The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. That doesn't mean there are not important people along the way who have played crucial roles in building on that foundation. Memorial Presbyterian Church in San Augustine, TX didn't appear out of nowhere. Faithful servants through the years have played and continue to play crucial roles in doing the work of God's kingdom.

Just a few years after the town of San Augustine, TX was established (1834), the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church assigned responsibility for the evangelization of Texas to four ministers. One of these, Rev. Hugh Wilson, a pastor in Mt. Carmel, TN, left for Texas in the spring of 1838. Wilson, his wife, and five children traveled to San Augustine, where on June 2, 1838, twenty-two persons officially organized Bethel Presbyterian Church, the predecessor of Memorial.

On June 2, 1938, one hundred years after its founding, the Synod of Texas held a memorial service to honor Rev. Wilson. A bronze tablet adorns the south wall of the sanctuary of Memorial Presbyterian. It reads in part:

ERECTED BY THE SYNOD OF TEXAS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, US TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE MEMORY OF REV. HUGH WILSON, D.D., 1794-1868 WHO ON JUNE 2, 1838 ORGANIZED THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS

Much has happened since 1838, but because of the Church's one foundation, Memorial Presbyterian Church still gathers for worship, to serve God, to bear witness to God's purpose, to make disciples, and to be agents of God's good will in the world. What God started through Rev. Wilson continues out of God's faithfulness and the faithfulness of many servants to follow.