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This is copied here with permission from The
Weatherford Democrat, May 23, 2003 issue. Sent to me by D. Newberry.
Newberry Cumberland Church
to celebrate 135th anniversary
By Heather Reifsnyder/Democrat Reporter
To last the test of time, a church needn't have a large congregation.
With less than 10 members sometimes, the Newberry Cumberland Presbyterian
Church in Millsap has survived for well over a century. Sunday, its
current 26 members will continue their May celebration of the church's
135th anniversary with a traditional service.
"We're just going to have what we have been having for 135 years," said Pastor
Hugh Wagner. However, the service will not be in the church building. The congregation
will meet outdoors under the tall sloping roof of the wooden tabernacle. "There
aren't many (tabernacles) left in Texas," said Wagner. "It was at one time a
common thing." When the tabernacle was built in 1901, the congregation had been
in existence for more than 30 years. Used until about 1914 for camp meetings,
the tabernacle continues to be the sight of an annual homecoming in October.
In May 1968 10 pioneers met north of the Brazos River and formed what became
the Brazos Congregation under the care of the Red Oak Presbytery of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, meeting where they could: in homes, a school, a Methodist
church. Three years later, after some of the members moved away, the remaining
congregation began meeting on Grindstone Creek at one Robert C. Newberry's
farm, picking up several more members.
That August the Grindstone Branch of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church grew
again when it held its first of a string of about 45 annual camp meetings.
In 1874 the church moved again to a log building, which also doubled as a school,
on land donated by Jim D. Newberry. After a couple intermediate structures,
the present church building was constructed in 1955.
The church came to be called the Newberry Cumberland Church in 1892. The church's
cemetery holds about 700 graves. The first was made when Robert Newberry's
16-year-old son
drowned in the Brazos River in 1868. Still in use, all but 75 to 100 of the
graves are identified.
Today the church meets the second and fourth Sundays of the month. While Wagner
holds services on fourth Sundays, Reverend Kevin Henson takes charge of second
Sundays.
Both Henson and Wagner live in Bedford and have regular jobs but come to Parker
County to serve the church. "In seminary, they asked me if I would go out and
visit the little church. I think at that time there were about four ... active
members," Wagner recalled. "So we went out and we found four of the most wonderful
people who would worship the Lord until there weren't any of them left. It
was just the feeling of the Holy Spirit there."
The Newberry Cumberland Presbyterian Church is located on Newberry Road 12
miles west of Weatherford on Mineral Wells Highway. Sunday services begin at
11 a.m. and are followed by a fellowship lunch.
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