IDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury Brits have long been viewed as folks who seem bent on probing details of “whys” on many topics, some of them unlikely. Maybe it’s because they’ve been around a long time. Like the Farmers Insurance commercial, they “know a thing or two because they’ve seen a thing or two.” Many of them reach “lathered
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By LORETTA FULTON It didn’t take David Lofton long to reach a conclusion. “I think it’s pretty good,” he said, “and the cobbler’s excellent.” Lofton is warden of the Middleton Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, located just north of Abilene. On May 16 and 17, Lofton and his close to 500-member correctional and support staff were treated
Read moreDr. Travis Frampton, longtime religion professor and administrator at Hardin-Simmons University, has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Schreiner University in Kerrville. Frampton, who has been at Hardin-Simmons 19 years, currently serves as vice president for university mission and strategic vision at HSU. According to a news release from Hardin-Simmons, Frampton has held numerous positions, including professor
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By LORETTA FULTON Larry Wolz will celebrate 50 years in church music, 38 of them at First Central Presbyterian Church, with an organ recital at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the church, 400 Orange St. A reception will follow. The program, titled, “Fifty Years on the Organ Bench,” will include pieces by various composers, including one composition by Wolz,
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By LORETTA FULTON The numbers are startling-1.2 million orphans in Zimbabwe, accouting for 10 percent of the population. It sounds hopeless, but the people who operate Harvest Family Village near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, don’t see it that way. They see those numbers an opportunity. So do volunteers who travel great distances to help them. Among those volunteers is Robin Cunningham, a
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By LORETTA FULTON Scroll through a list of the top-paying career fields for 2019 college graduates and you won’t see the word “ministry.” Most likely, anyone entering a ministry field will have to be on staff of a large institution for a very long time to reach even the lowest level of pay for those top-paying careers. Left to
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By LORETTA FULTON Seventy-one years after preaching his first sermon, Jack Ridlehoover is stepping down–but not from everything. He’s just giving up his regular meetings with fellow pastors at the Abilene-Callahan Baptist Association office. For now, at least, he will continue his Minister’s Mentoring and Consulting Service. At his final session on May 6, Ridlehoover, 88, offered some words of
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By DANNY MINTON In what seems to be the middle of nowhere stamped on a weathered concrete structure are the words “Abandoned in Place.” It means leave it like it is. It is all that remains of a vast multi-million-dollar tower. Standing in front of the sign printed in simple letters on the side of the structure, one can’t help
Read moreIDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury A minister friend–aware of ever-growing complications and mounting tonnage at the trough of trivia–often used the expression from the pulpit, in staff meetings and in conversation. He felt strongly about “keeping the main thing the main thing.” It was a serious challenge made so often that friends often referred to him as the “main
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Spirit Of Abilene 