The last trek of summer— a camper behind my newer Dodge Lariat pickup—oh, boy would Obama be mad if he knew  I traded up for less gas mileage in a truck that barely fits in my garage. While driving endless miles of high plains, I tried not to think how much I had already spent just to get going west.  I just thanked the Lord for a big safe truck after passing a crunched beetlebug in a wreck.

Five days earlier my little Jeep Liberty fumed and fizzed even with a new radiator, letting me know she was NOT going to haul a camper ever again. So Liberty went to college with my grandson and I checked out Cash for Clunkers– Deal or no deal. However, the deal requires the buyer to buy a brand new car and 2009 pickups aren’t the best deal on the lot. No deal.

However, the “preowned” azure blue Lariat on the lot kept winking at me– we bonded immediately—12 mpg or not. Soon two women, two dogs, et al plus a camper headed north by northwest. Linda, my fellow Texian Christian Writer, and I stopped at every courthouse and most of the markers looking for God’s handiwork in the Panhandle. And we found it.

The absolute vastness of God’s Country amazed us wherever we went. Viewing endless horizons took our breath away. Old churches, cemeteries, courthouses, decaying barns and dying towns all had a story to tell. Stopping at Quanah, Texas a lovely monument to the last Comanche chief contains a blessing for the town from the old chief:

MAY THE GREAT SPIRIT SMILE ON YOUR LITTLE TOWN, MAY THE RAIN FALL IN SEASON, AND IN THE WARMTH OF THE SUNSHINE AFTER THE RAIN, MAY THE EARTH YIELD BOUNTIFULLY. MAY PEACE AND CONTENTMENT BE WITH YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN FOREVER.

How many people know that this last Comanche chief became a Christian and preached the Gospel to his own tribesmen and that a son became a Methodist minister and two daughters, missionaries?

While traveling old route 66 which intertwined with I-40 we wanted to stop at inviting landmarks but we kept pushing toward Groom, Texas.  From several miles away we begin to see a huge cross against a landscape of never-ending fields and ranch land.  In fact, the cross of Jesus Christ is billed as “tallest cross in the Western Hemisphere.” Where else but Texas?  Circled around the base of this monstrous edifice are the 13 stations of Christ’s journey from the Last Supper to His crucifixion.

We stayed until nightfall, smitten with the peaceful surroundings, the statuary reflecting the message of Jesus’ sacrifice for all mankind.  It was a time to pause and pray not for just our immediate needs but also for Texas and our nation under siege of tyranny against our freedoms.

One statue of Jesus held an unwanted aborted baby and we realized how far from our Christian moorings we have strayed to allow 40 million of them to perish. The hope for America is repentance, revival, reformation followed by times of refreshing. It can start in Texas.

Later that night we arrived at the campsight before heavy thunderstorms and decided to keep the 16’ trailer tethered to the heavy duty truck. Although a bit unnerving with the crackling lightning, blowing rain, and howling wind, I kept repeating Psalm 34:7, “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them.” My two shih-Tzu’s’ faith wavered however as they trembled on top of my single bed as no one slept all night.

We revived the next day which proved to be another faith-building day. As two Texas writers-Chistorians, Linda and I eagerly anticipated a research afternoon in the famous Panhandle Plains Historical Museum on the West Texas A&M campus in Canyon. I needed to resource one particular book that included documented information about Quanah Parker that I use in my power point presentations.

Unfortunately the curator earlier decided to take two days off in the middle of the week and closed the research floor. I voiced my disgust at having traveled halfway across Texas to find the library closed on a weekday. A most sympathetic head security guard sent a lady who politely unlocked the research room and found the very book I needed. As we left at closing time I thanked him while noticing he had a Bible in his hand, “God used you to help us today. I see you have the Sword of the Spirit in your hand.”

“That’s why I don’t carry a gun,” he replied politely and was gone.

With all the information we needed we headed back to the camper to get ready for the most wonderful experience of the trip: “TEXAS!”  the famous outdoor musical about the Plains history of Texas. The better than Broadway production has gone on for 40 years and this summer played to 60,000 visitors.

A Texas size steak dinner pre-empted the 3 hour show which ended in a dazzle of fireworks.

