First United Methodist Church Beaumont stands at 701 Calder Avenue in the middle of downtown Beaumont, where Methodists have gathered for worship since 1840. The congregation is known across Southeast Texas as the church of the Spire, the tall mid-century sanctuary whose silhouette marks the entrance to downtown. Its mission, summed up in six words, is to "love the city with the heart of Christ," and that sentence shows up in Sunday services, in the giving tree at Christmas, in the Saturday meals served to neighbors through Kairos Kitchen, and in a long-running partnership with Charlton Pollard Elementary School.
From Corn Street to the Spire: 1840 to Today
Methodism in Beaumont began with a sermon. The first officially recorded worship service took place in 1840, when a Methodist missionary, Rev. Henry Stephenson, preached somewhere on Corn Street, the road that is now Calder Avenue. The small group who heard him became the first Methodists in the new town of Beaumont and for years met in brush arbors and private homes.
Everything changed in 1901 with the Lucas gusher at Spindletop. The oil strike transformed Southeast Texas, and the Methodist Church grew with the city. By the early 1900s the congregation had 505 names on its books and decided to build a new home at the corner of Broadway and Pearl Streets. That building, known as the Dome Church, was finished in 1906 and served the church for sixty years.
Under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hardt, the congregation acquired adjoining property and built the sanctuary the church still worships in today on the same site as the Dome Church. Known as the Spire Church, it is the fifth home of First United Methodist Church Beaumont and has served the congregation since 1968. The local historian Charlsie E. Berly captured that stretch of the church's life in With a Dome More Vast: The History of The First United Methodist Church, 1968-1985, writing that "from the beginning, the First Methodists of Beaumont have located their church buildings in the heart of downtown area." That downtown location, the church believes, is not an accident but a calling.
Loving the City with the Heart of Christ
The congregation's mission statement is simple: "Loving the city with the heart of Christ." Lead Pastor Rev. Jeremy Wester often preaches that the small word "with" carries the whole weight of the mission, because God in Christ did not come to give from a distance but to walk among God's people as one of them.
Three core values shape the work that flows from that mission. Love names a community that loves God and neighbors because God loved first. Discipleship names a commitment to grow as followers of Jesus by learning and practicing the faith. Service names the commitment to love the city by doing what can be done so that every person in Beaumont experiences the love of God.
The congregation stands inside the historic Christian faith and inside the United Methodist way of making sense of it. As United Methodists, members profess God as Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and experience God as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. They affirm that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world and the Lord of all. Salvation is understood as both a moment and a process, given by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and worked out over a lifetime of growing more Christ-like.
The church follows the Wesleyan sources for thinking about faith. Scripture is primary and authoritative, but tradition (creeds, hymns, belief statements), personal and collective experience, and reason all work alongside Scripture in helping the congregation decide matters of faith. Means of grace such as worship, the sacraments, Bible study, prayer and Christian fellowship are the everyday places where the Risen Christ is encountered.
Sunday Morning at the Spire
The weekly gathering of the church centers on one service: Family Worship at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. The hour before worship, at 9:45 a.m., is the Small Groups hour, when Sunday school classes for adults and the children's Sunday school gather in classrooms around the building.
Worship itself is a time to pray, sing, open the Scriptures, and be reminded together that God is faithful. Holy Communion is celebrated on the first and third Sundays of each month. The congregation teaches an open table, welcoming all who are committed to loving God, or who simply desire to be loved by God, to receive the sacrament. Children are always welcome in worship, and the church emphasizes that no one is too young or too old to encounter the grace of God.
For families with younger children, First Kids Church and a Safe Sanctuary Nursery are offered during the 11:00 a.m. service. The children's ministry is led by Teri McGinnis, the Coordinator of Child Care and Children's Instruction, and follows an age-appropriate version of the same order of worship the adults are experiencing in the sanctuary.
Members and guests who cannot be in the sanctuary can take part in three ways. Worship is livestreamed each Sunday on YouTube and Facebook. A telephone broadcast is also available at 409-920-7729 so that those who do not have internet at home can listen in. Recordings of recent sermons are available online for anyone who wants to catch up.
