About Us

God began to deal with the Raynes family to launch a brand new church in Hessmer, LA. While there were challenges along the way, including the Raynes’ moving from Texas, God made it possible for the work to begin. Pastor Jarryd Raynes, his wife Leslie, son Kingston, joined by Pastor’s grandparents, held their first service on September 6, 2015. Upper Room Church (URC) was born!

URC first met at The Woodmen of the World Lodge on Main Street in Hessmer and rented their space by the day and had to set up and tear down all of the equipment every service. This was home for the first six months but as the congregation began to grow another location was desperately needed.

God opened the door for URC to rent a permanent building at 3910 Hwy 114 in Hessmer in March 2016 and no longer had to set up and tear down the equipment every service. Over the next 15 months URC experienced tremendous growth – almost tripling in size – and growing a variety of new ministries along the way.

In June 2017 URC moved once again to 2906 Main Street in Hessmer. The new facility is about 2.5 times larger than the previous one and helped URC continue to reach the Hessmer and Avoyelles Parish community.

URC moved again but it was right next door to 2914 Main St. in Hessmer. Due to COVID-19 our Church in a Day project was postponed but our new location offered us a lot of wonderful opportunities to grow and reach our community.

The URC family is so excited about our Church-In-A-Day project! This new location, on a little over 3.5 acres, will allow us to continue to grow and see souls saved in Avoyelles Parish and beyond!

God has blessed URC with some of the greatest people on earth and those people are now part of our story and we’d love for you and your family to join us!