Not until we exited the gate did I find another God thang. The noise had frightened Barney and Bonnie so badly that they escaped through a back window into the  pickup bed, vaulted over the sides onto asphalt (at least a 5’ drop ) and were headed down the canyon road  when two park rangers scooped them up and stood outside the gate holding them for someone to recognize their lost pets!  I guess pets have guardian angels too.

The next day we decided to return and take the scenic mile journey descent into Palo Duro Canyon. The heat was brutal but we took a lot of pictures that convinced us Texas has everything, even the “Little Grand Canyon.” Forget Colorado and travel Texas. We also learned later that same day a college student died hiking the canyon in the 100+ heat. His motivation was to get away from stress and find time with God. He did.

PALO DURO:  THE LITTLE GRAND CANYON

Clouds began forming and another severe weather alert motivated us to get back to camp and batten down the hatches PLUS tether the trailer to the truck once more for additional security. I did leave the bathroom vent open knowing that any water would naturally flow in the shower stall. Did I realize that the elevated camper would not drain normally? Nope. Another burn and learn lesson on the way.

The next day we planned to leave for Plainview and Lubbock. Rolling off my little bed I stepped into 2” of water on the camper floor. In everything give thanks, the Good Book says, so I thanked God the water was not septic nor grey but smelled like, uh, rain.  I was also thankful that I had enough towels, sheets, and coverlets to sop up the refreshing water.

A mad dash for Lubbock and civilization ensued. My best friend from college put us up for two days and two nights—it took that long to wash all the wet laundry and dry out every saturated thing in the camper. Undaunted, we visited the most hero-honoring war memorial I have seen in Texas. Etched in stone are a few of the several phrases that every student of history should learn.

LUBBOCK VETERANS WAR MEMORIAL

“This will remain the land of the free as long as it is the home of the brave.” Elmer Davis

“Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it until the test comes.” Carl Sandburg.

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Joseph Campbell

“Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Our last excursion ended on the Ranching Heritage Center at my alma mater campus, Texas Tech. As I photographed the way of life on the frontier, I put all my travails across Texas to rest. I had nothing to complain about that couldn’t be fixed with conveniences our ancestors dared dream even existed. Yet they persevered,   pushed and prayed their way across Texas so one day I could see their story on stage and share their experiences in museums and then write their story– and I will.

In honor of the late radio commentator, Paul Harvey, this article will tell the “rest of the story” of Texas history as played out during March 1836.

Submitted by both the Texas Senate and the House and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry, March serves as the official month of Texas History. In March 1836 Texas  the beginning of the end for state-controlled civil and religious liberties and tyrannical rule of a dictator of the land called Coahuila y Tejas. “Where liberty dwells, there is my country,” said 18-year-old Joanna Troutman, fashioning a flag for the Georgia Volunteers who come to help Texas remove the tyrant. That flag, and others like it, wave of the Texians desire to be free. Consider the month of March in the year 1836:

• March 1

The first convention is held at Washington-on-the Brazos with a purpose to determine the course of history for Texas. Would she remain a confederated state of Mexico, now coming under martial rule or an independent country committed to the republican principles of self-government as expressed in their 1824 constitution?

The delegates, learned and politically astute men, arrive from the various districts to convene in the blacksmith shop of Noah T. Byers, a man running from God to Texas. However, Noah found God in Texas and within a few years he would be the most traveled circuit-riding preacher of Texas and founder of the First Baptist Church of Waco.

• March 2

Elder Daniel Parker opened the meeting in prayer. He had brought the first fully-formed Predestinarian Baptist church body from Illinois to Texas settling at Parker’s Fort near today’s Groesbeck. His colony would face massacre and kidnap by the Comanches only two months later. Yet the bittersweet story of Cynthia and Quanah Parker is the closing chapter of Comanche warfare and the beginning of Quanah’s desire to follow Jesus Christ as Savior.

Following Sam Houston’s advice to form a government, fifty-nine determined delegates sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, asking for the “Supreme Arbiter of the Universe” to take control of the destiny of Texas. It is also the General’s 43^rd birthday. Six years later President Houston would issue a “Recommendation” to observe Texas Independence Day as a day of Christian worship.  In 1854, he would return to Independence to be baptized in the chilly waters of Rocky Creek at Independence. His  baptizer?  Rufus C. Burleson, future president of Baylor College.

