White Rock 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 Hunt County, there's a congregation with deep roots and a story that's outlasted at least one good storm. White Rock Methodist Church.

It all began on November 25, 1880, when the Reverend J. T. Stanley gathered eleven charter members and formally organized the congregation.

Eleven people. Not a crowd, but enough. Enough to start something that would still be standing more than a century later.

For a while, they held services in the White Rock Schoolhouse, making do with what the community had, which is a very Texas way of going about things. Then in 1898, they raised up a proper wood frame church building of their own. That building stood as a symbol of what those eleven folks had set in motion.

And then 1907 rolled around, and a storm rolled with it. That wood frame structure was destroyed. Just like that, the building was gone.

But the congregation wasn't. They replaced it with a new building and kept right on going, which tells you something about the kind of people who made up this church. From the very beginning, missionary work was woven into the fabric of White Rock Methodist.

And in 1924, that commitment took an even more organized shape when a missionary society was formally formed. Membership held steady over the years. The church kept serving its community.

One storm, more than a century of Sundays, and still standing. Eleven people showed up in 1880, and the community never let that flame go out.

What the marker says

This congregation was formally organized on November 25, 1880, by the Rev. J. T. Stanley and eleven charter members. Services were held in the White Rock Schoolhouse until a church building was constructed in 1898. The wood frame structure was destroyed in a 1907 storm and was replaced by a new building. The congregation was active in missionary activities from the beginning, and a missionary society was formed in 1924. Membership has remained steady over the years, and the church continues to serve its community as it has for the past century.