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In a whirlwind four-day visit to Avondale College's Lake Macquarie campus this past week, Dr John Mark Reynolds from Biola University (La Mirada, California, USA) took a series of seven meetings in classrooms and the college church. Dr Reynolds is a philosopher (and founder of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola) who has a strong desire to see the evidences for Christianity promoted more strongly.

If you were to look for a theme among his presentations, it would be that in tertiary institutions and the Christian life there needs to be a combination of the "head, heart and hand."

He was particularly critical of universities that were so focused on pushing out technicians or people with knowledge and skills in narrow fields. They were not developing well-rounded people, he said. At colloquium, Dr Mark Reynolds called for Avondale to use a holistic approach in its educational training-to educate for the head, heart and hand. In this way, while "you may be small, you can be great," he said of the college.

During his time on campus, Dr Mark Reynolds lectured in two classrooms, spoke at colloquium on Thursday, preached at 7.28 on Friday and at the worship service in the church on Saturday, and presented two lectures, at 9.30 am and 3 pm, in Ladies Chapel, also on Saturday.

He demonstrated his interest in the biblical flood and beauty as evidences for God, in his meetings in the chapel.

He believes that even if the earth is scarred-for instance, the Grand Canyon-we can still recognise its beauty. With there being no logical or scientific reason for an appreciation or recognition of beauty, he suggests this is a gift from God.

On Friday evening, he used film (he teaches the philosophy of film), particularly Johnny Depp's The pirates of the caribbean, to show how bad behaviour is now seen as making a person more interesting, even if it is unrealistic.

He also pointed out the visual media of today are leading people to confuse what is actually real. This is shown in how we live our lives and how we treat others. He called for a reality check.

During the worship service, he emphasised the text that says we should love the Lord with all our heart, our mind and our soul. Using John 1, he spoke of the Word (Jesus) being a revelation of God.

Dr Reynolds was visiting with his wife, Hope, and was sponsored to Avondale and travelled with Dr Bernard Branstater, a retired anaestheologist from Loma Linda (California, USA). He is a member of the Primitive Adventists, a group that grew out of the Advent Movement of the 1840s-the same roots of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.