As Charles Siburt battles cancer, friends and ministers mentored by him plan a day of prayer and fasting Friday, Feb. 3. Siburt, associate dean for ministry programs and services at Abilene Christian University in Texas, is a well-known leader among Churches of Christ.

The Abilene Christian University Press takes the concept of a “publishing house” pretty seriously. The university’s book publishing arm, active since the early ’80s, currently operates out of a converted residence on Campus Court. The living room functions as the reception area, the bedrooms as offices and the kitchen as … well, the kitchen, but one with a pantry stocked with printer paper. It may seem like a modest setup, but ACU Press and its Leafwood Publishers trade imprint have been on a recent upswing. This, in an industry that has struggled to keep pace with technological leaps, as bookstores shutter and larger publishers trim their staffs.

Anabel Reid’s boyfriend told an audience of nearly 1,400 mourning his fellow Abilene Christian University classmate of his love for a “totally righteous babe of the Lord.” Reid’s devotion to God was why Wann and a handful of other mourners from Broadway Church of Christ said they were happy knowing Reid was in heaven.

Lubbock Christian University students and faculty gathered Monday morning to remember Anabel Reid, the 19-year-old Abilene Christian University sophomore killed Friday in a bus crash. The 11 a.m. LCU chapel service included song and prayers of hope and healing to remember Reid, her loved ones and others affected by the Friday’s accident.

When an ACU shuttle bus veered into a ditch and crashed at an intersection near Ballinger, the students and faculty from the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences were heading south toward Medina Children’s Home, a campus 40 miles northwest of San Antonio, for their annual mission trip. Medina Children’s Home, part of the not-for-profit Christian care organization Arms of Hope, assists orphans, at-risk youth and single-mother families. After the accident, word traveled to Medina quickly.

Phil Schubert, president of Abilene Christian University, discusses Friday’s bus crash in the video message. “Our community is strong, but we are hurting,” Schubert says. “Please continue to lift these families up in your prayers.” ACU has created a special website to provide updates on the crash.

One person has died and several more were injured when an Abilene Christian University bus overturned near Paint Rock, Texas, on Nov. 4. Twelve students, three faculty members and the spouse of one faculty member were passengers, representing the university’s department of agricultural and environmental sciences. The group was en route to an annual service project for the Medina Children’s Home in Medina, Texas.

Enrollment again hit record and near-record levels this fall at some colleges and universities associated with Churches of Christ. Harding University in Searcy, Ark., posted an all-time high enrollment for the 25th consecutive year, eclipsing 7,000 students. Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., topped 4,000 students, marking a fifth straight year of record enrollment.

The McCoys and Shipleys, two families with deep roots in Churches of Christ, continue to provide talent for the University of Texas’ football team. Longhorns Jaxon Shipley and Case McCoy are the younger brothers of Jordan Shipley and Colt McCoy. The players’ fathers, Brad McCoy and Bob Shipley, were roommates and teammates at Abilene Christian University.

An official Texas historical marker was unveiled Friday at the original campus of the school that eventually became Abilene Christian University in Texas. It opened with 25 students on Sept. 11, 1906, as Childers Classical Institute, an elementary and secondary school.