Westminster Presbyterian Church Centennial Books

Dr. Warner DuBose 1923 - 1925

At a congregational meeting on March 25, 1923, a call was extended to the Dr. Warner DuBose, a pastor of historic Old Stone Presbyterian Church in Lewisburg, WV. Our very first minister, Dr. DuBose was born and reared in China, where his father was a pioneer missionary. It is recalled that the entire congregation of the downtown church was invited to the new Sunday School building on Sunday, April 22, to welcome Dr. DuBose to hear his first sermon in the new Sunday School building. That gymnasium must have been packed. And just for fun, how much did our first minister get paid? His annual salary was $4000. In comparison, the average salary in the U.S. was $3200, so not too bad. He also had a manse provided on North Street. Within a year and a half, there was talk of organizing a separate Presbyterian church for South Bluefield. The proposal was for those members of the “ mother church ” who lived in this part of the city, to leave their beloved downtown church and form something new. Now here ’ s something I had not heard of before. Originally, it was proposed that Bluefield Presbyterian Church abandon the downtown location and replace it with the new one in South Bluefield. According to observations that were made that day, it seemed that the men favored the idea, but the women voted down that plan – so, “ we ” were born -- but we still didn ’ t have a name. Of our 239 charter members, 208 were received from the downtown church, 23 by letters from other churches, and eight on profession of faith. After the church clerk had finished documenting all these membership changes, the downtown Bluefield Presbyterian Church still had 548 members. Think about the reality of this decision – the downtown church was giving up over 200 of its members, probably some of its most active members, and giving up hundreds of dollars from regular contributors -- losing that many people all at once would be a major loss for any church. And this wasn ’ t some unfortunate group of upset members leaving their church. This was an authorized plan, an elaborate dream, a plan costing a lot of their money – and it was done with the blessing of their church leaders and members. At a meeting of the congregation on Oct 21, 1923, the downtown Presbyterian church gave the proposed new church (without a name) the Sunday School building it had built and the manse it had purchased on North Street. The two properties represented an investment of $40,000. And if that wasn ’ t enough, Bluefield Presbyterian Church also agreed to assume the entire remaining indebtedness on the two properties, $29.000. Talk about wonderful generosity! They didn ’ t want us, the new South Bluefield Church (still without a name), to start off with any debts to pay. Was that not an extravagantly generous gift to us at our beginning? And all this was done, with “ no strings attached. ”

While the world and its increasingly backward ways are constantly having an impact on our desires and rubbing off on us through the enemy ’ s creative schemes, the church is here to remind us that we have been cleansed and that our hope remains in a Savior who is here to rescue us.

Paul Wilkinson

The prayers of the people of Westminster were a great encouragement to us as we know they played a large part in our protection from harm, good health, open doors for the Gospel and bearing varieties of fruit.

Steve and Charlotte Newcomb

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