Evening Chapel CME at 199 Putman St. in Sulphur Springs will mark a major church milestone on Sunday, May 28, when the church's 150th Anniversary and Homecoming are observed. A time of meet and greet with refreshments is planned from 1 p.m. until 2:30 p.m, with the anniversary service to begin at 3 p.m. in the sanctuary. Reverend Gailyn McCurdy began to serve the Sulphur Springs congregation six years ago, and has collected background information on the historic church. Its original name in 1871 was the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church of Bright Star, Texas, one of the first to be established in the state.
“Since I am not from here, I reached out to those who knew more about the church, like Lorine ‘Jackie’ Walker and Vender Wright,” Rev. McCurdy said. “It was once a frame home located not far from the southeast corner of the square near the tracks. After the first erected church was built in 1874 at a different location, its name changed to Evening Chapel. About 10 years later, land was purchased and a two-story brick edifice was completed there in 1895, rebuilt in 1920, and the present Putman Street church was constructed in 1979, with a ‘note-burning’ held in 1997.”
McCurdy said while change is normal, but the biggest change he’s seen in churches has been use of technology, which allowed congregations to “meet” safely, if not in person, due to COVID. Many of those changes, he noted, have become permanent.
“We began to utilize conference calls. Technology today has moved churches into a whole different realm. Zoom meetings are a practical way to conduct group meetings, and I don’t see that going away. We now have our presence on Facebook, by which members can send and the church can accept their offerings onlone. We're now utilizing email to keep us connected. So, in these ways since COVID, functions in the CME churches are going to that side, the strategic side, and this is our goal,” McCurdy said. The reverend said an interfaith class she took during seminary helped open her mind to change, to moving forward in a new direction instead of backward as the past is gone, history, and new history is being made daily. “I am just blessed to be able to celebrate with the church in Sulphur Springs,” Mc-Curdy added. “When I go to the conference later this year, I will just go and enjoy worship, and I will go thanking God for whatever or wherever the Bishop sends me. I am hoping that he sends me back here, and that I can graduate in 2026 from SMU. I feel I’m in a holding place right now. I have come to accept what is given, and to go and do the best I can where I am. It is true you have to always be ready for change or for something new. So keep all your war clothes on, and be ready all the time!”