Editor’s Note: Jim Nichols wrote this piece for Spirit of Abilene just before Christmas 2019. The message is too good not to re-post for 2020. By JIM NICHOLS “No more let sin and sorrow grow,Nor thorns infest the ground;He comes to make His blessings flowFar as the curse is found.” Somewhere in town is an unknown clerk at a convenience
Read more
“The Year of COVID-19” won’t be celebrated by many people, but don’t discount the innovation and creativity that continues to pop up because of the pandemic. Spirit of Abilene would like to share the innovative and creative ways that congregations, or individuals, are coping with the chaos brought about by the coronavirus. What does your “Everyday Ministry” look like during this
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON Someday, Nathan Wright wants to put his math and science skills to work as either an aerospace or chemical engineer. For now, he’s perfectly happy using his muscles more than his brainpower to help others. Wright is one of 12 missionaries in Abilene serving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Wednesday, July 22, they
Read moreEditor’s Note: The following column was written by Dr. Lanny Hall when he was president of Howard Payne University. It was published in “College Faith,” a publication of Andrews Press in 2004. Its message is relevant today. Hall also is past president of Hardin-Simmons and Wayland Baptist universities. By DR. LANNY HALL My university years represented a time of searching
Read moreBy MARIANNE WOOD Ephesians 5:15-16 says “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. (NIV) The NKJ versions translates “make the most of every opportunity” as “redeeming the time.” Colossians 4:5 says “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Purple is a color I am generally neutral about, but it has taken decades for me to elevate it from negative status. I’m guessing it barely made the grade for inclusion in those tiny boxes of crayons used down to the very last smidge by Early School first-graders in 1944. Somebody claimed that it started
Read moreBy DAN R. STIVER As I watched television throughout the day Wednesday, January 6, riveted and horrified at the scenes unfolding before my eyes and the eyes of the world, I kept thinking that this was a 9/11 moment, one which will be remembered and whose scenes will be viewed by my grandchildren’s grandchildren. It did not have the same
Read moreParliament of the World’s Religions news release The trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions call on the Vice-President and the Cabinet of the United States to transmit to the President pro tempore of the United States Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unfit and therefore unable to discharge
Read moreThe Rev. Mitchell C. HescoxPresident/CEO of EEN The Rev. Kyle Meyaard-SchaapNational Organizer and Spokesperson of YECA The Evangelical Environmental Network and Young Evangelicals for Climate Action are calling for an end to the senseless violence and chaos at the United States Capitol today, and for President Trump to immediately cease the baseless claims of election fraud. In the fall, over
Read moreThe following statement was issued Jan. 7 by Stephanie Summers, CEO of the Center for Public Justice in Washington, D.C. Since November 3, 2020–Election Day–CPJ has published daily prayers for our nation, our government, and our communities. These prayers have been delivered by email, through social media and doubtless, some form of these prayers have been uttered aloud by each
Read morePEW RESEARCH CENTERAnna Schiller When it comes to religious affiliation, the 117th U.S. Congress looks similar to the previous Congress but quite different from Americans overall. While about a quarter (26%) of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – just one member of the new Congress (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.) identifies
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Uncle Mort, age 108, said he was ‘locked and loaded’ to give me an earful when he called recently. Reflecting on our lengthy conversation later, I decided he had unloaded at least two “earfuls,” rapidity at 250 words per minute, with gusts to 300. He had Olympic Games on his mind, but managed to include
Read more