The Optimist
You are here: Home / Features

Ministry with a kick

by

A family walks into Free Kick Soccer, and Alvaro Dos Santos immediately stops assembling a set of light blue soccer uniforms to warmly greet them. He pops his smiling face out of the soccer supply store's office and asks how he can help. After excitedly presenting them with the uniforms they ordered, Alvaro unexpectedly throws in an extra discount ... [Read More…]

Da’Cipher This

by

"Big Mike" Prado is from East Los Angeles. Until recently, he was a fourth-generation member of the Maravilla gang, one of the oldest street gangs in the United States. He's been on drugs; he's been in prison; he's been shot at close range with an AK-47. This hulking but soft-spoken man has seen just about everything there is to see. And he lives ... [Read More…]

Releasing the Reins: Counseling Center offers a new kind of therapy

by

Attempting to move a large, powerful horse from one side of the arena to another can seem intimidating. Add to the challenge no touching or talking and some might call the task impossible. But then imagine completing this challenge: the sense of self-confidence, pride and accomplishment it creates is why some therapists are beginning to use "trusty ... [Read More…]

Homeward Found: Royce Money’s presidential vocation evolves from lifelong collegiate calling

by

In the fall of 1960, a tall, lanky freshman walked onto the Abilene Christian College campus as the first member of his family to attend college. Already, he knew his calling: He planned to preach. Royce Money graduated from ACC prepared to lead a church, and more than 30 years later, he returned to lead a university. The ACC Experience During ... [Read More…]

Healing Hands: Freshman capitalizes on gift for massage therapy

by

From the age of 11, Laura Kaminsky knew she was called to healing. Kaminsky, freshman psychology major from Houston, comes from a family she says has "strong hands," and a grandfather whose massage therapy skills were said to have cured headaches. "It's kind of the only thing I was born good at - it was a gift to have it," Kaminsky says. "People ... [Read More…]

Put a Little love in your art: Clinic doctor administers Gospel message with medical remedies

by

Dr. Ellen Little knows what it means to be called by God. As a medical missionary who has spent time on at least three continents, Little, physician and medical director of the ACU Medical Clinic, has spent years serving "the call." "I majored in premed and Spanish," Little says, "But I always had an interest in missions." Little went to medical ... [Read More…]

Abilene families conduct walk to raise Down syndrome awareness

by

Sadie Weaver's third pregnancy did not turn out as planned. As a mother to two nearly grown children, Sadie thought she knew what to expect. She knew as a woman grew older, so did her odds of bearing a child with a disorder. She knew tests could detect Down syndrome while the child was still in the womb. She knew the results of those tests would ... [Read More…]

Rescue the Animals: Shelter’s no-kill policy grants every cat and dog its day

by

It's not every day a band plays for a crowd only half human. However, local musicians Truth Unsold and Happy Fat did exactly that for a fundraising event conducted by Rescue the Animals on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, aptly named "Woofstock." Noise filled the Kent's Harley Davidson parking lot as people mingled, listening to live music, ... [Read More…]

You are here: Home / Features