Church of Christ @ Briar

Our Belief

Jesus said “I will Build my church”

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said that He was going to build His church, established on the confession Peter made in verse 16 that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.  God spoke to the world in the past by the prophets, but in the Christian Age He has spoken to us by His Son Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2). The church of Christ uses only the Bible for doctrine and teaching. We participate in acapella singing during worship- that is without the accompaniment of musical instruments. We believe in the Almighty Father God, in Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit who are all One. We believe that God, through His Spirit, inspired the Bible for us to learn faith, hope, love, and salvation. Jesus has a place for you in His church and He wants to give you eternal life and peace. 

Our History

PAs well as can be determined, the Church of Christ at Briar had its beginning about the year 1892. Samuel Alexander Hays was one of the first members and is believed to be the founder of the Church at Briar, Texas.
Samuel A. Hays was born in Salem Illinois December 15, 1839 and came to Texas with his parents in 1859. They settled in the Newark area Samuel married Tabitha Evaline Huff who also came from Illinois. To this marriage ten,10 children were born. Soon after his marriage, Samuel enlisted in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier. Some years after the war was over he with his family crossed the Trinity River and settled in the Briar community. There with other good neighbors such as Joe and Lucy Moore, Gene and Anna Hall, the Church of Christ at Briar was established. Gene and Anna Hall were relatives of Ines Pope Wright one of our present members. Brother Hays was the grandfather of Hubert Hays, the gentleman who is the contractor and builder of our present building. Hubert now serves as one of the Elders at Newark. We are honored to have Hubert in our audience today.
In the beginning. the Church met in the school building on land that had been donated by Dr. H. R. Mullins , the father of Maude Harris, who just recently passed from this life. She was one of the charter members. At that time , the Church was blessed with some outstanding gospel preachers. Besides Brother Hays, there were Foy Wallace Sr; J.D. Tant; Ephraim Rogers; N.L. Clark; Joe S. Warlick; Charlie Nichols and others. Among the first faithful families were the Bob Popes; the Mullins; the Yancys; Scroggins; Persons and the widow Forbes and her five lovely daughters. Sister Forbes was the maternal grandmother of Hubert Hays and also the grandmother of Morgan Riley, one of our present members. Hubert has been a tremendous help in our building program. His interest could be because of his grandparents having such an important role in the early Church.

The Church continued to meet in the school building for several years. After the school outgrew the old one, a new brick building was erected just east of our present Church building. In the year 1923 the congregation, under the leadership of Bros. Lon Beaver; Eugene Wright and Emery Bradford, bought the sole rights to the old school building and surrounding property. The congregation couldn’t afford a full – time preacher at this time. Maybe there would be a preacher once a month but there would always be wonderful gospel meetings held during the summer under brush arbors or out in the open under the stars. During this period of time, some of the preachers were Bros. Ing; Killian; Myrick; Willard Morrow; E.C. Fuqua and others. Among the faithful members were the Beavers; Beasleys; Wrights; Huffs; Forbes; Morans; Harris; Hays; Bradfords; Hietts; Vandivers and Bro and Sister Joe Ford, grandparents of Everett Ford. Baptisms were usually held in the river or Harmon Lake.
In 1934 during the deep depression years, a very tragic thing happened. The Church building was completely destroyed by fire. For the next three or four years services were again held in the public school building. It was at this time a young dynamic preacher by the name of A.V. Isbell came and preached two Sundays each month. He later held several gospel meetings at Briar. Much good, with several baptisms, came from the good sermons he delivered. The times were very hard; the brethren decided it was time to rebuild. With extra donations from the members and help from other congregations. able bodied men with a mind to work, like in the days of Nehemiah, pitched in and with many prayers and God’s help constructed a nice building for worship. This was the year 1938.
The Church was greatly blessed the next few years and enjoyed quite a growth. New facilities were added as needed, such as classrooms, restrooms, etc. The Church could now afford a preacher each Sunday. Bros. Raymond Rhodes; Stubblefield; John Brown; Dale Castleman; Wayne Smalling; and Berle Stewart were some of the ministers during this time. Kenton Harvey , a local dairyman, with his good – wife, Shelia, came to be our first full – time preacher. He was very capable and dedicated and had a wonderful influence with the young people. As the congregation continued to grow, the brethren , under the Eldership of Jimmy Person and Wayne Ash, began to make plans for a new auditorium. Their plan was to sell bonds to the membership. Some said it couldn’t be done, but after a meeting was called one Sunday afternoon, enough bonds were sold within two hours for the building project to go forward. In just a few months the new auditorium was built and ready for use. The past 15 years our regular preachers have been Bros. A.V. Isbell; DeSain Terry ; Barney Ash; Bud Biglieni and Kellon Hightower.
(CURRENT TO 1985 – PLAN TO DOCUMENT FROM 1985 TO 2024)

Our Leaders

We have Two Elders Serving at Briar, Jack Bryant Jr and Tim Bradberry. Three Deacons serve as well; Aaron Bradberry, Jesse Johnson and Sam English. Anthony Martinez Is our current Evangelist (Began 08/24)