Church History

Though the Nazarene archives show the beginning of the Victoria Church as being around 1942, I have a clipping that gives the following information:
“Church of the Nazarene: Established in March 1934 by Rev P. L. Pierce of San Antonio, District Superintendent. Rev. Hershel Murphy was the first Pastor. Rev. M. M. Lowery is now temporary pastor.”
1942 –The church was organized by Dr. I. C. Mathis and worshipped in a store building located at Bridge and Convent Street. The church was organized by the Dallas district, which put up $100.00 for the organization of the church. When they actually got around to making the organization official, they found that the 97th Meridian, which divided the Dallas and San Antonio Districts, runs through Victoria. The Victoria congregation voted unanimously to be part of the San Antonio District. Therefore, the San Antonio District had to reimburse the Dallas District the $100.00 it had invested to found the church and it became part of the San Antonio district. The way I understand it, Keith Martin (as a youngster), along with his family, attended the church then. He later dated and married Nita.
1947 –During the pastorate of Rev. Joe McMayan a small 24 x 30 foot building was purchased and moved to 900 East North Street to serve as the worship center.
1954 –Under Rev. Fleming Parmer, the church was relocated to North East and Colorado. The small building they had been worshipping in was moved, remodeled, and used as both church and parsonage.

1957-During the pastorate of Rev. J. Walter Hall Jr, construction began on a brick sanctuary. Although the congregation soon began worshipping in this building, inadequate finances prevented its completion. There were no education facilities, but that didn’t keep the church from having Sunday school. The adults met in the sanctuary. I remember a children’s class meeting in a storage room, and Barbara Dunno and I have talked about her teaching a good-sized kindergarten class between two beds in the master bedroom at the parsonage. It was about 1958 that I and several others began visiting occasionally on Sunday night. I began attending regularly about 1960. A retired pastor, Brother Joe Tyson, came to be our minister in 1961 and soon after the church began to grow like mad. The Lord blessed us not only with a Godly pastor and congregation and much improved finances, but most of all His special presence in the services.

1963 / 1964 – During Rev Joe Tyson ministry, the sanctuary interior was completed, the church was air-conditioned and the educational annex was built and furnished.
1966 –During Rev. Harold Carlisle’s pastorate, new church furniture (pews, pulpit, etc.) was purchased and installed.

September 1992, during Rev. Mike Curry’s ministry, a miracle took place that made it possible for the church to move to the present location at 1105 Edinburgh in 1994. We worshipped for 2 years in Vickers School before moving into the present facility. If you haven’t heard that story, we’d be happy to share it with you sometime. Our reason for being in existence is to reach out to those who don’t know the Lord and help them to come to know Him.
At our last service in the old church, Pastor Mike preached on the scripture in Exodus 14:13-14 “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today…The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” As we look to the future, I thing that is a good scripture to hold on to.
Reported by Doris Adcock

PS The Victoria Church celebrated the denomination’s 100th anniversary in 2008. Rev Clayton Taylor was the interim pastor when the service was held. The above article was read during the service. Clay was our interim pastor at three different times when we were between pastors. He and Glenna have meant so much to the Victoria Church over the years.