Memphis – the home of Beale Street, Graceland, the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the Peabody Hotel and its Parade of Ducks, the one-time home of blues musician B. B. King, and the final home and final resting place of the Civil War historian Shelby Foote. It is also the home of Rhodes College, and the University of Memphis.
The 2025 annual meeting of the PHSSW was held in Memphis March 21-22. After the board met Friday afternoon at the Idlewild Presbyterian Church, it was treated to a tour of that magnificent facility that included its beautiful sanctuary as well as its chapel and its outreach ministry (which includes a full-size gymnasium). A delightful dinner followed.
In 2012 Dr. Stephen Haynes, professor of history at Rhodes College and Theologian-in-Residence at Idlewild Presbyterian Church, wrote a book with the title The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation which examined efforts by local college students to kneel outside Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, calling attention to the official segregation policy of that church. (Full disclosure: My sister, Liz Currie Williams, was one of the Rhodes College – known at the time as Southwestern at Memphis – students who participated in the sit-ins/kneel-ins at Second Presbyterian Church.)
At our Friday evening gathering Dr. Haynes made a powerpoint presentation that described Idlewild’s own pilgrimage over the past several decades regarding the church’s social and civil rights policy. Organized in 1891, the church has always been regarded as “progressive”, but it has not been without its own struggles when it comes to social witness. In recent months, however, a task force has developed a policy that confirms the church’s commitment to an openness to all. While Second Presbyterian Church and Independent Presbyterian Church have left the PC(USA), Idlewild remains in the PC(USA) and maintains a strong presence in the Memphis community.
Memphis is also the home of Memphis Theological Seminary, the seminary of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The Society met there Saturday morning. Dr. Andy McClung offered the first presentation which covered the life and ministry of Sumner Bacon (1790-1844). A native of Massachusetts, Bacon left that state at an early age and was converted to Christianity at a Cumberland revival in Arkansas in 1826. Believing himself called to the ordained ministry as a missionary to Texas, he sought ordination from the presbytery of Arkansas. Because he could neither read nor write, the presbytery instructed him to take two years to study. After two years and doing little study, Bacon was once again denied ordination by Arkansas Presbytery. Turning to Louisiana Presbytery, he was approved in one day. In 1836 he organized the first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Texas near San Augustine. Although he was not the first Protestant to preach in Texas, evidence indicates that he was the first resident Protestant evangelist to maintain a continuous ministry in the new territory.
Dr. Barry Anderson then led us in the story behind the building in which the meeting was being held – Founders Hall, or formerly the Joseph Newburger Mansion. It is now the main building that houses the seminary’s administrative offices and the chapel. Newburger was a Jew, a businessman in the cotton industry, and a civic leader in Memphis. The house was built in 1912. His business interests grew into internationally. His leadership was such that he cultivated personal friendships and relationships with persons of all religious persuasions. According to a 1912 newspaper article, the house would “in reality, be a small castle.”
The final presentation was by Dr. Jody Hill, president of MTS. He recounted the history of the seminary that went from “a school for preachers” in its early days in Lebanon, Tennessee and McKenzie, Tennessee to a seminary in a more urban setting – Memphis – that focused on training pastors in more metropolitan settings as well as rural ones. Founded in 1852, the school moved to Memphis in 1964.
It is hoped that the papers given at Memphis Seminary will be included in the Society’s Annual Proceedings which customarily is published in the summer. Unfortunately, Dr. Haynes powerpoint presentation will not be available for publication.
The 2026 annual meeting of the Society is scheduled to be held March 20-21 at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. All are invited. There is no charge.
The Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest exists to “stimulate and encourage interest in the collection, preservation, and presentation of the Presbyterian and Reformed heritage” in the Southwest. If you are not a participating member of the Society and would like to become one, the annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 per couple. Annual institutional and church membership dues are $100. Checks may be made out to PHSSW and sent to:
PHSSW – 5525 Traviston Ct., Austin, TX 78738.
