A Walls Congregation Rooted in 1889
Minor Memorial United Methodist Church sits on Goodman Road in Walls, Mississippi, a small community in DeSoto County just south of Memphis. Its story stretches back more than a century, to a time when a group of women in the area decided they needed a place to worship. In 1889, they cleaned an old unused saloon at the southwest corner of Poplar Corner Road, moved in some homemade benches, and organized a Sunday School. From that makeshift beginning, Minor Memorial grew into a stand-alone United Methodist charge known today for traditional worship, a robust children's and youth ministry, and a community meal program that sends weekend food home with elementary school students who might otherwise go without.
The guiding motto of the congregation is simple and recurring across its materials: Guiding and Encouraging People to take their NEXT STEPS following Christ.
From a Saloon to a Sanctuary
The early congregation eventually built a church on Poplar Corner, and as Walls grew, so did the Sunday School and the worship attendance. Ground was broken on ten acres along Goodman Road on September 30, 1990, for the present church building, and the first service in the new sanctuary was held on June 7, 1992. An Educational Wing followed in 2006 and 2007, adding classroom space, small group rooms, and the church's nursery. In 2015, a generous member renovated the back half of an old trailer that had once served as classroom space into a dedicated Youth Room for the church's middle and high school students.
For many years, Minor Memorial was part of a three-point charge alongside Hinds Chapel UMC and Horn Lake UMC, sharing one pastor among all three churches. Today Minor Memorial is a stand-alone charge, though it remains in close ministry with the other United Methodist churches in the area through the Northern Hills District of the Mississippi Conference. When the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person gatherings, the congregation began streaming its services, and since 2020 has invested in cameras, screens, and other technology to support online worship.
What Sunday Morning Looks Like
Worship at Minor Memorial is traditional in style. The service is held in the sanctuary at 10:15 AM each Sunday, both in person and online. Music is led primarily from the piano, with other instruments incorporated at times, and includes choir music that rehearses after worship. Each service includes prayer, Scripture reading, a sermon, and other worship elements that vary from week to week. On the first Sunday of the month and at other special times, the congregation celebrates Holy Communion around an open table; all who wish to receive are welcome, regardless of church membership.
What people wear ranges widely. Jeans and t-shirts sit comfortably alongside suits and dresses, and visitors are encouraged to come as they are.
Children and Youth
Minor Memorial places a strong emphasis on the next generation. During Sunday worship, all children begin in the sanctuary with their families. After a Children's Moment, those from kindergarten through fifth grade who wish may be dismissed to WOW - Worship Our Way - in the Education Building, returning to the sanctuary at the close of worship. A nursery is available throughout the service for infants and toddlers.
On Wednesday evenings at 6:00 PM, Kids for Christ gathers children from age four through fifth grade in the Education Building for Bible learning, games, crafts, and songs. A nursery remains available at the same hour.
For students in sixth through twelfth grade, the youth ministry meets Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 7:00 PM in the dedicated Youth Room. The ministry focuses on helping students face the issues of everyday life from a biblical perspective. Youth Director Eli Hickerson, who grew up in the church's after-care and youth programs, also maintains an active Instagram presence for the group at minoryouth.
Feed My Lambs: Weekend Meals for Local Students
The signature outreach of Minor Memorial is Feed My Lambs, a weekend meal ministry that provides students in need with two breakfast items, two lunch items, and four snacks to carry them through from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. The program has served Walls Elementary and Lake Cormorant Elementary since the 2012-2013 school year, growing from seven children at its start to between 80 and 150 children served weekly. Participants are referred by the schools themselves, and there are no income guidelines to qualify.
Funding for Feed My Lambs comes entirely from donations - roughly six dollars covers one weekend of food for a single child. On Thursday mornings at 10:00 AM, volunteers gather at the church to Pack and Pray for the week's bags, doing all of the shopping, sorting, packing, and delivery. The church notes that teachers regularly report that children who receive the bags are healthier, better able to focus on schoolwork, and more confident.
