History

METHODIST HERITAGE IN BOERNE
We Learn From The Past - For The Future
This narrative will accent the high points of early Boerne and the beginning of the Boerne cloud of witnesses. (Hebrews 12:1. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Boerne Methodists have persevered and endured.

Just as many, including John and Charles Wesley, brought the Word to America, so others brought the Word to Texas. The Republic of Texas had won independence from Mexico. As a result of an earlier appeal from William B. Travis, three missionaries were sent from the Illinois Methodist Conference to Texas in 1837. They were Martin Ruter, Robert Alexander and Littleton Fowler. Others followed. The missionaries often had a large number of charges (missions) to tend. For the most part they rode horseback (some traveled in one- horse-drawn buggies). Those on horseback soon became known as circuit riders. A picture of a preacher with long overcoat, Bible in hand, riding his horse was associated with early Methodist circuit riders, who were so much a part of the early history of Methodism in Texas. With great commitment and personal sacrifice, these circuit riders rode the Texas terrain (from prairies, to mountains, to seashore), spending months away from their homes and families. They held worship services wherever they could -- in barns, saloons and in the shade of trees -- under conditions similar to those John Wesley endured. They, as John Wesley, believed that the Word of God must be carried to everyone everywhere.

While the Protestant preachers found many who were thirsting for the Word, they also found others who were hostile and bitterly opposed to their work. Similar feelings existed in Boerne, where churches were banned in the early years of the town's existence. A story about Andrew Jackson Potter, a large, robust preacher with a booming voice, follows: One time, in Boerne, a drunken man made a nuisance of himself in the company of some women, and in Potter's presence, pulling a gun on the preacher and taking his horse. Potter followed him and at the first opportunity--no officer being available--grappled with the man and bested him, using only his fists and a handy rock he picked up." One preacher in Boerne felt it necessary to carry a gun; another always had a gun on the pulpit to maintain order against the "rowdies."

The Methodist Church was organized in 1875 in Boerne with five members and reorganized in 1878 with twenty-nine members. Today there are 1,800 members.

We invite you to share with us the Joy of the opportunity and the place for all people to worship together and grow as Christians, to have fellowship, prayer very and Bible study, to learn, to teach our Children and others about the Good News.

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH - BOERNE
The Church's first sanctuary, built in 1879 by one carpenter and volunteer labor, was the 20 x 40 foot building. First located near the site of the present old Catholic Church on South Main Street, it was moved on rollers to this location on James Street in 1900, when the congregation had grown to 100. In 1920, the original 20 x 40 foot building, then over 40 years old, was expanded some 15 feet on the north. end and 6 feet on the south end, along with a bell tower and rooms for Sunday School Classes.

In 1960 a new Sanctuary was built with a seating capacity of some 150, which had to be expanded within a short period of time. This served the Congregation until the rapidly growing Boerne area and vastly increased membership and church attendance out grew this facility.

The present Sanctuary has a seating capacity of well over 500. It was started in 1992 and opened on Easter Sunday, 1993.

CLERGY IN BOERNE
The Methodist Episcopal Church - South
1861-70 TBS
1870-75 Andrew Jackson Potter**
1875-78 TBS
1878-79 Ichabod Kingsbury
1879-80 S. F. Chambers
1881-83 TBS
1883-86 Arthur E. Rector
1886-87 H. T. Harris (from Missouri)
1887-88 Wm M. Shockley
1888-89 J. W. Holt
1889-90 H. T. Cunningham
1890-92 J. W. Gibbens
1892-93 J. A. Wright
1893-95 V. G. Thomas
1895-98 S. C. Shaw
1898-99 W. A. Govett
1899-00 J. J. Rape
1900-01 J. B. Davis
1901-04 F. J. Perrin
1904-07 M. P. Morton
1907-09 R. E. Duke
1909-11 B. A. Myers
1911-12 J. L. Lawless
1912-15 Robert W. Fischer
1915-16 Harold W. Bennett
1916-23 R. S. Adair
1923-27 S. J. McLean
1927-28 John C. Cockrell
1928-29 Valentine L. Sherman
1929-30 J. D. Scott
1930-31 0. C. Haley
1931-32 C. E. Wheat
1932-36 Marcus Williamson
1936-37 J. W. Rowland
1937-38 S. S. Davis
1938-39 P. S. Connell

1939 - The Methodist Church
1939-41 P. S. Connell
1941-43 H. Ellis Thomas
1943-46 E. F. Kluck
1946-48 I. E. Walker
1948-52 Lee R. Geldmeier
1952-54 Asa F. Avant
1954-59 Albert R. Peterson
1959-62 J. Wesley Jones
1962-65 Orion N. Lewis
1965-68 John A. Fluth

1968 - The United Methodist Church
1968-74 Wayne A. Smith
1974-80 Claude Cagle
1980-83 James Wright
1983-83 Patrick Heath (interim)
1984-88 Shirley D. Hill
1988-95 David P. McNitzky, Senior Pastor
1988-89 Namiqa Shipman (Intern)
1989-91 Namiqa Shipman, Associate Pastor
1992-93 Jenna Hill (Intern)
1992-92 Dinah S. Shelley (Intern. 3 mo.)
1993-95 Jenna Hill, Associate Pastor
1994-94 Blair Thompson (Intern 3 months)
1995-96 Sue Wells (Intern 9 mo.)
1995-98 W. Howard Surber, Jr., Senior Pastor
1996-98 Blair Thompson, Associate Pastor
1996- Russell Miller, Deacon/Music
1998-02 David Edgar, Senior Pastor
1998-02 Linda Montgomery, Associate Pastor
2002-07 Barbara Galloway-Edgar, Senior Pastor
2002-03 Kyle Roerig (18 months)
2004-04 Larry Robbins, Associate Pastor (6 months)
2004- Conrad Archer, Associate Pastor
2006- Paul Evans, Associate Pastor
2007- Fred Martin