Saturday, September 20, 1997

Outfront

SOUTHERN GOSPEL CELEBRATION

A "Spectacular Southern Gospel Music Celebration" is going on at the Abilene Civic Center through Sunday.

The public concerts, which started Friday night, are presented by the Southern Gospel Music Association of Texas. This is the association's 25th annual convention and will feature more than 40 gospel music artists from Texas and neighboring states.

Abilene's own group "Big Country Boys" is the local host. Concert times are 6 tonight and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Cost is $5 per person. Children under 12 will be admitted free of charge.

FESTIVAL OF FAITH

First Central Presbyterian Church, 400 Orange, will feature Dr. Howard Edington as special speaker in a Fall Festival of Faith Sunday and Monday.

"Tales with a Twist" is the theme of sessions that will be held at the church:

- "Jesus and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" on Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.

- "Sometimes Our Worst Day Can Be Our Best Day" at 7 p.m. Sunday.

- "The Great Two-Handed Engine" at 11:45 a.m.

- "It's Better to be 'Called Up' than 'Called Down' " at 7 p.m. Monday.

Edington is pastor of the 5,000 member First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, Fla. This church is one of the fastest growing churches in the United States.

A box lunch will be served at the Monday midday session. Cost is $4. Call 677-3501 for reservations.

AN INTERFAITH JOURNEY

A 10-week course on five major world religions is being held at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander, Wednesday evenings through Nov. 19.

A pot luck supper is served at 6 p.m. in the parish hall, and the 45-minute classes begin at 6:45. Rev. Rosemary P. Thomas, associate rector, is leading the sessions.

Two classes will be devoted to each of the five religions - Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Thomas will present an overview of the religion on the first class night. The second Wednesday will feature a guest speaker or video.

Guest speaker Wednesday will be Dr. Philip LeMasters, associate professor of religion at McMurry University. He will speak on Christianity from the Reformation through today.

On Oct. 1 sessions on Islam will begin. Call Thomas at 677-2091 for more information.

EARLY DOCUMENTS ONLINE

It seems odd to think of the "Writings of the Apostolic Fathers" floating through cyberspace, but they are there along with numerous other historic writings on the Institute for Christian Leadership's website. Such historic documents as the Confessions of St. Augustine and the early creeds are among the many listings under "Guide to Early Church Documents."

'Computing Today," the online version of Christianity Today, calls the site the "virtual catacombs" where documents that were written on scrolls now appear in hypertext markup language.

http://iclnet.org/pub/resources/christian-history.html