It was from a Bible Department faculty photo shoot. I had just come back from a Santa Fe Photo workshop in 1994 where I had taken a studio lighting class. I had a Speedotron Blackline pack with two lights. I remember setting this background up in the classroom across from the Bible offices and everyone came for photos.
I never took a Jimmy Allen bible class. I did always enjoy when he would preach at College Church. He and Neale Pryor would switch between who took the spring meeting and who took the fall meeting.
I remember taking a conditioning class with Coach Richmond in the spring of 1990 and we would run laps on the indoor track at the Ganus Athletic Center. Dr. Allen would usually be there playing basketball with the HSBS ( Harding School of Biblical Studies) students.
I loved running into him on campus. I remember seeing him at the post office and he was trying to convince Virginia Bradley that he got a preachers discount on postage. Once while going somewhere with Tom and one of the girls in the office I saw him leaving the post office and stopped abruptly holding out my arms and said alert, alert....dinasour spotted. Tom froze like something terrible was about to happen. Dr. Allen grabbed me and acted like he was roughing me up all the time talking about how tough I was running my mouth.
The above photo was from his retirement reception. It always struck me how he would call Dr. Ganus by his first name. There was no disrespect, they were next-door neighbors and friends for many years. Still, when I think about it I don't know many people who called Dr. Ganus, Cliff.
I get the same feelings when I accidentally call Dr. McLarty, Bruce. The McLartys moved to Searcy in 1991 to preach at College Church. That was the same year I started working for Harding. He was my preacher and I learned his name and appropriately called him by his first name. When he was announced as the next HU President following Dr.Burks, I remember thinking out loud in a meeting what we should call him and Mr. Crouch immediately said " you should call him Dr. McLarty." Still, Bruce slips out sometimes. This past Wednesday night at the Elders meeting Dr. McLarty was doing the devotional for the meeting. During the pre-meeting minutes as everyone was getting connected to the Zoom meeting, Dr. McLarty was talking about how the internet was down at his house and his office and he had finally gotten connected with his wife's phone. He then said something about putting us to sleep with his Devo and I piped in and said "Bruce, you have been putting the Montgomery kids to sleep at church for years." It slipped out, I called him Bruce. No offense was meant or taken but again there was that uncomfortable feeling of calling him Bruce.
This was the last photo I took of Jimmy Allen. It was during the 2014 Lectureship. He was given a Lifetime Preaching Award.
I would occasionally see him walking across the lawn where the Old Married or East Married apartments used to be. He was taking care of Mrs. Allen and he would just need a break to get out and walk. Anytime I saw him I would go and walk with him. He always had something on his mind or would tell me who he had talked to on the phone that day and about the work they were doing somewhere. Whenever we parted ways he would always stop and look me in the eye and say "Son, I know about the work you are doing in the jail. I am proud of you and I am praying for you." Those are words that have kept me going at times when things at the jail were hard.
I just pulled his book Re-Baptism off my shelf. I have never read it before and I decided this week would be a good time.
Another family memory for me was taking this photo of Mike Allen playing club football. It was in the fall of 1988. I was a freshman photographer working for Leslie Downs at the Petit Jean. I vividly remember getting this photo. Back in those days of manual focus, I was really happy to see that I got it in focus. I didn't have many photos in that yearbook but I sure was proud of this one.
Three Jimmy Allen Sermons from YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRTq2wB8vwA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuPwhtZDDZg&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-vkFCXTNqI&feature=youtu.be
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