Meet our guest editor: Howard Norton

SHERWOOD, Ark. — ‘I really love the Chronicle. It was great fun.”

Howard and Jane Norton at the 1961 Brazil team reunion in Texas in 2021.

That’s how our friend Howard Norton described his 14.92 years at the helm of this publication. (That weird number will make sense in just a bit.) 

On his last day at a rehab hospital in the suburbs of Little Rock, Howard was kind enough to let us pay him a short visit. He was weak and a bit anemic. But he was in good spirits and looking forward to going home and seeing his wife, Jane.

I had just come from the small community of Huckabay, Texas, where the wonderful brothers and sisters at the Church of Christ had invited me to speak at their gospel meeting for a second year. In Dallas I met up with our stewardship officer, Alan Phillips, and drove northeast to meet church members and elders in Paris, Texas, and Texarkana, on the Texas-Arkansas state line. I suggested we check in on Howard while we were in the neighborhood.

Howard and Jane Norton, far right, sing with fellow members of the 1961 Brazil mission team and their children during the group’s 60th reunion in Arlington, Texas, in 2021.

I’m so glad we did. A little more than a month later, both Howard and Jane were with our Lord.

I met Howard less than two months after I started working for The Christian Chronicle in 2001. It was my first international trip for the newspaper — the Pan American Lectureship in Toluca, Mexico. There I learned about Howard’s great love for the people of Central and South America ­— and his passion to reach the lost around the globe.

Nicaraguan Christians pray at a Sunday worship service during the 2002 Pan American Lectureship in Managua. It was the second lectureship Erik Tryggestad attended.

I also learned what a hoot he was — especially when he was paired with his good friend Jim Frazier and their buddies, including Adrian DeLukie, Dan Coker and Gerald Paden. For me, the Lectureships were equal parts gospel meeting, evangelistic campaign and comic roast.  

Truitt Adair holds a copy of the first sermon he preached for the Kress Church of Christ in rural Texas more than a half-century ago. The title: “Why Have You Sent for Me?”

I remember Howard giving Truitt Adair, then president of Sunset International Bible Institute, a hard time on the way to Mexico. Truitt, due to his frequent flyer status, sat in business class. From the coach compartment, Howard and I watched Truitt slice into a steak while we opened our bags of pretzels.

“At least you could throw me a roll, brother!” Howard yelled.

On the return flight, when Truitt was again upgraded, he grabbed my arm as Howard and I walked back to coach. “The rolls are coming back!” he whispered. This was just after 9/11, and I was sure we’d get thrown off the plane for talking in code. 

Truitt made good on his promise. Howard got his roll. I’m pretty sure he gave me part of it.

Plenty of others will speak in the days to come of Howard’s skill as an orator, his passion as an evangelist and his compassion as a teacher and mentor. I’m most thankful for the masterful way he brought this publication back to life in the early 1980s when it came to Oklahoma Christian University. He wrote with authority, never fearing to take on the issues of the day, including the controversies of the Boston Movement.

Howard Norton speaks to an attendee at the Baxter Institute’s annual seminar in Tegucigalpa in 2011.

But we spent most of our brief visit at the rehab facility remembering all of the people who helped propel the Chronicle to where it is now. Howard recalled their names in an instant — Bailey McBride, Sue Johnston, Lindy Adams, Leon Tester, Glover Shipp and many more. 

Howard, because of your love for the Lord, his church and this ministry of information, we hereby name you guest editor of the November 2023 issue.

His only regret was that, for him, it all ended too soon.

“If I had been able to print one more copy, I would have had exactly 15 years with the Chronicle,” he said.

Let’s fix that right now. 

Howard, because of your love for the Lord, his church and this ministry of information, we hereby name you guest editor of the November 2023 issue. 

Congratulations on 15 years with The Christian Chronicle — and on a lifetime of servant leadership for the cause of Christ. — Erik Tryggestad, for the Editorial Board

Filed under: Brazilian missionaries Editorial Howard Norton Opinion The Christian Chronicle Top Stories