President | Testimony | Family | Q&A | Photos
Dr. Paul Nyquist
On April 15, 2009, after an extensive nine-month presidential search, Dr. Paul Nyquist was unanimously appointed as the next president of the Moody Bible Institute by the Moody Board of Trustees. Nyquist officially began his tenure as Moody’s ninth president on June 1, 2009.
Nyquist, 55, brings 18 years of successful ministry experience to Moody. He served as president and CEO of Avant Ministries from 2001 to 2009. Before joining Avant, he served as senior pastor at First Federated Church in 
Des Moines, Iowa from 1996 to 2001, and Evangelical Bible Church in Omaha, Neb. from 1983 to 1996.
Nyquist has served as a member of the board of directors for Avant (formerly Gospel Missionary Union), Philadelphia Biblical University and CrossGlobal Link (formerly IFMA). He has taught as an adjunct professor at Grace University in Omaha, Neb. and Phoenix Seminary in Scottsdale, Ariz.
He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a bachelor of science in Architectural Studies in 1976. He received a Th.M. in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology in 1984 from Dallas Theological Seminary.
His first book, There Is No Time, was published in 2007. It is written as a missionary fable to help communicate the concept of short-cycle church planting, a new missionary philosophy being implemented by Avant Ministries.
He and his wife, Cheryl, have been married for more than 27 years and are the parents of four grown children, Natalie, Taylor, Carson and Sawyer. Two of their sons are currently students at Moody, and their daughter is an alumna from the class of 2005.