• March 3

Commander William B. Travis sends a final letter from the Alamo requesting help and if none coming, he and his brave men will make sure that their deaths “cost the enemy dearly.” He then signs “God and Texas, Victory or Death!” Six months before Travis died, he had written the Methodist Conference back East to send five missionaries to Texas because there were “60,000 desperate souls in need of salvation.”

• March 4

Sam Houston is elected Commander of the Texas Army. Interestingly, in each generation God raises up a commander to defeat the tyrant. Houston’s father fought the English tyrant in the American Revolution; now it is the son’s turn to protect liberty in the new land of Tejas. He was a schoolboy when Thomas Jefferson taught the principle that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

• March 6 The Alamo does fall to the Mexican Army but 187 brave Texas men sacrifice their lives to secure precious time for their fellow Texians to flee the wrath of Santa Anna in the Runaway Scrape. “Greater love has this, than a man will lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). This act of sacrifice and the blood spilled was not in vain, for it bought Texas.

Travis, who sowed his wild oats for sometime, seemed to have found peace with God once he entrusted his young son to Methodist layman and teacher, David Ayers. He remembered that in his own youth he had accompanied his Uncle Alexander on the circuit riding trails of South Carolina and Alabama. His will quoted, “It is appointed to man once to die, and after that the judgment.” And today Travis’s Bible sits on display at the State Archives building in Austin.

• March 11

While recruiting at Gonzales, Gen. Sam Houston learns of the Alamo massacre. He evacuates the citizens then burns Gonzales to the ground. The victims, along with the remaining Texas Army, flee toward safety at the Sabine River, with a providential stop at San Jacinto that saves Texas some three weeks later. It wasn’t just “Remember the Alamo!” the men cried, or “Remember Goliad!” but Sam himself shouted, “Trust in God!”

• March 14

Captain William Ward comes under heavy attack at the Refugio mission. He too was trying to evacuate settlers and return to Goliad to help Fannin at the La Bahia mission, renamed Fort Defiance. Sometimes readers of history forget that missions were built all over Texas and that the first missionaries were the Catholic padres who accompanied soldiers as they explored Texas. They also kept the written record of evangelization of the Indians as they attempted to Christianize and civilize them.

• March 17

The delegates enter their third and final week of deliberations as they form a new constitution for the independent nation of Texas and appoint the first officers of an ad interim government: President David G. Burnet, who also presides over the Texas Bible Society; Vice-President Lorenzo de Zavala, and cabinet. From Washington-on-the Brazos, they withdrew immediately to Harrisburg to avoid capture by Santa Anna.

Since the original name of the river was “El Rio de Los Brazos de Dios,” and meant “River of the Arms of God,” those delegates literally escaped the arriving army in a boat and placed the government of Texas into the hands of God—placing their legal papers, documents, and land titles into a trunk fashioned from the convention table timbers called the “Ark of the Covenant,” trusting God to keep covenant and mercy with them for Texas. This trunk sits next to Travis’s Bible at the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives Building.

• March 19-20

Battle of Coleto Creek between Commanders James Fannin and the Mexican Army. Poor communications to and from Colonel James Fannin plus the arrival of Santa Anna’s Centralist Mexican Army result in the capture of Fort Defiance at Goliad and nearly 400 men, 2/3 of the Texas Army.

• March 27

Goliad Massacre. Under the guise of a promised release, the Mexican Army marches Fannin’s defenseless prisoners of war out in three companies and executes them by a firing squad. Fannin is last to be executed and requests his personal items to be sent home to his loved ones, and to have a Christian burial. It is Palm Sunday. Instead, he is shot in the head and tossed on a fire with the rest of the Texas heroes to be burned dishonorably and abandoned to rot.

Even the local Mexican citizens are sickened by this evil deed. One woman, Panchita Alavez, earlier successfully rescued several men and nursed them to health. Her deeds were recorded by a Dr. Charles Barnard, a surgeon, spared to use for the Mexican Army. He asks that she be remembered in history as the “Angel of Goliad.” And she is. We should never forget that many Tejanos loved Texas and hated the system set to enslave them.

