Circuit Riders

In the early years, Circuit riders were most often lay preachers without formal education. They were young, poor, and, for the most part, single. Traveling thousands of miles a year.

Though circuit riders eventually represented many different denominations but none were more aggressive or effective than the Methodists. In 1838, there were only six Methodist circuit preachers for the whole Republic of Texas, but this number soon grew. Supervised by presiding elders under the authority of itinerant bishops, circuit riders helped make the Methodists the largest religious group in Texas.

Circuit preachers received little pay, and sometimes only farm crops for their services. Each congregation was responsible for collecting a circuit rider’s salary but many early pioneers had little or no money to spare. This posed a great hardship for preachers with families to support. However, the difficulty of getting paid was nothing compared to the poor working conditions. Lack of roads, bad weather, diseases, and far-flung communities took their toll. They many times had to fight wild animals, robbers, Indians and just plain bad people to serve their Circuits. One Methodist Circuit rider had to kill some Indians. His supervising elder spoke to him about Christians didn't do things like that. The Methodist Preacher invited the supervising elder to ride along with him. One Methodist Rider took 6 months to cover his Circuit. Of the 737 Methodist circuit preachers that died prior to 1847 nearly half were under the age of 30. Did God kill the Circuit Riding Preachers and their congregations or was life extremely hard back then.