Our History

Around 1981, Madison began to grow from a small sleepy cotton town to a bustling suburb of nearby Huntsville. Cotton fields were slowly turning into new homes, stores, churches, and schools. As a result of this growth, Madison United Methodist Church started growing too. In 1982, Marcus Long became the pastor and Madison UMC added an 8:30am service to accommodate the growing number of people. In 1983, Sam Burns became the Associate Pastor.

A study committee was formed at Madison UMC that spent countless hours researching every angle and seeking advice from the UMC General Board in New York. Upon completion of the study, three options were given. The first one was to do nothing and let another group make the effort to rebuild or add on. The second option was to move the parsonage and expand the current building. The third and final option was to relocate the church. These options were presented to the Administrative Board for a vote. Their recommendation was to relocate the church.

In November 1985, a church-wide conference was held and the vote from the congregation was to relocate. This was a sensitive issue and was met with some dissension. Many of the members wanted two churches, and many did not want to see any sort of change at all. After much thought and many discussions with the District Superintendent, the decision was made to let those who wanted to help start a new church.

Another church conference met on Sunday, January 18, 1986. Those wanting to go to the new church signed a charter and placed it on the altar. Following the charter service, a Nomination Committee to select officers was chosen by the new charter members.

In December, Sam had told a few people about a warehouse building on Palmer Road that would be a great temporary location for the new church. One of the members rented the building and volunteers renovated it to be suitable for use as a church. (Presently, the Alabama Framer resides in the warehouse building that used to be Asbury UMC.)

The new church members met on February 2, 1986 to elect officers and to name their new church. Several names were submitted and Asbury was chosen, naming the new church for Francis Asbury who was the first Methodist bishop appointed in America.

We were able to retain Sam as our Associate Pastor because a family had pledged his salary for 3 years. Tragically, he never served as our Associate. Sam died in a motorcycle accident the very day of the meeting to choose a name for the church. Marcus was appointed our Senior Pastor and David Carboni came as the Associate Pastor in June 1986.

The “Warehouse” as it was called had a sanctuary about three-fourths the size of our current fellowship hall. Basically it served as a kitchen, fellowship hall, choir room, and classrooms. There were a few extra classrooms built for the children — but only one bathroom for everyone!

The first service of Asbury UMC was held on March 2, 1986 with 361 people attending. The charter opened in January with 283 full members and 100 preparatory members. The charter closed on March 30 with 329 full members and 150 prep members. Marcus spoke the following profound words that day in 1986: “Two years ago it became evident that Methodism needed to take a new approach and direction in this community, and this morning you gather as part of that direction.”

Church members did all of the construction. Marcus was inspired to finalize the points of his sermon when he witnessed the transformation of the Warehouse on Saturday, March 1 and saw the group of workers adjourn at 9:15 pm with the completion of the altar rail. Today, that rail is a portion of the chancel rail in our current sanctuary. It was built in sections and has been expanded several times.
Marcus made three points in that historical sermon: “First, there is a time for prayer. Let us not forget that there is a time in your life and mine when we need the strength and direction that only prayer can give.

Second, there is a time to act. I wish all here today could have seen what has happened in this warehouse over the past three weeks and seen the action that was taking place.

Third, we must pray that God will give us the courage to take the first step.”

Marcus compared the early Asbury days to Peter walking on the water and what a feat it was. Marcus closed with, “If you are going to walk on the water, you have to take the first step and get out of the boat. God grant us that kind of faith this morning.”

A building committee was elected shortly after moving into our temporary location on Palmer Road. In May 1986, Dr. Robert Ferbee came from the General Board to lead a Stewardship Campaign. There was lots of prayer, and a 24-hour prayer vigil was held where the teams of visitors would pledge first and pray before each visit.

One of the first questions he was asked by a member of the committee was “How much do you expect to raise?” Dr. Ferbee replied, “$250,000.00.” The committee member then said, “If that is all you feel we can do, you may as well go back to New York!” At the end of the campaign, approximately $598,000 was pledged! What a blessing from God! There was an overwhelming response from the members. Everyone would come to work and clean the building and do whatever tasks were put in front of them. Homes were refinanced and money was borrowed from banks and life insurance policies to start up Asbury. Asbury did not receive any money from the United Methodist Conference.

The guiding verse for the campaign was from Psalm 127:1 – “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” The building committee was formed and decided to start looking for a location. A church location expert from New York came to help locate the property to buy and to build our new church. Six acres at the corner of Gillespie and Hughes was purchased for $60,000. It was actually sold at $20,000 per acre, but the owner gave the church half price and was given a gift receipt for tax purposes for the other half. Several weeks went by and after Marcus visited with the current land owner for the 3rd time, he agreed to sell some additional property to us so we purchased 6 more acres at the $20,000 per acre price tag. SouthTrust Bank was willing to finance the building project.

The first service in our new building, called the Joy Building, was held on May 3, 1987. Total attendance that first Sunday was 651 people, most of whom were members.

Our sanctuary, the Faith building, was completed and occupied in June 1991. Worship attendance in 1994 averaged 898 with two worship services. A third worship service was added in September 1994. A fourth service and a second Sunday School hour were added in March 2000. Average weekly worship attendance then was 1,817.

In March 1998 the Hope Sunday School and Child Development Center building was completed. The attendance of children ages crib to sixth grade averaged 739. In March 2002 Asbury made the decision to become a missionary church. Our first Global Impact Celebration was held in January 2003. In May 2002 the new Five Points youth building was completed and youth participation averaged 345. In 2005, our youth have already outgrown their youth building, and our 10:30 am contemporary service is overcrowded. There are Sunday School classes at both hours and four worship services.

Asbury was the first United Methodist Church to be organized in the Madison community in more than one hundred years. It has grown at a rapid pace, breaking one record after another. Membership has grown from 329 to 2598 today and Sunday School attendance has grown from 219 to a record of 1,005. We average between 750-850. We are praying that God will direct Asbury into the future so that we can provide a home for the lost, unchurched, our current church family, and our future generations

 

Asbury United Methodist Church

A Attitude is important, it is what the future seems.
     Through our attitudes, we accomplish our dream.

S Sacrifices must be made in each person's life.
     We give our talent, our time, and our tithe.

B Believe in each other, believe in our goal.
      In the bitterest winter, we will never be cold.

U United we stand, each one doing their share.
     We could not have done it, without God, without Prayer.

R Remember what we've been through, to get where we are.
     Think of the future, we could go so very far.

Y Youth is all around us, in the young and the old.
     There is so much ahead of us, and our church of PURE GOLD !