This Week in Texas Methodist History October 24 Southwest Texas Conference Hosts Essentialist Preacher, Harold Paul Sloan, October 22-26, 1941 As formerly MEC and MECS members learned about each other in the aftermath of the 1939 merger, it became quite popular for formerly MECS churches in Texas to invite conference preachers who had formerly been in the MEC. In October 1941 the Southwest Texas Conference, meeting at Travis Park Church in San Antonio, invited Harold Paul Sloan (1881-1961) to be the conference preacher. Sloan was well known to many of the preachers because of his editorship of the most influential regional edition of the Advocate, the New York Christian Advocate. Sloan was also one of the most influential voices in Methodism fighting against Modernism in the Fundamentalist-Modernist debates. While a member of the New Jersey Conference, he organized the League of Faith and Life the main anti-modernist force in the MEC. Sloan served as the League President and publicist. At least 10 years earlier in 1915, Sloan had led a movement to require the 1916 General Conference to remove books with modernist tendencies from the Course of Study reading list. His failure at the 1916 General Conference only heightened his resolve, and drove him further into the world of church politics. He was elected a delegate to the 1920 General Conference and also to subsequent ones. In the 1920s the League turned its attention from the Course of Study books to seminary professors and campaigned for a conservative orthodoxy to be required in Methodist seminaries. From its headquarters in Philadelphia, Sloan published a magazine eventually called Essentialist. The pages of that magazine were filled with criticism of liberal bishops such as Francis McConnell, Edwin Hughes, and Edgar Blake. Although Sloan was MEC, several MECS bishops including Horace DuBose, Warren Candler, and Collins Denny, and some followers dreamed of a new denomination uniting norther and southern conservative Methodists. Sloan preached five times at Travis Park and remained a major force in Methodism. He is buried in New Jersey.

This Week in Texas Methodist History October 17, 2021 Polk Street Methodist in Amarillo Dedicates Church Building (Finally) October 21, 1943 In Methodist tradition a new church building is consecrated for service when construction is complete, and the building is usable. When the construction debt is paid, the building is then dedicated. Unfortunately all too often years pass between the two ceremonies. Such was the case with the premier Methodist church of the northern Panhandle, Polk Street Methodist. Polk Street had built a new church in 1928 at a cost of $499,000. You know what happened next. The stock market collapsed the next year ushering in the Great Depression. Natural disaster in the form of the Dust Bowl then hit the Panhandle. Agricultural receipts from both farms and ranches in the Panhandle plummeted. The collapse of the agricultural economy rippled through banks, implement companies, repair shops, and also churches. Polk Street Methodist struggled to pay off its construction debt, some of which was borrowed at 8% interest. When Rev. Earl Hamlett arrived in 1940, he found the church still owed $54,000. As the Depression worsened, some lenders scaled back payments to whatever the churches could pay, since no bank wanted to foreclose on a church. Some banks even forgave a portion of the debt. Polk Street struggled, but managed to pay off the debt without such measures, and on October 1, 1943, made the last payment on the debt. Bishop Ivan Holt came to Polk Street on October 21, 1943 to dedicate the building---finally.

This Week in Texas Methodist History Octobe 10 World War II Shortages Force Shortened Annual Conference October `1942 Shortages of rubber, nylon, gasoline, and fuels during World War II are well known. Readers of this blog will know about ration cards, meatless Mondays, and other attempts to save food and materiel for the war effort. Did you ever think that a shortage of hotel rooms also occurred? World War II put millions of people in motion and produced shortages in both transportation and accommodations. Some travelers were en route to new assignments. Others were living in temporary quarters while on special assignment such as procuring real estate for new military bases or factories. In October 1942 Bishop A. Frank Smith announced that the next two conferences over which he would preside, the Texas and the Southwest Texas would be shortened because hotel rooms were not available in San Antonio or Houston on the weekend. Annual Conference typically convened on Sunday night and continued through the next week, but not in October 1942 in those two conferences. Instead they would convene on Monday and adjourn on Friday freeing up hotel rooms for the weekend. The abbreviated annual conference was self-inflicted. Only a few years earlier, annual conference was held at various sites around the conference, and most members and delegates stayed in private residences. In the mid-1930s, though Jesse Jones, Houston’s most prominent businessman, made an offer to the Texas Annual Conference. His offer----hold annual conference in Houston every year, and I will offer a rate of $1.00 per night at my Lamar Hotel, just a few blocks from the conference site, First Methodist Houston. The conference took him up and the tradition of moving conference around to various cities and staying in private residences was broken--- When World War II created a huge demand for hotel rooms, Bishop Smith had to adjust.

This Week in Texas Methodist History October 3, 2021 Kenneth Pope Starts Six Week Sermon Series, “What I Saw in Europe,” Ocotober 1945 The pastor of First Methodist Church Austin, Kenneth Pope (1901-1989) was chosen to be part of a committee to evaluate the status of churches in German immediately after the end of World War II. Pope later became pastor of First Methodist Church Houston and was elected bishop from that position. He first served the Arkansas Area and then the Dallas/Fort Worth Area. When he returned from Europe in the autumn of 1945, he was inundated with questions about his experiences. During World War II American Methodists heard only snippets of information about the churches of Germany so they were naturally interested. Pope decided to write up his experiences and use them in a series of six sermons to be delivered on Sunday nights. The first of the six part series was printed in the Oct. 4 Southwestern Advocate. The tour began in London, so the scenes of desolation became obvious before Pope even got to continental Europe. His roué allowed him to see Normandy, including St. Lo and Caen, two of sites well known to Americans due to the Normandy invasion. In addition to the destruction of buildings, Pope commented on the state of rail transportation, So much had been destroyed that the rail companies had to use dilapidated rolling stock. Ins spite of the destruction Pope commented on the optimistic spirit of the people—even the Germans. Many Germans and other nationalities were trying to get home/ At the time there was even a name for such refugees—displaced persons or DP’s. On every road Pope travelled, he saw desperate people on foot, cart, or bicycle trying to get home. He commented on the state of religion. Pope was very optimistic about a revival or religion in Germany. Some of the most serious opposition to the fascist regime had come from Christians. The general attitude toward churches was therefore enhanced. To be continued.