By LORETTA FULTON The only thing missing from the Feb. 27 meeting of the Abilene Association of Congregations was an altar call. Otherwise, it would have been “church,” not a “meeting.” The presentation by Dr. Kelvin J. Kelley, who was a church pastor before he was a professor, was that powerful. Kelley, associate professor of theology in Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon
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By LORETTA FULTON Ash Wednesday will be observed at several churches in Abilene, at all three universities, and even on the sidewalk next week. Leslie Dunlap, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, will be on the sidewalk in front of the church, 1202 S. Pioneer Drive, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 5:30 p.m. for “Drive-by Ashes.” Read
Read moreBy 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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