In 1958, The Board of Missions of the United Methodist Church purchased five acres on Berkeley Avenue for a future church site. Berkeley United Methodist Church was officially founded on March 1, 1972 with the appointment of the first pastor, Reverend W.B. Sandberg, and the assistance of a retired Methodist minister, Dr. Sidney McCaig. Services were held for awhile at Cunningham Elementary School. Construction began in January 1974, and the first worship services were held in the new building on August 25. Two classroom buildings were added in 1979, and a prayer room was constructed in 1993. The most recent addition to our facilities is our new Christian Life Center, which was dedicated in May, 1998. This is phase one of our master plan to enlarge and improve our facilities so that we can reach out to the surrounding community to serve them in Christ's name.

Berkeley has been blessed with nine pastors. After Reverend Sandberg came Reverend David Stewart, Reverend Kim Cape, Reverend James Carter, Reverend Rick Ricker, Reverend Patti Herndon, Reverend Dea Eggleston, and Cynthia Kepler-Karrer. Our current pastor is Reverend Jeannie Whitehurst, who has been with us since June, 2008. 

The Legend of the Bell
When the church gathered to celebrate 25 years, many of the charter and long-time members shared stories of "the early days" of our church. One of the favorites was the story of the "stolen" bell, as told by one of the participants:

When the new church building was completed in 1974, the congregation was very pleased and excited. The one thing that they still wished for was a bell to hang in their tower. After some searching, the pastor discovered one at an abandoned church in a very small community between Bastrop and Smithville.

Church member Ronny Smith recruited a friend who owned a crane to go with him to West Point, Texas, to retrieve the bell from the old church building and bring it to its new home. As the men were dismantling the tower to get the bell out, some residents became alarmed that someone was stealing their bell, and they threatened to call the sheriff. It seems that the building had been turned into a domino parlor, and the bell was rung when it was time to play! Only after Mr. Smith produced a letter from the Methodist Board giving him permission to remove the bell did the residents agree to let the men continue. After the bell was removed, Mr. Smith and his friend restored the old bell tower to its previous state, and hauled the bell back to Austin.

When the bell arrived on Berkeley Avenue, it was cleaned, refurbished, and hung in its place of honor. It still rings out every Sunday morning, and on other special occasions, to call the people to worship and celebrate. Charter member Ed Tower had been the official Berkeley bell ringer for all these years, but he pasted away in 2008 leaving us searching for a bell ringer for the next 36 years.

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