DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Wallis Methodist Church, out in Austin County, Texas. Now, a church's birthday can be a complicated thing. You might think it starts the day somebody stakes out the land, or the Sunday the first hymn gets sung.
But the Wallis Methodist Church has its own answer to that question, and they've thought about it pretty carefully. The land itself was deeded in 1890. A man named M.L.H.
Harry handed it over to a set of church trustees: F.D. Brant, D.H. Harris, N.P.
Ward, W.T. Brown, and M.L.H. Harry himself.
Yes, he was both the man givin' and one of the men receivin'. The purpose was plain: the formation of a Methodist church in Wallis. The first pastor, A.S.
Blackwood, was already serving by 1891, two years before the church would claim its own founding. He stayed in that role through 1893. And 1893 is the year the congregation chose to call its beginning.
Not the land deed. Not the first sermon. The founding date they hold to is the year a loan was taken out for a new sanctuary.
That's the stake in the ground, so to speak. Fast forward to October 1993, and the Wallis United Methodist Church celebrated its one hundredth anniversary. A hundred years from that loan, that commitment, that moment a congregation decided to build something that would last.
And last it has. The congregation supports mission work, stays active in many programs, and continues to serve as an integral part of the Wallis community. Some foundations, it turns out, hold just fine.
What the marker says
Land was deeded in 1890 by M.L.H. Harry to church trustees F.D. Brant, D.H. Harris, N.P. Ward, W.T. Brown, and M.L.H. Harry for the formation of a Methodist church in Wallis. The church considers 1893, when a loan was taken out for a new sanctuary as its founding date. The first pastor was A.S. Blackwood who served from 1891 to 1893. The Wallis United Methodist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary in October 1993. The congregation supports mission work, is active in many programs, and continues to serve as an integral part of the Wallis community. (1996)