Big Spring, Texas, Church of Christ, ca. 1935

Here is the meetinghouse of the Church of Christ in Big Spring, Texas, 1935, as it appeared during the ministry of Forrest R. Waldrop.

In my experience, interior photographs are rarer than exterior shots.  At least in the archival contexts in which I have worked contained far more snapshots of the church building than the inside.  Usually we do not think to photograph our most sacred places (unless a classroom wing is added or it was time for a new directory).

Interior views capture a sense of the space in which congregations met for worship, for instruction, for inspiration.  In these spaces they performed their most sacred rituals, read from their most sacred texts, oriented and reoriented their lives.  Worship, marriage ceremonies, funeral services, passing on their faith to their children and engaging and serving their neighbors: all of this and more occurred weekly at meetinghouses across the US and the globe.

How does the space in which you worship shape your worship?  How does your worship shape the space you create in which to assemble, or teach, or serve?

ACU_BigSpringsTX_interior_1935_Waldrop

ACU_BigSpringsTX_exterior_1935_Waldrop

This Just In: Glenn Earle McMillan Papers

A few weeks ago the family Dr. Glenn Earle McMillan deposited with Center for Restoration Studies the class notes, academic research, sermon notes and some memorabilia from Earle’s career as minister and teacher.  Shown here is a notebook he kept while a student at ACC; it contains notes he made in a course on the Greek Old Testament.

ACU_McMillan_Earle_Greeknotebook

Included are materials from congregations he served, outlines and manuscripts of sermons, and many files of notes he used in preparation for his teaching at Abilene Christian College.  The papers are in the processing pipeline.  When processing is complete a finding aid will be published and they will be available for unrestricted research.

This photo and sketch was published in Batsell Barrett Baxter and M. Norvel Young, eds. Preachers of Today, A Book of Biographical Sketches and Pictures of Living Gospel Preachers. vol. 2. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1959, pages 284-285:

ACU_McMillan_Earle_PreachersofToday.1

ACU_McMillan_Earle_PreachersofToday.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. McMillan died in Abilene on 14 October 2013.  Click here to read the obituary.