DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth telling right. Now, Rising Star, Texas — back in 1879 — wasn't much more than a handful of folks and a whole lot of open country. Sparsely settled, the marker calls it.
But a schoolteacher named James Irby looked out at that thin-scattered community and decided something needed to take root. So he organized a congregation. Right there in 1879.
For the very first service, they called on the Reverend L.S. Chamberlain, who came in from Sipe Springs to lead the gathering. And the gathering itself?
James Irby. His wife Sallie. And a man named Dennis Bond.
Three people. In a small log building east of what would become the present town. Now that's a humble beginning — but then again, most things worth lasting start that way.
For years the congregation moved around, worshiping at several locations, finding its footing. Then 1888 arrived, and so did a woman named Lucy L. Anderson.
A member of the church herself, she donated a plot of ground — right at the present site — and a small frame structure went up. That little building served the fellowship through worship services and Sunday school classes for nearly forty years. Nearly forty years.
Let that settle. In 1903, the Reverend D.A. McGuire was appointed to serve the First Methodist Church of Rising Star, and he became the fellowship's first full-time pastor.
The congregation had come a long way from three people in a log cabin. Then 1920 rolled in, and with it — oil. The boom hit, new members poured into the church, and suddenly those nearly-forty-year-old walls weren't going to cut it anymore.
So they built. The current church building was completed in 1926, during the pastorate of the Reverend Fizer M. Noe.
What had started as a schoolteacher's idea in a sparse little community now had a proper house to call home. More than one hundred years of service and leadership — that's what the marker credits to the First United Methodist Church of Rising Star. Christian education, mission work, and from among its own members: a number of ministers and missionaries sent out into the world.
James Irby planted something in 1879. Turned out, it grew.
What the marker says
First United Methodist Church of Rising Star Rising Star was only a sparsely settled community when schoolteacher James Irby organized this congregation in 1879. The Rev. L.S. Chamberlain of Sipe Springs led the first service, which was attended by Irby, his wife Sallie, and Dennis Bond, in a small log building east of the present town. The congregation worshiped at several locations before 1888, when member Lucy L. Anderson donated a plot of ground for the building of a small frame structure at the present site, where the church held worship services and Sunday school classes for nearly forty years. In 1903 the Rev. D.A. McGuire was appointed to serve the First Methodist Church of Rising Star and became the fellowship's first full-time pastor. The 1920 oil boom brought new members into the church, resulting in the need for larger facilities. The current church building was completed in 1926 during the pastorate of the Rev. Fizer M. Noe. For more than one hundred years, the First United Methodist Church of Rising Star has provided the community with significant service and leadership. Its emphasis on Christian education and mission work has produced a number of ministers and missionaries from among its members. (1984)