Last week I have the honor to visit with Rubye and Carlton Morton of Henderson, TN. They have been married over seventy years and are both approaching 100. "Miss" Rubye went to Freed-Hardeman's grade school - 1-12 grades, graduate from Freed-Hardeman College, and then graduated from Union College in Jackson with top honors. She became registor at Freed-Hardeman in 1933.

During our visit, "Miss" Rubye reminded me of an article I wrote about them in 1989 when our daughter, Leah, was a student at Freed-Hardeman. Here is a reprint of the article.

Special People
To me a special person is someone who does good to others when they do not have to do so. Please allow me to mention two very special people I know.

The Henderson church of Christ urges its members to select a nearby Freed-Hardeman college student and "adopt" them as their own. They pay special attention to the student. They invite them into their homes. They take them out to eat. Occasionally they might even help them with their homework or laundry. They buy them birthday gifts. They listen to their problems. They offer some very good advice. They are parents to the college student when they are away from home.

I know that they are very special people because one lovely couple at Henderson has "taken our daughter in" and loved her as their own. They have been so good to our daughter and continue to be after her graduation.

It is difficult to find words that adequately express our feelings of gratitude to Carlton and Rubye Morton of Henderson. They are special people because they unselfishly allowed our daughter to enter their lives and they are so good to our Leah.

--- Tom L. Childers

Our grandson, Zach Johnson, is an eighth grader at Columbia Academy in Columbia, TN. When going out for football last year, he was weighed and his measurements taken. One year later, he went through the same process. In one year he had gained fifty pounds and grown seven inches in height. In one year, he passed his mother in height, caught his dad's height, and is within two inches of catching his grandfather.

When I first heard about Zach's growth spurt, I was amazed, but not really, because I knew he was really growing. I just did not know how much.

Would it not be great if the church could grow in number and spiritually the way teenagers grow? In the book of Acts we read about the church starting out with about three thousand members. They grew in number daily. For several months their growth is described as "multiplying" (Acts 6:1).

The growth of most churches in our part of the world is not sudden growth like Zach's physical growth. Even our spiritual growth as Christians is not usually in spurts, but it is slow, gradual, and day by day that is hard to detect. Regardless of the kind of growth, it needs to be there in the lives of each one of us. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).

The lectureship at FHU last week was very enjoyable. It was number 42 for me. We did not have ice or snow, but tornadoes. They missed Henderson, but the area of Union University in north Jackson was severely damaged. Fortunately, no lives were lost.

Monday, we had a great turn out for the Friends of the Restoration lectures. I participated on the panel discussion. There were speakers who told us about Roe Porter and songwriters of the restoration movement. David Lipe spoke at the luncheon which followed the lectures. He discussed his work with Thomas Warren and the debates he had with famous atheists like Anthony Flew.

For the seventh year, I operated the computer using PowerPoint and Bible software during the Open Forum moderated by Ralph Gilmore. Ralph had several hundred slides, but did not use them. I put the Bible references being discussed on the screen.

This was my 15th year to speak on Computers and Church Workers. I discussed PowerPoint on Tuesday. We had 63 in the class. On Wednesday, I discussed Logos Bible Software and Jeff Dove from the IT department at FHU spoke on Internet Safety. Thursday, the FHU archivist spoke on local church histories during my session.

Many of 15 students in the class I teach, Technology for Ministers, helped various guest speakers with their PowerPoint setup and presentations.

It was a very busy week but I visited with a lot of old friends and made some new friends. The gem of the week was when I was talking with J. A. Thornton from Booneville, MS. He has attended 71 of the 72 lectures. While eating lunch with brother Thornton, I asked him if he had ever heard of M. H. Armor who spoke on a lectureship in Henderson in 1892. He said he had and that he was named after brother Armor. The "A" in J. A. Thornton stands for Armor. Brother Armor preached in Mississippi for many years.

I meet a vendor who is from Gunter, TX and knows all my kinfolk who live out there. I learned about a service called "Call A Member." I hope to present it to the church Sunday and hopefully we can start using it.

While I was extremely busy last week, I came for the men's business meeting at Southside last Thursday night. I thought it was one of the most fruitful meetings we have had since I have been with the Southside church. And, we got out early! I appreciate the spirit of cooperation which prevails at Southside.