By LORETTA FULTON East coast, West coast, Texas coast and points in between, Mike Cope has been there since leaving the pulpit at Highland Church of Christ in 2009. But listen a little closer to his life story the past 10 years and something becomes obvious. “We’ve never left Abilene,” Cope said. Read Loretta Fulton‘s complete story in the Abilene
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By LORETTA FULTON United Methodists voted Feb. 26 in St. Louis to maintain the current wording in the church’s Book of Discipline concerning human sexuality issues. The denomination’s Council of Bishops, including Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe of the Northwest Texas Annual Conference, voted in May 2018 to support a plan that would have been more inclusive. That plan, and one
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THE IDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury One was nationally renowned, known for the spoken word–the other, for words written down. The former was radio newsman Paul Harvey; the latter–as eloquent in print as Harvey was on the airways–was William Arthur Ward. They were genuine to the core. During these days when too much is called “fake news,” these
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By LESLIE STRADER The book of Joshua begins with a somber reminder that Israel’s beloved leader, Moses, was dead. But hopefully so was the rebellious, faithless way of living displayed by previous generations of the children of Israel. Because of their unbelief (Num. 14:2-4), they had wandered 40 years in the wilderness, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s judgment against
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By LORETTA FULTON During March, which is Women’s History Month, Spirit of Abilene will feature posts from contributors about women of spiritual influence in the Bible, in their personal lives, and from history. Below is a story I wrote for the Abilene Reporter-News for Women’s History Month in 2016. It is about a woman who was a giant in the
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By DANNY MINTON I’m a big Dallas Cowboy fan. I have been since Eddie LeBaron was a quarterback and as a junior high football player, I could get end zone tickets for 50 cents each at the Cotton Bowl. At halftime, we’d move on over to the 30-yard line since Dallas didn’t always draw big crowds in 1960. I was
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By LORETTA FULTON On Feb. 11, President Trump was in El Paso to rally support for a wall separating Mexico and the United States. On Feb. 22, Anyra Cano, a native of El Paso, spoke about bridges, specifically one that she fondly recalls traveling over every week to visit with her father’s relatives in Juarez. Trumps speech was political; Cano’s
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Hebrews 4: 9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. By LORETTA FULTON Normally, Friday and Saturday are days off
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By LORETTA FULTON “Don’t believe the lies,” Hardin-Simmons University President Eric Bruntmyer said during the Texas Baptist Women in Ministry Conference held Feb. 22 at HSU’s Logsdon Seminary. The lies he referred to are about the role of women in society and in ministry, specifically in Baptist ministry. If Ellen Di Giosia had listened to the lies, she wouldn’t be
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