A History of the Kempner church of Christ by Kenneth Stremmel

The church of Christ in Kempner has a long history, but not a large one. The earliest documented information we have for the congregation is a copy of the original property deed. The congregation is located on the Northern side of Kempner, on the West side of Hill St. This is also known as Cemetery Road or County Rd 3300, formally named County Rd 24. Originally, W.H. and Rosa Seals owned the property. They deeded it to the then existing congregation in December 1903. This transaction was recorded by the Lampasas County Clerk in August of 1904. There is no record of who the members were or how many there were at that time.

However, the property was not the congregation's first location. Brother Lee Allen Jackson resided in Kempner for most of his life. He and his family were among the earliest members of the congregation. He was born in 1906 and passed away in 1994. He told of earlier members remembering their meetings "along the river." Another of his remembrances was recounting about helping to build the old tabernacle in 1921, which has since been torn down. The tabernacle was the congregation's home for worship services for several years. There are copies of the congregation's old financial records dating back to 1926. Another pair of early members — Brother Walter (also known to many as Uncle Walter) and Sister Ethel Cox and their children and grandchildren helped maintained one set of these records. Notes in the records sometimes indicated they did not have worship services due to snow on the ground.

Former students of the Kempner District School have used the tabernacle in the past for reunions. This was because it was near the school site. The tabernacle has had a number of repairs made over the years, and it stood for many years as a local landmark. It was often used for singings or fellowships by congregation members.

The old records do not contain any mention of the first building on the property.

But there are notes for the purchase of firewood as early as fall of 1926. Brother Jackson mentioned the building being constructed in 1927, but it is not mentioned in these old records. Over the course of several years, the records mention purchasing construction materials. However, in the summer of 1929, there is the first mention of purchasing "window curtains" and other furnishings. There were numerous mentions of purchasing mantels, chimneys, and fuel for lanterns over the years. The first mention of paying an electric bill was in the summer of 1942! This included purchasing wire to be run to light the tabernacle as well.

There is a recurring record of disbursement to Ira Grantham. He was apparently the earliest minister we have record of in the congregation. Three other early regular ministers covered by these early records were Silas Howell, a Bro. Barnett, and a Bro. Melton.

The records also indicate plans to add onto the building. The result was a building that had three small classrooms and an auditorium seating about 60. There are no comments about when that part was completed.

There is a long gap in the records. They pick up again in the spring of 1977, but quite a bit happened between. The congregation grew substantially in the 1976 to 1978 time period. The normal attendance was filling the little auditorium and plans were made to build a larger auditorium that would seat about 200 and also add 6 more classrooms.

The construction began in late 1977 and was designed to include the existing building into the new facility. It would create a single, more substantial building for the congregation. Open house for the new building was held on April 23, 1978. Previous ministers were invited to come share the event with the members but there is no record of those attending.

The congregation remained strong in number for a few years until several military families left for other assignments. Unfortunately, there were no replacements "assigned" to the congregation. For a number of years, the membership was up and down. It was never what would be called large, and at times, it has been very small. The main quality has been the closeness of the members. The Lord and the New Testament writers teach about the family of Christians. This has been one of the things that has helped the congregation to endure into the current time.

Now the congregation is still meeting on the same property that was deeded to it over 120 years ago! Things are more comfortable than in the past. We may need to cancel services when the weather is too dangerous to travel to the building, but we do not need to cancel services because of snow after we are assembled. We invite you to come assemble with us — Snow permitting!

Updated March 18, 2025, by Jack McNiel, Jr.