Before the month is over, Remember Texas. Remember the reason you are here and working or worshipping freely in a God-blessed state. Remember that LONE STAR was the remaining star of the two-star Coahuila y Tejas flag. All the other states had catapulted into slavery to Santa Anna. Texas chose to live free or die. Finally, remember that God wills all men to be free. . . “For where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NAS).

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/flagdes.html

Jan Pierce is a frequent contributor to the Index. She is a writer, speaker, and teacher of the Christian history of Texas. Contact her for presentations at jpp830@wccs.net.

SERBIN: In Search of Religious Freedom

By Jan Payne Pierce

Toodling down a highway to Austin in 2004 to visit my youngest son, I was listening to Texas music and enjoying springtime in the Lone Star State. A still, small voice uttered, “Serbin.” Serbin, Texas, where’s that? I remembered once before hearing that name somewhere and now . . .whoosh—I passed a green sign glaring with the name “SERBIN. “ Quickly, I turned the car around to find the exit to Serbin.

Let me preface the story that I am a Christian historian—a Christorian. I research and write about the Christian heritage of America and Texas (www.GodandTexas.org) so where the Lord leads, I follow! Twelve miles south of HWY 290, I found Serbin—well, sorta, but where was it? Gone, not a building or filling station in sight.

Once a vibrant growing German community, now only the remnants of another generation plows the verdant fields. So Lord, what do you want me to know about Serbin? I wheeled into a nearby farmer’s yard and caught his attention. “Where’s Serbin?” I asked, “Is there anything religious about this name?”

“Yah, sure der is—“he uttered in deep Germanic tones. “De town of Serbin, she’s gone now. Just a school, church, and museum up the hill about un mile.” Thanking him, I obediently hastened up the slope. Approaching the sight, what did I see? A thriving church and Christian school. Both sit an elevation that spans the 360° horizon of the lumbering hill country. Birds were singing and children playing as I opened the door of my jeep, significantly labeled Liberty and stepped out on the church school grounds.

My eyes next caught the historical monument nearby. It read:

SERBIN CHURCH FOUNDED

IN 1854

Wendish immigrants left Europe

In search of religious liberty in

Texas.

And then I remembered President George Bush’s famous inaugural statement: “Freedom is God’s gift to mankind.”

A little kid ran up to inform me that I could learn all about the church by punching a nearby speaker’s box. Finding that box, I punched the button and sat down on a stone bench to listen. However, I  almost grabbed a tree branch when the next sentence bellowed, “You are standing on Holy Ground.” I knew God sometimes spoke, but this was too surreal. Actually, it was a German pastor’s voice recounting the historical record of the Serb’s flight to freedom from persecution to find their place of refuge in Texas.

As I drove home I could only praise God for letting me find one of His jewels of the Christian heritage of Texas. I saved a free brochure of that sacred history and have reprinted it in full:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF SERBIN

Beset by economic and religious oppression a group of Lutheran Wends formed a congregation at Dauban, Saxony, for the purpose of immigrating to Texas. They called the Rev. Johann Kilian, a graduate of the University Leipzig, to be their pastor and leader. It was in 1854 when 588 souls set sail in the “Ben Nevis” in order to find a new home in a new country.

Cholera on the sea, yellow fever in Galveston, and other ailments in Houston quickly reduced their number to 500. Struggling through disease and hardships in the wilderness, they established this congregation and the community of Serbin. Of the land acquired in Lee County, ninety-five acres were set aside for church purposes.

Construction on the present church building was begun in 1867. An influx of other Germans after the Civil War led the congregation to convert their farm church in a Christian Day School and to erect a new building which according to the contract should be 70’ long and 40’wide. The keystone above the door carries the year construction began above the letters “SDG” for the Latin meaning “To God Alone Be the Glory.” Progress on the building was slow. The building was not completed and dedicated until December of 1871. The 30” red sandstone walls rise to the height of 24’. The bell tower is topped by a weathervane and metal ball containing the history of Serbin. The church costs $5000 to construct.

The unique interior of the church includes a balcony that extends all around the church. The pulpit is located above the altar at balcony level. The chandeliers are the original kerosene lamps adapted to electricity. The pews and ornate baptismal font are original. The feather painting on the wooden pillars supporting the balcony gives the illusion of marble columns. The 1904 pipe organ still has the original hand pump blower. The painting on the rear wall of the Church is the Ben Nevis which carried the Wends from Germany to Galveston, Texas.

