By LORETTA FULTON March is Women’s History Month, and women have been making history in religious circles perhaps longer than any other area. Some of those outstanding women will be highlighted in Spirit of Abilene during March. Special thanks goes to Tiffany Fink, a Hardin-Simmons University history professor who is a highlight herself, for making some suggestions. This first entry
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By LORETTA FULTON Many churches. ministries, and religious institutions are continuing with COVID-19 protocols, including wearing a mask, despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement that the statewide mask mandate will be lifted effective Wednesday, March 10. The governor’s order also allows restaurants to return to 100 percent seating capacity, effective March 10. Reactions to the governor’s announcement vary from “it’s too
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Editor’s Note: Rosten Callarman is the new executive director of ICAN (Interested Citizens of Abilene North). He replaces the Rev. Andrew Penns, director of Curtis House Cultural Center and pastor of Valley View Missionary Baptist Church. Callarman previously was housing navigator for Abilene Hope Haven By ROSTEN CALLARMAN Founded in 1994, Interested Citizens of Abilene North serves as the neighborhood
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS She looked like a regular university student, but she was carrying a background that made her unique and, to me, especially positive. She was a “missionary kid” and had spent most of her life in a country and lifestyle much different from mine. She told me that it had taken her several months after arriving back in
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON The sea’s gentle swells glistened momentarily, then once again fell dark as the moon appeared from behind the clouds and returned to darkness. The clock had just passed midnight breaking into a new day. It was July 30, 1945. Several hundred miles from the nearest shore in the Philippine Sea, the Portland Class Heavy Cruiser, the USS
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CURTIS HOUSE CULTURAL CENTER630 Washington St325-701-7804Facebook Instead of meeting in person for the 2020-2021 programming year, the Abilene Interfaith Council is presenting video interview with local religious figures or tours of local institutions. The latest is an interview with the Rev. Andrew Penns, pastor of Valley View Missionary Baptist Church. The setting is the Curtis House Cultural Center, which Penns
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON In the movie “City Slickers,” Mitch, a city boy, has a conversation with Curly, a rough-looking cowboy. The conversation goes: Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? Curly: [holds up one finger] This.Mitch: Your finger?Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that, and the rest don’t mean nothin’.Mitch: But, what is the “one
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK Many of us will talk about the hardships of the year 2020 for a long time. This year has indeed made life difficult for more than one reason. Even though 2021 has begun, I include the recent hardships of the deadly winter in the difficult year that began last March when the COVID pandemic began. I had
Read moreBy JIM NICHOLS If one tends toward a somewhat cynical view, transitions in life do not seem so significant as they do to others. Graduations, proms, weddings, and even funerals can be described as simply human concoctions that are trivial in their true importance. There is work to be done, decisions to be made, and thoughts to be considered—let us
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Spirit Of Abilene 