people that there can be hope and joy in resiliency, and I’m thankful for what happened.”
“This is a great story,” Bennett said, adding that he played the song “Hills and Valleys” by Christian artist Tauren Wells.
“It just means that you’re never alone in the hills or the valleys,” Bennett said. “And we faced those from last year to this year. But the credit goes to these young men, and I can’t wait to celebrate with my wife and my kids and my parents. And I do want to thank the Lord and my Savior.”
A Shocking Loss in 2018
Last season, with a 31-3 season record, Virginia became the first No. 1 seed in the men’s NCAA Division I tournament in history to lose to a No. 16 seed in the first round. Favored by 21 points, the Cavaliers instead were shocked by the unheralded University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers (24-10) with a final score of 74 to 54.
It was a soul-jarring loss for Bennett and his team. Afterward, Bennett quoted Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
On Monday, it was morning again for Virginia’s team and fans.
Bennett was the second major college sports coach this year to give praise to God following a championship.
On Jan. 7, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney credited the Lord after his team beat Alabama for the NCAA Division I football championship.
“Only God can do this,” Swinney said after kissing the championship trophy.
Swinney, who has called Christianity the foundation of his life, said in a post-game interview that, “All the credit, all the glory, goes to the Good Lord. Well, that’s been my word all year… For me, personally, joy comes from focusing on Jesus, others, then yourself.”
In the NCAA Final Four 2019 basketball tourney, the semifinal game two days prior to the championship game had dramatically different endings for Virginia and opponent Auburn.
As the clock ran down, the Auburn Tigers thought they had won, 62-60, and began celebrating. But an official called a very obvious foul that sent Virginia’s Kyle Guy to the free throw line. Guy, named Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four, ignored the pressure and drained three straight baskets with 0.6 seconds left to give the Cavaliers a 63-62 victory.
Virginia’s coach Bennett says he prays individually for each player and operates the program on five pillars he learned from his father, Dick Bennett, a retired college basketball coach. The pillars are: humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness.
In 2014, he told the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, “It’s my hope that they’ll be able to find the truth in their lives that has really transformed my life. But I realize they’re all on a journey, and I certainly try to be respectful of that.”
4
Apr
2019
RICHMOND – On a perfect, cloudless spring day, thousands of pro-life protestors marched around Virginia’s state capitol building on Wednesday in protest of a bill that would allow abortion up to the moment of birth, and remarks by Gov. Ralph Northam in support of legal infanticide.
It was the largest pro-life march since the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, which attracted hundreds of thousands of marchers.
The Washington Post, which gave some coverage to the national march in January and more coverage of the pro-abortion Women’s March on January 19, devoted only six paragraphs on the Richmond event buried in an article on a different topic, plus two photos.
One photo was of the crowd on the
If there were any counter-protesters, I did not see them, and I walked the entire march route, along with my daughter. She was holding her five-month-old baby son as I pushed a stroller with two more of
A marching band of drummers and bagpipers provided lively music all the way around the Capitol’s march route. Many demonstrators pushed strollers, and people of all ages participated, with a heavy contingent from Liberty University.
Some of the signs carried by the pro-life marchers referred to Gov. Ralph Northam. A pediatric neurologist, Gov. Northam, a Democrat, shocked many on Jan. 30 by endorsing infanticide during a radio interview.
He was discussing a late-term abortion bill (which later failed) that would have gone further than the New York State law signed on Jan. 22 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that legalized abortion right up to the baby’s due date.
Mr. Northam, elected in 2017, said a baby born with health complications could live or die based on what the mother and doctors decided.
“If a mother is in labor…the infant would be delivered,” Northam explained. “The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.”
Speakers at the rally preceding the march included Melissa Ohden, survivor of a saline infusion abortion; Ryan Bomberger, founder of The Radiance Foundation; Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life; Felicia Pricenor, associate director of the Virginia Catholic Conference; Olivia Gans Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, and Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation.
After the pro-life march, Dr. Alveda King, Bishop Vincent Mathews, SCLC of Virginia, Douglass Leadership Institute, Reverend Dean Nelson of Watchmen Pastors, and other faith leaders prayed at the governor’s mansion under the slogan, “Racism and Infanticide have no place in the Commonwealth of Virginia.” They implored God “to heal our land.”
25
Feb
2019
The growth of evangelical Christianity in America in the latter half of the 20th Century prompted the rise of many Christian-oriented institutions, including those in the financial sector. From Larry Burkett’s founding of a Christian financial ministry in 1976 to Art Ally’s launching of the Timothy Plan in 1994, the Faith-Based Investing / Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) world grew fast – and is still expanding.
5
Feb
2019
The growth of evangelical Christianity in America in the latter half of the 20th Century prompted the rise of many Christian-oriented institutions, including those in the financial sector. From Larry Burkett’s founding of a Christian financial ministry in 1976 to Art Ally’s launching of the Timothy Plan in 1994, the Faith-Based Investing / Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) world grew fast – and is still expanding.
31
Jan
2019
Virginia’s governor has come out in favor of allowing newborn babies to die if the mother and doctors want it that way.
Ralph Northam, who himself is a pediatric neurologist, shocked many on Wednesday morning (Jan. 30) when he endorsed infanticide during a radio interview on a Washington-area station.
30
Jan
2019
Since the beginning, God has given humanity the gift of dominance over all living things, but also a responsibility to be good stewards of His creation. Therefore, we owe it to our Maker to use our money wisely. We should do nothing to hinder His Kingdom and instead advance it. We should not hurt people by investing in ventures that promote or traffic in sin.
18
Jan
2019
WASHINGTON D.C. (January 18, 2019) — Under cloudy, drizzly skies and with temperatures in the 30s, the 46th annual March for Life turned the nation’s capital into America’s pro-life capital.
7
Jan
2019
Using moral discernment when investing money is not new; it can be traced to Jewish moral responsibility under the Torah more than 1,000 years before Christ. Christian leaders such as Martin Luther and John Wesley also urged congregants to invest morally. During the 20th Century, the concept was embraced by various causes, from environmentalism to ending apartheid in South Africa.
15
Oct
2018
King David is the writer of this Psalm, which was literally designed to be sung in the context of “public worship”. Those who would sing this song in public worship knew that this song was birthed out of a difficult experience for David – for the writer of this Psalm knew trouble. The writer of this Psalm knew great trails and great tribulation. But his response to what he has gone through is, “I waited patiently for the Lord”. Read More