2010: The year in quotes
From heartwrenching natural disasters to inspirational faith journeys, The Christian Chronicle captured the news in Christians’ own words during 2010.
Here are the Chronicle staff’s favorite and most memorable quotes of the year:
“This place is broken.”
LAURA LEE, 7, resident of Son Light Children’s Home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
“If the New Orleans Saints can win the Super Bowl, then the church in New Orleans can grow.”
ERIC DISHONGH, Saints’ season-ticket holder and minister of the Hickory Knoll Church of Christ in Harahan, La., a New Orleans suburb.
“I’m sorry, but men just really don’t know what it’s like to be a girl, especially not a teenage girl.”
JANNA BETH HUNT, team member for RAVE Ministries, which focuses on issues of concern to teenage girls.
“We’re not in the condemning business. We’re in the saving business.”
PHIL SANDERS, a speaker for the “In Search of the Lord’s Way” television ministry, during an areawide
campaign and gospel meeting in Parkersburg, W.Va.
“I usually preach from a script. It would be nice if I could get a teleprompter like I have at the TV station.”
CHASE GALLIMORE, Texas minister and TV news anchor.
“These are kids that need that second chance. And I am the king of second chances. All of us are — Jesus died for all of our sins.”
JIM MORRIS, “The Rookie” and member of the Kerrville Church of Christ in Texas, on his work with Arms of Hope’s children’s home in Medina, Texas.
“I launched on June 15th, and so I haven’t had a shower since June 15th.”
DOUG WHEELOCK, International Space Station astronaut, joking about his months in space while addressing an Oklahoma Christian University chapel assembly from 250 miles above Earth.
“Kaden was the sunshine of everybody’s life.”
BILLY BLAKENEY, minister of the Foreman Church of Christ in Arkansas, on a 3-year-old boy killed along with his mother, Leslie Jez, 23, by a flash flood.
“You look for that extra grandma at church or those extra aunts and uncles that are going to help you raise your kids when your husband is gone and you need somebody else to give you a break.”
CINDY COLEMAN, wife of an Army soldier and member of the Lakeview Church of Christ in Tacoma, Wash., on the support her family receives when her husband deploys overseas.
“He’s the real deal. He’s one of those guys that I would always take our players to and say, ‘This is the way that you behave.’”
MIKE LANE, retired Northern Alabama baseball coach, on Washington Nationals slugger Josh Willingham, a member of the Cross Point Church of Christ in Florence, Ala.
“There’s certainly the disaster that goes beyond the disaster.”
STAN HELTON, minister of the Tammany Oaks Church of Christ in Mandeville, La., on challenges faced by New Orleans area congregations five years after Hurricane Katrina.
“If I’m busy, I don’t have a whole lot of time for foolishness.”
GARY SMITH, pulpit minister of the Fifth Ward Church of Christ in Houston, on Christians focusing on the Lord’s work.
“I learned about Jesus, God and the Bible. Praise be to the Lord.”
RURU, a Taiwanese student in Arkansas, on her experience with the “FriendSpeak” ministry.
“We used to spend a lot of time talking about bricks and mortar, paint and parking lots, but we decided to spend the majority of our time dealing with people, not things.”
CRAIG LONEY, elder of the Park Plaza Church of Christ in Tulsa, Okla., on the congregation’s growth.
“All of y’all are going to be wearing white one day, too. We just got a jumpstart.”
RODNEY, member of an inmate Church of Christ, referring to his white prison garb stamped with
“You never know how your life’s going to end up or where God’s going to put you.”
NORMAN CHEE ATCHISON, a Navajo Indian and housefather at Manuelito Navajo Children’s Home in
“It was just a magical evening.”
LUCRETIA McMICKEN, housemother at Christ’s Haven for Children in Keller, Texas, on the experience of three girls recognized before a Texas Rangers’ game.
“In Africa, the pew and the pulpit live in two different worlds — and we are all to blame.”
RONALD WASILWA, minister of the Kitale Church of Christ in Kenya, on the financial discrepancies between some U.S.-supported ministers and African church members.
“They have never let us walk alone. It is as though they’ve always known us.”
ABURIME EHIMARE, Nigerian church member, on the support his family received from the Northlake
“I don’t know if it was a personal favor to me, but it really has helped.”
LESTER HOLT, weekend co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” show, on the Manhattan Church of Christ moving the Sunday start time to 9:30 a.m., 30 minutes later than before.
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“I would rather teach Romans than eat when I’m hungry, and I love to eat.”
JIMMY ALLEN, retired Harding University Bible professor, best known for conducting hundreds of gospel meetings.
“This is more groceries than I’ve ever had in my cart in all my 58 years. It’s like a miracle from God.”
CARI THORNTON, member of the North Atlanta Church of Christ, quoting a woman named Carolyn who
“I hope we’re planting a mustard seed here, and that by bringing in people literally from all over the United States and from around the world, we will create a rich new understanding of a cappella music.”
DARRYL TIPPENS, co-convener of “The Ascending Voice II,” an international symposium of sacred a cappella music at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
“The violence is escalating and spreading. There is no way to exaggerate how bad things have gotten … and I have no idea how or when it will end.”
RICK OWENS, longtime American church builder in Mexico, on his decision to stop organizing U.S. mission groups south of the border.
“I do believe that when God closes one door, he’ll open another one for me. So I’m hoping there’s a job out there where I can still teach Bible to students and incorporate that into my classroom.”
JANICE DOUGLASS, longtime teacher at Aletheia Christian School in Newark, Del., on her outlook
“The Harpeth River flows through here in a serpentine fashion. Well, the snake bit us.”
STEVE BLACKMAN, pulpit minister of the Bellevue Church of Christ in Nashville, Tenn., on devastating
