Bayou Scie United Methodist Church History, Sabine Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Don Russell
             don_g_russell@hotmail.com

"Home Cooking Secrets of Bayou Scie United Methodist Church",
compiled by Bedell Taylor, undated, no copyright notice
(Original spelling and line breaks are preserved)




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   HISTORY OF BAYOU SCIE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

     If age adds interest to institutions, the church organization
at Bayou Scie comes in for a leading place.  Founded in 1834
and having gone through various changes, this church is among
the oldest in this section.  If Methodism is hightened in interest
by romance, as Asbury endeared and made memorable the
thousands of miles through many states over which he rode in the
saddle, Bayou Scie is not without romance.

     The first preachers to visit this region were Methodist
Circuit riders.  One of them led in the movement to buid a
place of worship.  This was a 24 x 40 foot log house, built of
logs split in two.  The roster of circuit riders, and the early
ministers of this log church, are dimmed with age and hardly
available, but are they not written on time's immortal page and
in imperishable forms in the skies?

     The Rev. Samuel Webb, father of Porter Webb, at the age
of fifty, preached in this building which stood on a flat-iron shaped
land, formed by the Marshall Russell and Belmont roads, and
just across the road from the cemetery.  In the year 1893, the
Rev. Henry Boltz was pastor here, and lived in the parsonage
on what is now known as the Ira Mains tract of land.

     In the course of time this structure, having served it's pur-
pose and God having set the seal of His approval on the sole
effort from the beginning, the log house was replaced by a
building of rough boards, hauled by oxen from Old Pisgah near
Marthaville, LA.  Some of the lumber in this building was des-
tined to form a part of the house of God which now stands at the
junction of roads leading to the present place of worship.

     The present building was erected in 1885, and a deed secured
to four acres of land which the church and cemetery now occup-
ies.  The deed was made to W. L. Shull as trustee in 1888.
There has since been added two acres, making a total of six
acres.

     The christian leaders of those days were giants and not one
of them slept in the lap of a Deliah.

     Under the leadership of our current pastor, the Rev. Ray
Spiller, we have purchased two portable buildings as space for
Sunday School classes.  Our membership has increased drast-
ically and we have organized Wednesday night services for our
congregation.

     Again, we feel that God is smiling down on Bayou Scie
United Methodist Church.