Other Outreach and Mission Work
Beyond Feed My Lambs, Minor Memorial stays connected to its community and the wider world through a number of ongoing efforts. Golden Cross, a local benevolent fund, offers financial assistance to individuals and families in the Walls area who face emergencies. The congregation supports the ministries of the Mississippi Conference through regular Mission Shares and takes up special offerings throughout the year for various causes, including UMCOR (the United Methodist Committee on Relief) and Advance, the church's designated giving program for global missions. Seasonal collections gather sunscreen, bug repellent, and white socks for M25 Homeless Ministry during the summer, coats for community organizations during the winter, and Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets and Angel Tree gifts in partnership with Sacred Heart in Walls and other area groups.
Historically, the congregation has also invested in mission trips, traveling multiple summers to El Salvador with Salvadoran Mission Projects in Ahuachapan and volunteering at the Sager Brown UMCOR Depot in Louisiana. The church has hosted a community Fall Festival featuring craft and vendor booths, a bake sale, a country cafe, children's inflatables, and visits from local fire, police, and blood mobile units, with proceeds going to Camp Lake Stephens scholarships and United Methodist missions.
After School Care
For more than two decades, Minor Memorial has operated an After School Care Program licensed by the state of Mississippi, offering childcare for children ages 5 to 12. During the school year, the program ran from 2:00 to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, providing centers, homework help, snacks, and outside time, with summer hours expanding to full-day care. The church has announced that the school-age program will close permanently at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, a change the church's leadership has shared openly with the community.
Adult Small Groups and Sunday School
Adults at Minor Memorial have several options for Sunday morning small groups, all meeting at 9:15 AM ahead of worship. The Joy Class Adult Bible Study gathers in Fellowship Hall; Caring Peeps meets in Room 106; and the Stepping Stones Class meets in the Education Building Room 202. A Wednesday night group offers another weekday option, and a Friday Night Community Group meets at 7:00 PM at the home of Karla and David Lance at 2080 Red Apple Drive in nearby Horn Lake.
A Wesleyan Approach to Faith and Practice
As United Methodists, the congregation traces its theology to John and Charles Wesley and affirms its faith through the words of the Apostles' Creed. The church emphasizes a threefold understanding of grace - prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying - and holds that personal faith and social holiness are equally important. The Bible is the primary source for matters of faith and practice, understood alongside tradition, reason, and experience.
Two sacraments are observed: Baptism, which may be performed by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion and is offered to both infants and adults, and Holy Communion, celebrated with an open table. The congregation sees itself as part of a connectional church, in ministry with other United Methodists across the Northern Hills District and the wider Mississippi Conference.
Staff and Leadership
Rev. Sam Jones became the full-time pastor of Minor Memorial in July 2023. An ordained Elder in Full Connection in The United Methodist Church, he holds a Master of Divinity from Memphis Theological Seminary, where he served two terms as president of the Student Senate, and is a recipient of the 2023 Hoyt Hickman Award from the Order of St. Luke for exceptional ability in liturgical scholarship. He also serves as pastor of Horn Lake United Methodist Church, co-chairs the Mississippi Annual Conference End Racism For Good Task Force, and serves on the conference Board of Global Ministries and the Northern Hills District Leadership team. He and his wife Rosemary, a special education teacher, were once members of Minor Memorial and were married in the church in November 2000.
Alicia Butler serves as Worship Leader and Administrative Secretary, having joined as music director in October 2018. She also sings with the Memphis Symphony Chorus and the Memphis Women's Chorale. Eli Hickerson leads the youth ministry, having grown up in the church's programs. Regina Geno serves as pianist, Jane Rector as Finance Secretary, and Tina Patrick as director of the After School Care Program. Patsy Vick coordinates outreach and missions, and Kelly Lumpkin serves as Congregational Care Coordinator. The Leadership Board, chaired by LaJuanna Beasley with Rob Cushman as vice-chair, oversees the work of teams in personnel, finance, building and grounds, and nominations.
Beliefs in Practice
Wesleyan discipleship at Minor Memorial takes shape in four areas: worship, learning in community, experiencing and spending time with God, and serving others. The church teaches several prayer methods to help members grow in that experience, including SOAPY Scripture meditation, the Five Finger Prayer, Centering Prayer in the church prayer room, and Breath Prayers. A separate series on finding peace introduces contemplative practices such as the Examen and the Welcoming Prayer. Members are encouraged to see discipleship as a lifelong process of taking next steps, and the church regularly invites newcomers into that journey without requiring membership to participate in any of its activities, studies, or small groups.