By LORETTA FULTON Halloween is barely a memory and Thanksgiving is on the horizon, but it’s not too soon to start planning for Christmas, specifically Operation Christmas Child. National collection week is Nov. 18-25, which means Sunday School classes, organizations and individuals don’t have much time to start filling either cardboard or plastic shoeboxes with Christmas goodies to send to children
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By LORETTA FULTON The first trip to Africa made such an impression on 12-year-old Molly McCoy that she vowed to her parents she would return, even if it meant going without them. She wasn’t kidding. Molly, the daughter of James and Debbie McCoy, made 10 more trips with a group of Abilenians who travel to Zambia each summer on a
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK Did you know you can actually look up colors related to causes and find a long list of color symbols? Wikipedia has a list of awareness months and days. Anything that anyone has ever cared about appears on one list or another because we all have our pet peeves, projects, and passions. Something I would like to
Read moreIDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury We called prized possessions “gen-u-wine” back in the day. That’s not the correct spelling, of course, but when the word fell from our lips, we emphasized each syllable to make sure hearers clearly understood that our claims were 100 percent true. “Genuine” back then was about as far away from “fake” as the east
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS I do not like the idea. I prefer to think and believe that my current self is the result of something within me. I prefer to believe that, as a child, I had a rather central future that, though I did not know about it in detail, simply unfolded as I grew older. Thus, as an adult,
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON Today, I walked out back, a cup of coffee in hand, and took inventory of what I saw. From the back I can see several hundred yards in many different directions. I see the creek as it meanders a short way then empties into a long thin manmade lake. There are patches of finely manicured lawn, cut
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By LORETTA FULTON Walk into the sanctuary of the sprawling church property on North Pioneer Drive and expect to be confused. The large sign outside reads Elmcrest Baptist Church. The white steeple atop the red brick building screams “traditional.” That’s exactly the same response Rey Sandoval had when he first took a look at the property as a possible place to
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By LORETTA FULTON As the first-ever scholar-in-residence at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, Sarah Ruden didn’t waste any time being scholarly. She brought books from her home in Connecticut to study, a book she is writing to work on, and materials to prepare for lectures and Bible studies. Oh, and she did some learning, too, about Abilene people,
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By LORETTA FULTON A new seven-bedroom house will someday be built on Vine Street, not far from where a similar house now stands. The new house, just like the current one, will be special. Right now, BCFS operates Our House on Vine Street, a home for up to five young men ages 18-22, who live with a supervisor to help
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