History

HISTORY OF FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
KINDER, LOUISIANA

Printed in the program: In Celebration of The Seventy-Fifth
Anniversary of First Congregational Church, Kinder, Louisiana
(1902-1977)

First Congregational Church is the oldest Protestant church in Kinder and one of the oldest in Southwest Louisiana. Its founder was Rev. Paul Leeds who ministered in the Kinder area for sixty-five years beginning in 1893. Thus the history of First Congregational Church is largely the life story of this one great man of God.

The story began in 1891 at the First Congregational Church of Dallas, Texas where Paul Leeds accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. Early in 1892, during a series of special missionary services, he dedicated his life for missionary work and felt a call to go to Central America. In July, 1893, Dr. C. I. Scofield, the superintendent of the Congregational Home Mission Work in Texas and pastor of First Congregational Church of Dallas, sent Brother Leeds to Jennings, Louisiana to serve as interim pastor of the small Congregational Church there until they could secure a pastor. Gaining some experience here, he was then to go to Central America as a missionary. Evidently the Lord had Kinder and the piney woods in heart and mind, for Rev. J. D. Wherland, himself a home missionary among the log-men and aware of the great need of the Gospel in this large section, was used of the Lord to direct Paul Leeds out to this field where he remained permanently.

On the fourth Sunday in November, 1893, the first preaching service was held in the piney woods at a small plank schoolhouse in the Pitre settlement, now Green Oak. Kinder consisted of the depot, just recently built, the small homestead of Jim Kinder, a saloon and section house, and a rice warehouse.

On March 14, 1894, Paul Leeds was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by the Calcasieu Association of Congregational Churches. It was in that year he founded the Clear Creek Congregational Church with 26 members and started another on the Whiskey Chitto with 17 people attending services. On November 10, 1895, Brother Leeds was ordained at the church at Clear Creek.

The year 1900 to 1902 saw a general loss of population in the Pitre settlement. Older heads of families died, young people married and moved away, till few were left to continue the church work there. By this time, four brothers had come from Iowa to Kinder and had constructed an irrigation canal which gave the rice industry a boost. Citizens of the growing village of Kinder urged Brother Leeds to hold services, which he did. Most of the people from the Pitre settlement had moved to Kinder so their little church was sold and the money put into a fund for a church house in Kinder which was built and dedicated in 1902. A small inheritance from the estate of his father helped make it possible for Brother Leeds to erect a parsonage next to the church building with the help of Rev. R. C. McCoy, who worked with him very closely. He moved in on Thanksgiving Day, 1902.

During those early days Brother Leeds continued his circuit ministry serving fourteen or fifteen groups which met in school and homes in the surrounding area. Besides the churches at Clear Creek and on the Whiskey Chitto, Brother Leeds ministered at Oakland Springs, Martin and Loxley Trams, Marsh Bayou, Ham's Creek, Bundick's Creek, Indian Village, besides many more preaching appointments, then the Indian Church on Bayou Blue (1901), Emad (1912) and Edna (1935), both sawmill towns. As each organized church grew strong enough to support a regular pastor or became too small to justify full-time work, he "turned loose" in order to concentrate on the church at Kinder, which grew rapidly from a nucleus of Northern homesteaders.

A Ladies Aid was organized at the Kinder Church in Apri1 of 1904. Brother Leeds helped when called upon for devotionals, but he never felt completely at ease with a group of women.

In June of 1906, Brother Leeds accepted the call to serve the small Congregational Church in Welsh as part-time pastor. He conducted church services in Welsh regularly, but neither forgot nor neglected friends in Kinder during the 15 months that he lived in Welsh. Following his marriage on May 1, 1907 to Besse Allen, they moved back, permanent1y to the parsonage in Kinder.

From that point on, the history of First Congregational Church is much like that of other churches, seeing periods of growth and times of decline. By 1907 membership had grown to l13, reaching a high of 160 by 1939. In l949, the Edna Congregational Church, no longer a thriving work merged with the church in Kinder.

During the latter years of Brother Leeds' ministry, no longer able to keep up such a rigorous pace, summer helpers were a great asset to the work. These included Julian Burke in 1940, Bruce Waltke in 1955 and Dan Sauerwein in 1957.

Brother Leeds died of a heart attack at the age of 88 on October 15, 1958. Following in his steps were Richard Ayers who pastored the church until 1963. It was during his pastorate that the educational building was added in 1962. Then Brother William Seth Baggett led the church in the Lord's service from 1966 to 1975 following the brief ministry of Stanley Hartman from 1964 to 1965. Other pastors since 1975 who have given brief terms of service are Donald Johnson and Andy Winslett. Brent D. Stake has been the pastor since October 1976.

Rev. Paul Leeds	1895 - 1958
Rev. Richard Ayers	1958 - 1963
Rev. Stanley Hartman	1964 - 1965
Rev. William Seth Baggett	1966 - 1975
Rev. Donald Johnson	Interim 1975
Rev. Andy Winslett	1975 - 1976
Rev. Brent D. Stake	1976 - 1987
Rev. Porter E. Vickery	1987 - 1992
Rev. Don Fields	1992 - 1997
Rev. U. A. Doiron	Interim 1997 - 1998
Rev. Robert Jones	1998 - Present


Rev. Paul Leeds	First Congregational Church


Rev. Paul Leeds	First Congregational Church