DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about St. John's United Methodist Church, out there in Lubbock County. Now pull up a chair, because this one's got a bishop, a future governor, and a congregation that refused to be anything less than exactly where they needed to be.
Methodist Bishop Ivan Lee Holt made the original announcement — St. John's would sit one mile south of campus, close enough to serve the faculty and students of Texas Technological College, but maybe not quite close enough to suit everybody. And sure enough, it didn't suit Sallie Maud Horn.
Now, Sallie Maud was the widow of Paul W. Horn, the first president of Texas Tech, and when she encouraged those Methodist faculty members to petition for a site closer to campus, well, the bishop listened. The bishop agreed, and the search began for a temporary place just to get the thing started.
Here's where the story takes a turn worth savoring. Preston Smith — charter member of this new church, and a man who would one day be Governor of Texas — was approached about lending the Tech Theater, a motion picture theater, for worship services. So the congregation that hadn't yet found its permanent home borrowed a movie house, and the Reverend R.
Luther Kirk, appointed to lead what folks called 'the church that was not,' held the first service right there in that theater on December 10, 1939. They met in the Tech Theater, and occasionally over in Seaman Hall, the Episcopal Student Center, until September 15, 1940, when services were finally held in a brand new church building at 14th and Avenue X. That should've been the end of the growing pains — but St.
John's kept on growing. By 1952 the congregation needed more room again, and a new sanctuary went up on University Avenue. From there, the story becomes one of those quiet, steady kinds of heroism that doesn't always make headlines but matters more than most things that do.
In the 1950s and 60s, St. John's helped migrant workers with child care at the Migrant Day Center. Through the 1960s and 70s, they were making health kits and running health screening clinics for the community.
Mission trips. Benevolence programs. And since the 1970s, the St.
John's and St. Paul's Benevolence Program has kept its eye fixed on one simple, urgent mission — feeding the hungry. The marker calls it a 'loving energy,' and you get the sense that's exactly right.
A congregation born in a movie theater, nudged into being by a widow's persistence and a future governor's generosity, carrying a slogan of 'Open Hearts, Open Arms, Open Minds' — and meaning every word of it. That's St. John's United Methodist Church.
Started as the church that was not, and turned into something that very much is.
What the marker says
Established in 1939, St. John's was at first announced by Methodist Bishop Ivan Lee Holt to be located one mile south of campus to serve faculty and students of Texas Technological College. Several methodist faculty members, encouraged by Sallie Maud Horn, widow of Texas Tech’s first president Paul W. Horn, petitioned for a site, closer to campus. The bishop agreed and work began to find a temporary site for church gatherings. Preston Smith, a charter member of the new church and later Governor of Texas, was approached about lending the Tech Theater, a motion picture theater, for worship services. The Rev. R. Luther Kirk was appointed to lead "the church that was not," and the first service was held at the theater on December 10, 1939. St. John's continued to meet in the Tech Theater or occasionally in Seaman Hall, the Episcopal Student Center, until September 15, 1940, when services were first held in the new church building at 14th and Avenue X. Soon after, the congregation required more space and a new sanctuary was built in 1952 on University Avenue. With a slogan of "Open Hearts, Open Arms, Open Minds," St. John's has been a congregation with a tremendous sense of civic responsibility and deep concern for those in need. Activities and Programs have included assisting migrant workers in the 1950s and 60s with child care at the Migrant Day Center, making health kits, providing health screening clinics for the community in the 1960s and 70s, and numerous mission trips. Since the 1970s, the St. John's/St. Paul's Benevolence Program has focused on feeding the hungry. Imbued with a "loving energy," St. John's will continue to meet challenges with a spiritual and social conscience.