Two Bible verses are prominently displayed in German. On the balcony below the organ are the words of Psalm 21:14 . . . “Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength; we will sing and praise your might.” In the front of the church are the words of Exodus 20:24, “Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.” This verse was originally painted where the picture of the ascension now hangs.

Originally worshippers were segregated by sex, the men sitting on the “home-made” pews upstairs and the women in the St. Louis, factory-built pews, downstairs. The pews flanking the altar were for the young girls.

Pastor Kilian and this colony of Wends were the first Lutherans in Texas to affiliate with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Under God’s gracious blessing, children’s children have become a significant influence all over Texas ands beyond.

edited by Jan Payne Pierce

The history of Texas and Texans has been called His Story. As history often relays the story of mankind, have you ever wondered what God is  up to when things happen? God has created this great land of ours, but did you know that He also helped shape its history? As people throughout history prayed for God’s blessing upon Texas and Texans, one might say that Texas was literally built with prayer.

Cabeza de Vaca

Cabeza de Vaca was the first explorer, not born upon the soil of Texas, to walk across this great land. A strong Catholic, he arrived quite by accident into Texas. In fact, his ship wrecked and  crash-landed on the Galveston Bay beach!

He wrote his accounts in a journal telling of his historic walk across Texas. He and four other companions who survived the shipwreck met many of the local people we still call Indians. Often they greeted him with respect, although some treated him harshly, not unlike some people groups today.

While traveling across Texas to go back to Spanish Mexico,  Cabeza de Vaca encountered many native peoples with various sicknesses and he healed them. Catholics of this period believed in the power of sacramentals, so Cabeza de Vaca made the sign of the cross and prayed for those whom he encountered. The healing prayers relieved many Indians, causing De Vaca to become became famous to the natives in Texas for his power. In fact, he performed the first surgery in Texas by removing an arrow from the chest of one individual.  Many may question the validity of Cabeza de Vaca’s healing ministry in Texas, but he is the first recorded Christian in Texas that prayed for the people of Texas.

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Missions

Texas missions grew from Spain’s devotion to the Catholic faith. Spain defended  the Catholic religion and  promoted the Counter Reformation. They also actively promoted the Catholic faith where ever they went in the New World. As a result, Spain established missions from Florida, to California—and this included Texas.

The King’s Highway served as the road for many missionaries following the King of Spain’s zeal to evangelize the native peoples. There were, in fact, two King’s highways: one in Georgia and one in Texas. The Texas road  became a highway for those who walked throughout Texas promoting the gospel to the native peoples.

These same missionary travelers built mission churches for the natives. There they taught native Indians the rituals and teachings of the Catholic Church. Priests  worked skillfully  to train and teach the natives practical living and a practicing Christianity.  Although the work of the missionaries has been cataloged, little information reveals their influence on the private lives of the Indians. However, native births, deaths, and baptisms have been recorded. For certain,  dedicated mission workers sent many prayers upward for the enrichment of the Indians. The county of Angelina represents a glowing story of one Indian maiden who helped evangelize the east Tejas culture.

Mexican Independence

Would you believe that a priest was responsible for the first movement toward the  independence of Mexico?  Fathers Don Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos led a movement favoring the common people in Mexico towards freedom from Spain. As they took up arms for the cause of liberty, Father Hidalgo’s famous Grito on the night of September 15, 1810, declared their dependence upon God and that they would fight for independence from Spain.

The movement spread quickly and others joined in the fight. Gutierrez, a follower of Father Hidalgo, led a movement in Texas for Independence with the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition in 1812. Friar Servando Teresa de Mier accompanied Francisco Javier Mina to New Spain to join the revolutionary forces in 1817. Although many of the leaders for Independence were captured, excommunicated and killed, the independence of Mexico from Spain became a reality in September 1821. Providentially, this was the year that Anglo immigration began into Texas.

As Father Hidalgo worked to end the taxation of the native peoples, he also worked to liberate them from the slavery they had endured under Spain. This same spirit carried over into Mexican governance. They opposed the slavery system accompanying the Anglo immigration imported from the American South into Texas. A freed slave will never enslave another.

