DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI CITATION

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Did you hear the one about the preacher who became a lawyer? Probably not, because as far as I know, Dr. Allen Isbell is the only one who has done it.

Allen is a long time friend of Charlotte and me. We were pleased to see that he and his wife, Mikey were awarded a Distinguished Alumni Citation from Abilene Christian University. Allen, Charlotte and I were students at Lawton High School in Lawton, Oklahoma. Later, Allen and I were at Abilene Christian at the same time. Allen and his roommate had the room next to me and my roommate but they spent as much time in our room as they did in theirs. I have a lot of great memories from those days. After graduation I went to California to preach and two years later Allen went to Carlsbad, New Mexico. That was in the days of evangelistic meetings and I went to Carlsbad and preached in two meetings. We exchanged church bulletins for years while Allen was preaching full time. In 1973 he earned a J.D. from the University of Houston. But he never stopped preaching. For thirty years he has preached for the Broadway Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. Because Allen does not draw a salary from preaching, and because Broadway's building is paid for, the congregation is able to devote 52 percent of its budget to missions and benevolence.

Congratulations to two dear friends. It’s a great honor to receive the Distinguished Alumni Citation from a great university.