J. H. Hamblen

Dr. James Henry Hamblen (1877-1971) was a lifelong Texan, a pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Texas, an evangelist and revivalist preacher, and subsequent to 1946, was the founder of the Evangelical Methodist Church. He was the father of performer and songwriter Stuart Hamblen.

The son of a Civil War veteran, Hamblen spent his young life as a farmer along with his family in East Texas and briefly in Arkansas. Soon after deciding to enter the ministry in the Methodist Church, he married Alma Ernestine Williams (1881-1947). The couple had six children, Lola Mae, Oberia Matilda, Alvin Kelley, Carl Stuart, James Estel "Ebb" and John Henry.

After a long career as an itinerant Methodist circuit preacher, church planter, and pastor in East, North Central, and West Texas, Hamblen was stationed at First Methodist Church, Abilene, Texas, where he served two stints.Following disagreement over the doctrinal content of Vacation Bible School and Sunday School curriculum in 1940s, Hamblen had opted for his teachers to teach directly from the Bible because he was concerned about Modernism in the books. Hamblen made his objections known and the leadership of the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church sought to transfer Hamblen to a smaller church far away from Abilene. Rather than accept the reassignment, Hamblen invoked a rule which allowed Methodist ministers to take a sabbatical year. During this year, Hamblen began preaching to a group of about 20 persons who had left First Methodist Church of Abilene and met in a nearby home. This violated the Methodist Book of Discipline and at the next conference Hamblen was called before a cabinet of bishops to answer for his actions.

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