Along with independence came the liberation of the common people in Mexico and Mexican Texas. Although African slaves were permitted in Mexican Texas for a time, they could escape into Mexico and gain their liberty. Many slaves, in fact, did this including the famous Seminole Negro Indian Scouts who meshed Catholic and Baptist religious worship with Indian rituals. In effect, the prayers for liberty by priests such as Father Hidalgo, Morelos and others for the common people had been answered. Mexico was free from Spain.

Moses Austin

A great-grandson of English Puritans, Moses Austin lived in colonial America and saw the fight for American Independence first-hand. As a lead miner, he began his business as a supplier of lead bullets for the American Revolution. He later established himself in Virginia as a lead miner and moved to Spanish Missouri to continue his work there. Along the way, he and his wife Maria raised a family to respect God and moral virtue

The life of Moses Austin was rich and full in Missouri until a national banking crisis left him without the resources to take care of his family. With  hundreds of lifetime miles already behind him, Moses prepared once more to journey.  This time he traveled into Texas with hopes of recovering his losses through land development. In 1820, Austin left with a small group of men to secure land grants for settlement in Texas.

Arriving at the border of Texas on the Arkansas side of the Sabine River, Moses Austin and the group of men set up camp.  Soon they entered Texas  traveling along the King’s highway into Texas. Those who waited for Austin held a camp meeting, exchanged sermons, and offered their prayers to God for their leader’s safe and successful return.

Arriving in San Antonio, Moses petitioned Governor Martinez for land grants but the Governor would note even give him the time of day. With adventurers from the North, called filibusters, illegally entering Texas, no Anglo was allowed to settle as a matter of Mexican law. A frustrated Moses made plans to leave that very day but providentially ran into an old friend, Baron de Bastrop then living in San Antonio.

Moses had met Bastrop thirteen  years earlier and never thought they would meet again.  A close personal friend to Governor Martinez, Bastrop interceded for Austin explaining that he had become a Spanish citizen while in  Spanish Missouri. Thus the Governor changed his mind and allowed Austin to stay in town.

Working together through Christmas 1820, Bastrop and Austin concluded their request for a land grant delivering it to the Governor. He assured Austin  of a successful  operation. With mission accomplished in San Antonio and joy in his heart, Moses began the return trip to Missouri. The prayers of Austin and his companions had been answered:  Moses received permission to settle 300 families in Texas.

However, on his return trip to Missouri from Texas, Moses Austin was robbed and left to die. In spite of winter conditions and wracked with pain, he made his way home but lay extremely ill in bed. During his lifetime, Moses had been sick enough to write to his son Stephen F. Austin about taking care of the family in the event he should die, but this time it was a sickness unto death. With his wife Maria dictating a letter, Moses wrote to Stephen telling him to carry on with the work of immigration to Texas. Moses prayed to God for the success of this mission, saying this in his letter to Stephen, just before he died.

Texas Colonials

After his father’s death, the Spanish government accepted Stephen Austin as the rightful heir to Moses Austin’s land grant. They named him impresario for the original colonists, “The Old Three-Hundred,” whom he brought into Texas. He required strict morals of all those who immigrated as they were building a new settlement that would become a state in the Mexican federation. The influence of Austin led him to become the Father of Texas. Without doubt, the prayers of his father were answered.

The Texas colonials were a mix of some Northern and many Southern Americans. They brought with them their cultures and backgrounds that included the Protestant Christian faith. Spanish and Mexican Texas, however, allowed only the Catholic  religion, backed by government authority,  to be practiced.

Colonials who did bring their faith to the forefront of public life threatened  the government of Mexico’s state-enforced religion. At Austin’s colony, a Baptist Sunday School was closed. In Corpus Christi, Bibles were confiscated and burned by Mexican officials. Mild persecution was eventually relaxed and toleration became the unspoken norm of the day.

God still heard the prayers of the several Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and other Protestants to help them practice their religion. For many years, the Texians lived at peace with their Mexican brethren and the issue of religion did not come to the forefront until Santa Anna established himself  dictator of the Centralista Party, composed of  the military and the Clergy.

