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OSYKA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH HISTORY – HIGHLIGHTS
Date
of this report: March, 1991.
Eugene L. Ott, Jr. with
Leverne Brabham and
Rev. Lars L. Broadus
According
to the Minutes of the "First Quarterly Conference, Amite City Church and Ponchatoula Mission, Woodville District of the Mississippi
Conference" in session at Amite, La., July 1880, the following report was entered....
"During the past quarter we have
organized a church at Osyka".
This marks the beginning of the Osyka Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Nine people
are listed as charter members. The hand-written minutes are a bit difficult to read at this point in time, but to the best
of our ability to decipher the following names are listed by the pastor, B. I. Rayeist (?):
J. L. Rief (Ruff or Russ)
Wm.
Gray
Dr. J. B. Ford
Mrs. A. A. Ford
Rhonda Addison
M. H. McGehee
Mary Brickham
Misses
Ollie and Bettie Thompson.
This next year, May 7th, 1881, the second quarterly conference of the same charge and district
was held at the Osyka Church, but the P.C. (Pastor in Charge) this time was Rev. C. W. Barrien. The Rev. J. H. Godfey was
the P.E. (Presiding Elder) who according to the minutes "conducted religious services." At this conference the P.E. stated
that the Rev. B. T. Pierson, P.C. was as of April 1, 1881 dismissed from the Amite City Circuit and the Rev. C. W. Barrien
was appointed in his place. It is not clear but it would seem that both B. I. Rayeist and B. T. Pierson served Osyka those
first two years.
At some point in the time the churches in Louisiana were not to be listed in the Mississippi Conference.
Osyka does not appear in the Mississippi Conference appointments until 1894, and some reporters assumed that it was not organized
until that date. From the above data, however, we know better. For some years after 1894 Osyka was not listed as part of
a larger circuit. During the early 1900s quarterly conference minutes and pastor's reports indicate Liberty, Homesville,
Muddy Springs and Glading churches were served by the Osyka pastors.
The first recorded date that we have of Osyka
church in the Mississippi Conference Journal is 1894 when it appears in the appointments as Magnolia-Osyka (charge?) with
E. F. Edgar as pastor. Edgar was reappointed in 1895. For the next six years, until 1901, Osyka was listed in the Mississippi
Conference Journal with Magnolia. During this time three other pastors served as follows: J. A. B. Jones, 1896–1898; F. M.
Keen, 1899-1900 and B. F. Lewis, 1901-1902. Then J. W. Sandell is listed as serving as pastor of Osyka (only?), 1902-1904.
Magnolia was not listed with Osyka those years. From 1905 until 1907 Osyka is not listed by appointment but seems to have
been put with the Summit church with A. S. Oliver as pastor. Between 1908 and 1966 twenty-three preachers were appointed
to serve Osyka and other points of the charge.
Before listing the names and dates of those pastors let's turn to a
bit of history of the church property. I am told that during the late 1800s the Baptist of Osyka had two churches. At some
time before 1900 they agreed to combine congregations and sell one of their buildings to the Methodist. That building is
now the back part of the present church and serves as a fellowship hall and Sunday school rooms. According to Pike County
records the sale agreement was witnessed by A. P. Sparkman and Annie Sparkman the 26th day of June 1900 and recorded August
1st at 8:00 o'clock that same year. The deed was drawn up as required by the property laws of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South for the sum of $500 for the land and all improvements thereon. Said transaction was completed on the 21st day of July
1990....
Property was purchased for a parsonage in 1921 from Mrs. Edgar Goodwill of Osyka. The warranty Deed was made
to the trustees of the Summit Charge in keeping with the "Rules and Regulations of the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South." As this deed indicated, Osyka was on the Summit Charge, but the parsonage was in Osyka. The present sanctuary
was added to the church during the pastorate of H. E. Raley, 1921-1923, and was dedicated at a special service by Bishop U.
V. W. Darlington, in the early 1920s.
E. L. Alford was appointed to Osyka in 1908 and evidently served only one year.
J. Lloyd Decell was appointed the next year and served Osyka, Liberty, Homesville, Muddy Springs and Glading for three years,
1909-1911. At least. Osyka was not listed by name in the conference journal from 1912 until 1920. However, W. T. Griffin
is listed from one source as pastor. This writer would expect to find Osyka listed in charge reports to the Annual Conference,
but due to the tenure of other pastors of the period it is difficult to imagine only one pastor those eight years. It is
worthy of note at this point that some ten years later, The Reverend J. Lloyd Decell appears as Presiding Elder (P.E.) of
the Brookhaven District which included the Osyka Charge.
From 1921 through 1965 the following preachers were appointed
to the Osyka Charge or a charge including Osyka Church. H. E. Raley, 1921-1923; T. M. Ainsworth, 1924-1927; W. W. Moore,
1928; Bert H. Williams, 1929-1931; J. T. Abney, 1932-1933; Earl B. Emmerich, 1934-1935; W. H. Sanders, 1936; J. B. Shearer,
1937-1938; J. H. Moore, 1939-1941; Hillery S. Westbrook, 1942-1945; E. R. Felder, 1946; S. C. Moody, 1947-1950; William L.
Youngblood, 1951-1952; A. Lamar Martin, 1953-1954; George A. Skelton, 1955-1956; T. R. Pugh, 1957, Paul J. Davis, 1958; Exo
Griffith, 1959; Charles Brister, 1960-1961; M. W. Beadle, 1962-1963 and Herbert A. Morange, 1964-1965.
A history making
charge took place in Methodism during the above appointment years. In 1939 a joint conference of the three major branches
of the denomination was held. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Protestant Church, South united to
become The Methodist Church. In conferences where neither of the other branches existed few changes were noticed in organization
or function of the local church. Some titles were changed or dropped. Presiding Elders became District Superintendents and
pastors were no longer referred to as P. C. though they were still "Pastor in Charge". J. H. Moore was Osyka's pastor at
that time, 1939-1941.
The writers are not fully aware of what brought about a radical change in pastoral tenure to
the Osyka Charge, but the pastor appointed in 1966 served through the 1977 appointment year. Rev. Jack T. Hopper, a local
preacher, served Osyka and Muddy Springs churches for twelve years. The current pastor, Lars. L. Broadus, retired Elder of
the Mississippi Conference, has served as retired supply pastor (R. S.) since June, 1978. Muddy Springs closed in the early
1980s for lack of a supporting membership and attendance.
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