Music as Worship: The Choir, the Organ, and the Sanctuary
Music has been a defining mark of First Methodist Beaumont for more than a century, and the present sanctuary was built around it. Janie Greenway has been the church's organist for over two decades and brings a life shaped by both piano and organ to the console every Sunday. Before she could write her name, she was sitting beside her mother's piano students. She taught herself to play on a child-sized keyboard in the next room. She has been making music in this sanctuary since moving to Beaumont, and is also an ordained minister. Each Friday afternoon she can be found practicing in the empty sanctuary, the kind of sacred preparation that organists learn to love.
The Chancel Choir, directed by Renee Kloes, sings most Sundays. Bass singer Brandon Jackson, profiled in the church's Heartbeat stories, has called the choir "family," and described how Renee and the music program gave him purpose when music alone no longer did. Longtime choir member Mary Baldwin Woodland, who taught voice and opera at Lamar University, has often said that music offered in worship should always be the best the congregation can give. The choir loft on a Sunday morning at the Spire is a quiet, deliberate place where that conviction is put into practice every week.
Small Groups, Grief Support, and Pastoral Care
The church teaches that the Christian faith is meant to be lived out in community, and so a range of gatherings meet around the week. Small groups meet at different times on different days in homes and at the church, often over a meal. Anyone looking to be connected to a group is invited to email the church office.
One specific group has become a steady ministry in its own right. The Grief Support Group meets on Thursdays at 2 p.m. for one hour and is open to anyone in the community. It is facilitated by Judy Brunton, MEd, who spent her career working with people with developmental delays and their families, and Sallie Wester, LMFT, a licensed therapist in private practice in Beaumont. The group is for all kinds of grief, including the death of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, the loss of ability, a terminal diagnosis, or divorce. There is no commitment to attend a certain number of sessions; participants come as often or as long as they need. Those interested can email griefsupport@fumcbeaumont.org.
Kairos Kitchen: A Saturday Table for the City
Kairos Kitchen is one of the most visible ministries of First UMC Beaumont. Each month the church opens its kitchen to neighbors in downtown Beaumont, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, and serves a home-cooked meal in Rothwell Hall. The meal is followed by fellowship, prayer, and Holy Communion.
The Saturday kitchen has shaped many lives inside the church as well. Long-time cook John Wright, who cannot remember the year he started, is in the kitchen every fourth Saturday preparing food he wants guests to feel as if they are eating at the family table. His most requested dish is pork chops with homemade gravy. Dr. Bill Graber, a retired physician, shows up faithfully to chop onions. Jayme Kugler, a coach for VBS recreation, helps serve. Some of the guests who have been served over the years now help prepare and serve the food themselves, including for the church's Lenten recital series, a quiet reversal of who gives and who receives.
The kitchen is the birthplace of several other ministries in downtown Beaumont, including Some Other Place and the Rainbow Room. Volunteers and newcomers are welcome; sign-up is available through the church.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace: Beds for Kids in the Region
First UMC Beaumont is a host site for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national nonprofit that builds beds for children who do not have one of their own. On the second Saturday of each month, Build Days run from 8:30 a.m. to noon and from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 2950 Milam Street. On the third Saturday, Delivery Days run from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers are asked to bring a cordless drill with charged batteries. Pre-registration is requested through the local chapter. The partnership began with the Beaumont chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace and has become a steady rhythm for adults and youth who want to do something hands-on.
Some Other Place and Charlton Pollard Elementary
On the third Friday of each month, members of First UMC gather at Some Other Place in downtown Beaumont to prepare and serve a hot meal to many of the homeless neighbors of the surrounding area. Anyone is welcome to come and serve any time between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., with lunch served starting at noon.
For more than seven years the church has partnered with Charlton Pollard Elementary, a Beaumont ISD school. The main way the church supports CPE students in need is by providing school supplies. Members also volunteer through the Parents And Community Support (PACS) program, the ROAR Reading Program, and other BISD volunteer opportunities, including serving as safety monitors and one-on-one tutors. Volunteers are required to complete the district's background check and online application each calendar year.