Problems arose between the Federalists and the Centralists. The Federalists wanted to remain connected to the Mexican nation as a separate state while the Centralists wanted to overthrow the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Fireworks exploded in 1835 as the citizens of Gonzales defended their rights against martial law. They told Santa Anna to “Come and Take It!” if he wanted the only cannon on the frontier of Texas.

Many peace party advocates and war party advocates, called doves and hawks, saw the problem but tried to resolve the differences with Mexico in different ways. Austin wanted to reconcile with the Mexicans but others saw that as futile. Not until Dictator Santa Anna threw their colonial leader in a Mexican jail for two years did the colonists join as one to fight for total independence.

Declaring their reliance upon God, brave men gathered to write a Declaration of Independence and a constitution  for the new Republic of Texas. Prayers were offered, no doubt on both sides, as the conflict turned to war. At the Battle of the Alamo, the red flag of no quarter or “no mercy” hung from the Catholic Church next to the Alamo as the song “Deguello” played non-stop. This meant death to all the defenders of the Alamo. Inside the mission walls, peace and reconciliation went on between the men and God prior to the final battles staged in San Antonio.

Although the Alamo fell, Texans did remember the Alamo and Goliad. Those killed and massacred soon received vengeance from the Texians at the Battle of San Jacinto. Sam Houston himself said, “Victory is as certain as God reigns. I feel the inspiration in every fiber of my being. Trust in the God of the just and fear not!” Prayers dedicated to the liberty of Texas and  offered by many fighting men received that victorious answer on April 21, 1836. Civil and religious freedom became a reality for Texans–then and now–both Mexican and Anglo, Catholic and Protestant.

The Texas Republic

When Texas became an independent nation, appointed chaplains offered prayers  from the newly formed Senate chamber. Chaplains regularly performed their duties for men in public office and the chamber room doubled  for Church services on any given Sunday. No misunderstood “wall of separation between Church and state” kept God out of government. President of the Republic, Sam Houston, designated March 2 not only a day of independence, but a holy day of Christian worship thanking God for his kindness in saving Texas.

Soon the business of the Republic turned to the issue of public education. Petitions  presented to the Congress of the Texas Republic indicated  need for a general system of public education. One such petition, presented by former General Thomas J. Rusk, concluded on the matter of public education saying, “And your memorialists shall ever pray.”

Conclusion

Prayer built Texas, from Cabeza de Vaca to the mission priests who worked to liberate the souls of native Texans. For many, Christianity enriched their lives. The savage learned the arts of civilization and simple faith taught by the Catholic fathers. Christianity also taught liberty of the soul and spirit. Men such as  Father Hidalgo, Father Morelos and others were instrumental in the liberation of Texas from the yoke of Spanish conquest. Texans gained a future liberty amidst a great deal of physical and spiritual conflict, but it started when men prayed for Moses Austin at the Sabine River.  It continued when the mantle of leadership passed from father to son. Heeding the Gospel call, circuit-riding missionaries followed soon.  They established prairie home churches that filled a void for many a frontier family.

Anglo immigration is often looked upon as the beginning of the modern state of Texas, but much prayer preceded these new immigrants. Texans drew from a rich culture where prayers were regularly heard at bed and breakfast for the benefit of heart and soul. Those who heard God’s servant call to Texas  built their homes, nurtured their families, and looked to God for divine direction. Their blood, sweat, tears and PRAYERS laid the foundation for a modern Texas.

Following immigration, colonization, independence and ten years of the new Republic, Texas became a state in the union of states. Christian institutions continue to serve Texas today. Jewish communities after the Civil War found a home in Texas and many former slaves built their own institutions within the Church. The Pentecostal revival of the early 20^th century, that has spread world wide, was born from one such African Texan, William J. Seymour who after leaving for Los Angles, California, prayed vigorously for revival.

Prayer built Texas and has helped to shape the face of the world. We often hear about the spirit of Texas but forget to capitalize the “S”. It was the Spirit of God who built Texas in response to the prayers of Texans, both the native peoples and new comers. We all can pray to God in Texas and we should each and every day of our lives. Did you know that Jesus told us to pray often and taught us how to pray? If you want to be a part of His Story in Texas, all you have to do is pray. You’ll be surprised with the things God can do and what He can do through you when you Pray Texas.