Means Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Andrews County, the first church to ever take root in the whole county got its start in 1907. A circuit preacher by the name of F.

T. Pollard rode in and organized a congregation with just seven charter members. Seven souls.

That was the foundation. For years, that little group held their services in the local school, borrowing space where they could find it, making do the way West Texas people have always made do. Then came 1912, and something changed.

The congregation scraped together donations, member by member, and one gift stood out above the rest. A rancher named J. S.

Means gave generously, and with those funds they built a one-room church. One room. But here's what I love about that early structure: they opened the doors to all denominations.

Didn't matter what name you put on your faith, you were welcome to worship there. That's a rare thing, and worth remembering. Now, the story doesn't stay comfortable for long.

In 1944, the church, standing two blocks west and four blocks south of that marker on Main Street, burned. And just like that, the congregation found themselves back in the school again, right where they had started nearly four decades before. But they didn't stay down.

By 1946 they finished a new building. By 1955 they had an educational building to go with it. And then in 1957, they completed a modern sanctuary capable of seating seven hundred people.

Seven hundred. Started with seven members and a circuit preacher, and built something that could hold seven hundred. Andrews County's first church had come a long way from that borrowed schoolroom.

What the marker says

(First church in Andrews County). Organized in 1907 by circuit preacher F. T . Pollard and seven charter members. The group held services in local school until 1912, when a one-room church was built, financed by donations of members, including a generous gift from rancher J. S. Means. All denominations were allowed to worship in this early structure. In 1944 the church (located 2 blocks W, 4 blocks S. of here, on main St.) burned and members once again met in the school. Present building was finished in 1946; educational building in 1955; and the modern sanctuary, capable of seating 700, in 1957. (1968)