The church is also exploring a partnership with Spoonful of Love, a Houston-based nonprofit that provides after-school meals to kids, and is a ministry partner of Jefferson County reVision, a mentoring ministry for kids in the juvenile justice system. Members are encouraged to attend mentor training sessions when they are offered.
The Estate Sale Ministry
The Estate Sale Committee is a care ministry that helps members of the community liquidate estates in a caring manner. Sales are run by volunteers and the percentage charged for the service is directed to the work of the church and to local ministries including Some Other Place, Henry's Place, Boys' Haven, The Rainbow Room, and The Empty Stocking Fund. Sales are advertised through the committee's Facebook page, and inquiries can be sent to estatesale@fumcbeaumont.org.
The People Who Lead the Church
The staff of First UMC Beaumont is small and deeply rooted in the congregation. Rev. Jeremy Wester is the Lead Pastor. Rev. Kyle Tremblay serves as Pastor of Community Development. Renee Kloes directs the Chancel Choir. Janie Greenway is the organist. Erika Leggett Clabough is the Director of Communications, a Beaumont native who grew up attending West Brook High School and who joined the church after listening to services online and was baptized in 2020. Sonya Jones is the Director of Finance. Teri McGinnis is the Coordinator of Child Care and Children's Instruction. Ken Rhine has served on the facilities team for twenty-five years, doing everything from setting up for Sunday worship to preparing coffee and greeting people at the door. Sharon Kahla serves as Office Administrator. Tarasha Robinson Thomas serves as Building and Office Administrator, having joined the staff in 2018 after many years in children's, nursery, and prison ministries elsewhere.
Behind the staff is a Leadership Board of nine elected members that meets monthly in open session, a Nominations and Leadership Development Committee that helps identify members to serve in leadership, and a Good Futures Cohort working to put the church's seventy thousand square feet of indoor space to greater use for ministry.
Becoming Part of First UMC Beaumont
At every worship service, those gathered are invited to live as Christian disciples and to consider membership. New members are received by profession of faith (with baptism if not already baptized), by transfer of letter from another United Methodist church, or by transfer of membership from another Christian denomination. Baptisms performed in other Christian traditions are recognized as fully valid. Children and adults of any age can receive the Sacrament of Holy Baptism; the church teaches that no one is too young or too old to receive God's grace.
Members make the traditional United Methodist commitments to support the church with their prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Visitors who want to learn more about membership are invited to fill out a Connect card at worship or to email the church office.
Giving, The Spire, and Staying Connected
Online giving is available through the church's giving platform, and one-time or recurring donations can be set up there. Giving is taught as a spiritual practice, a response to God's faithfulness, and is celebrated as faithfully generous giving in turn. A communion rail offering supports special needs and is collected during communion services.
The Spire, the congregation's monthly newsletter, has been published in some form for many years, originally as a printed bulletin and now as a downloadable PDF. The newsletter carries news of ministries, upcoming events, and stories from the congregation, including the Heartbeat feature stories that profile members, staff, and volunteers. Back issues going back several years are archived online.
The church is active on Facebook and Instagram, posts videos to its YouTube channel, and sends regular email updates. Anyone can sign up for the email list, and the calendar of events is shared online. The Church Shop sells First Methodist branded items and supports the church's ministry.
Open Doors in the Heart of the City
The Spire Church was built to be a building in the heart of the city, not on its edge, and the congregation has kept that conviction at the center of its mission. The same building that holds the 11:00 a.m. worship service holds Kairos Kitchen on a Saturday, Grief Support on a Thursday, and the small groups that meet during the week. It opens its doors to a Friday meal at Some Other Place, hosts a Lenten recital series, welcomes Charlton Pollard Elementary mentors, and works with Sleep in Heavenly Peace to deliver them to children across the region. The Giving Tree at Christmas helps ensure that children in the community wake up to a gift under the tree, and the Estate Sale Committee channels a portion of every sale to local ministries.
It all adds up to a congregation that sees its downtown address as a gift. From the first brush-arbor gathering on Corn Street in 1840 to the open doors of the Spire today, First United Methodist Church Beaumont has tried to live out the same conviction: that the people of Beaumont are a gift, the neighborhood is a gift, and the building is a gift, and that to love the city with the heart of Christ means treating each of them that way.