Carl Brecheen (1929–2019)

After earning his bachelor’s degree from ACU, he preached full time in New Blaine and Oil Trough, Arkansas, and Rhome and San Angelo, Texas, before moving to Abilene.

While Carl completed three graduate degrees – an M.A. and M.R.E. from Harding University in 1955 and 1956, and a D.R.E. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1965 – they added two daughters and a son to the family, all of whom graduated from ACU.
Starting in 1961 as an assistant professor of Bible and religious education, Brecheen retired from ACU in January 2007. For all of those 46 years he served as a professor of Bible and religious education, well known for his Family Relations course that packed Walling Lecture Hall every single semester until he moved to the Teague Lecture Hall in 1990 when the new Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building opened.

Brecheen’s broadest influence, however, began in 1974 when he partnered with his best friend and college roommate Dr. Paul Faulkner – now professor emeritus – taking their three-day Marriage Enrichment Seminar to more than 90,000 couples in 33 states and seven countries. Thousands more watched the Marriage Enrichment videos or read their book: What Every Family Needs: Whatever Happened to Mom, Dad & Kids?