Our Story

On Sunday, March 15, 2024, the last day to fulfil the requirements to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church, thirteen members of First Methodist Church gathered in the parlor and unanimously voted to follow Jesus and begin a period of discernment. On April 14, those members again voted to follow Jesus and disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church.

On Friday, August 16, two friends exchanged texts about the sad news that Williams Memorial United Methodist Church voted by an ultra slim margin not to disaffiliate, which displaced many of its members. One friend, a member of First Methodist, offered an open-ended invitation for the displaced members to use First Methodist in any way they saw fit. The Williams member said “This sounds perfect! We are meeting at Ironwood Grill this Sunday, and I’ll let you know what we decide.”

On Sunday, August 18, the group of displaced members met at Ironwood Grill and made the decision to follow Jesus. That same morning at 10:52 a.m. (during church) those same friends exchanged a text; the text said, “Can we come look at the church tomorrow?” The members of First Methodist Church stopped their worship service and prayed.  

Over the next few weeks, First Methodist Church experienced ups and downs. There was no full time minister. A small, but faithful group of the displaced members joined the group at First Methodist and went to work building a church. On Sunday, December 15, the Dewolfe/Waldrep family invited their former pastor, Greg Morgan, to officiate their son Cal’s Baptism and deliver a message. Little did this growing church know, they had found their new pastor.  

The next day, on December 16, a call was made to Greg Morgan, who had no intentions of returning to Texarkana, and he said yes; he decided to follow Jesus. On Wednesday, December 18, Eric Cain called a special meeting of the church council to approve Greg’s salary, even though the church didn’t have the money to pay his salary; they decided to follow Jesus anyways. More members joined, and the church council purchased ten acres of undeveloped land on Summerhill Road with the intention of building a new facility.  

On Christmas Eve, 220 people attended a candlelight service in a church that only months before had thirteen members. On February 2, 2025, Pastor Greg Morgan led his first service at First Methodist Church, and over 150 members joined that day. The church continued to grow, and on Easter Sunday, there were over 400 people in attendance. Many young families joined the church, and the board decided to hire a Children’s Minister and was blessed with the addition of Sarah Hall. However, the current church location was not suitable for hosting Wednesday night children’s programs. God provided as Pleasant Grove ISD allowed the church to use the old elementary school for the children’s program. On July 16, we hosted the first Kid’s Camp, and had 74 children in attendance.  

During this time, Northside Assembly of God decided to sell their building on 5801 Summerhill Road. This was directly beside the ten acres of land that the church purchased in December. The opportunity would allow First Methodist to own 25 total acres on Summerhill Road and a 43,000 square foot facility. Once again, the church decided to follow Jesus, and on October 31, the church closed on the new property, and then held its first service on November 9, making the current building the fifth iteration of First Methodist Church.