I had the privilege of growing up at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.  My family moved to Houston in 1965 when I was 6 years old.  My father was a Methodist Minister who had taken the job as President of Goodwill Houston through a special appointment from the Bishop, so finding the right church was important.  I have so many memories of those early days and all make me smile.  The only time we took a break from St Luke’s is when we moved from Afton Oaks to Kingwood and my dad volunteered to start the Kingwood United Methodist Church in our living room.  It quickly grew and after two years of building a strong foundation, a fulltime minister was hired to grow the church and we returned to St. Luke’s. When Joan and I were married at St. Luke’s after college, we made new memories as a young married couple and loved raising our two sons in the church.  Since there are so many memories, I decided to list some of them.   Hopefully, these will bring a smile to your face especially if you experienced any of them.

Memories include: Our marriage in the Sanctuary; Being founding members of Genesis class;  Steve’s Confirmation classes and receiving the Young Readers Bible;  Steve’s child performances in the Fellowship Hall then called the ”Green Room”; Family Night Dinners on Wednesday night; Summer Day Camp, Vacation Bible School; Boy Scouts and meeting at the Wynn Blanton Building (the building looks and smells the same as it did in 1969 to 1971); Volleyball with the Genesis Class followed by Blanco’s; Roller Skating in the Gym; Bibles from our Genesis Class for each newborn; St Luke’s picnic at Astroworld; Sunday School Softball games; Dad’s funeral in the Sanctuary; Walk to Emmaus; Our sons being baptized (My Dad baptized our oldest and Dr. Moore baptized our youngest), Kid activities growing up in the Church…..just to name a few.

Over the years, there are many times when our church put their arms around us and lifted us up.  One that stands out was eight years ago when Joan’s younger brother Mike, who had been diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, began to fail and was placed on the transplant list for heart and lungs.  We spent several months at Methodist hospital waiting and praying.  During this time the Doctors kept telling us that Mike needs a miracle.  Finally, one morning when Joan’s brother was at the end of life, God’s miracle happened, a match was found, and the transplant occurred.  Today Mike is healthy and is back to work and continues to be a great husband and father.  During that difficult time, we felt the love of God through the support we received from St. Luke’s UMC.  Each day during that long ordeal, a minister from our church was by our side to pray for Mike, our family and pray for a donor.  Once the donor was found, the prayers quickly shifted to healing and praying for the family of the donor.  Joan and I have never forgotten that even though Mike wasn’t a member of our church, that our church rallied around him and us.  God was present in our time of need.  Our St. Luke’s family supported, encouraged and loved us through a challenging time.  We thank God every day for Tom Pace, our Pastors, church staff and our amazing lifelong friendships through our church.

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church is the foundation of our Faith.  Thank God for our church family.

Steve Lufburrow