By Loretta Fulton Aldersgate is the latest United Methodist Church congregation in Abilene to leave that denomination and join the new Global Methodist Church. With that decision by Aldersgate members, Abilene is down to two United Methodist Church congregations. Only St. Paul and St. James remain in the United Methodist Church fold as other local congregations are moving to the
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON Aldersgate United Methodist Church has moved up its date to vote on disaffiliation to 6 p.m. Nov. 10. Originally, the church was set to vote sometime in 2023, according to Dustin Wilhite, pastor. At stake is whether to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church and join the new conservative branch of Methodism called Global Methodist Church or
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON The United Methodist Church is united no more. A number of local congregations have voted to disaffiliate with the UMC and join the new Global Methodist Church. That trend is expected to continue in Abilene and across the Northwest Texas Annual Conference, a regional jurisdiction. For those who have voted to disaffiliate, the change takes effect Jan.
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON Methodists are used to change, but no one could have predicted the big change that is coming in July. And, it will be welcomed news to all who were touched by the ministry of Felicia Hopkins when she served as senior pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church from 2013 to 2019. Hopkins will be returning to
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON COVID-19 has turned the world upside down, creating havoc, shutting down schools, churches and some businesses, and leaving everyone wondering when “social distancing” will disappear from our vocabulary. One thing it hasn’t been able to do is stifle creativity. Nowhere is that more evident than in the children’s and youth departments at local churches. Sunday School teachers
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON Downtown Abilene was eerily quiet Sunday morning as parking lots at St. Paul United Methodist, First Central Presbyterian, and First Baptist churches were practically empty. That doesn’t mean nothing was happening inside. St. Paul and First Baptist broadcast services live as usual, although with no congregations, and First Central Presbyterian aired via Facebook. Sunday morning was challenging.
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON Both Steve Brooks and Amy Wilson Feltz are gone from Abilene’s Aldersgate United Methodist Church but Sunday, they were on the minds of many in the pews. Brooks is pastor of First UMC in Midland and Feltz is pastor of St. Paul’s UMC in El Paso, both near sites of unthinkable violence just weeks apart. On Aug. 3, a gunman
Read more
By AMY WILSON FELTZ My family and I moved to El Paso six weeks ago to serve at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. St. Paul’s — and my house — are located about a mile from the Walmart where the mass shooting took place on Saturday, Aug. 3. Since that day, several people in our new church community have expressed
Read more
By LORETTA FULTON The call came to Dustin Wilhite at 3 a.m. He was in the cabin of a cruise ship while touring Alaska. It wasn’t the phone ringing. And it wasn’t an emergency. But it was urgent. It was God calling Wilhite to become a pastor. It took three commands from the Almighty for Wilhite to get it. “Pastor
Read more
Spirit Of Abilene 