Community members will mark milestone with late October fiesta

That's where the congregation first convened in 1968. Members met at the trailer and sometimes at their houses for weekly worship. The now 550-member Kingwood church, the first in the area, will celebrate its mile marker anniversary with an Oct. 26 party.

Church volunteer Dawna Kaleda said she first attended Holy Comforter in 1971 with her mother, a year before the church's permanent campus broke ground. Less than 50 people attended services then, she said.

Pastor Barb Bartling said she views the church as a place to find purpose.

“We don't play church, we are church,” she said. “This is boot camp. We practice here what God's going to have us do out there.”

Rick Janacek said he and his wife Christy discovered Holy Comforter four years after moving to the area, and wanted to help spread its message.

The sermons differ from other churches, but services are traditional in how they are conducted, Christy Janacek said.

The church offers more than 30 ministries for members that range from weight loss, grief counseling and Bible study to motorcycle riding and respite.

Bartling said approximately 35 percent of the money the church collects goes toward service organizations and community projects. She said service is the congregation's duty.

The church hosted one of its recent Sunday worships in the dark as crews worked to repair power lines damaged during Hurricane Ike. Bartling said the storm's winds sent a tree into her house, so congregation members pooled together chainsaws and other equipment to remove it, and then left to aid other residents. Some members headed to Galveston last weekend to help clean up the wrecked island.

“It wasn't a matter of checking on Holy Comforter folks,” she said. “It was checking on all folks. Our worship will always be here, with or without power.”

Members of all ages eat dinner and study The Bible every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Christy Janacek noted at a gathering Oct. 1 that a high school student was preparing the week's meal in the kitchen.

“A high school student in a church kitchen in the middle of the week,” she said. “Where else does that happen?”

Bartling said the church also bookmarks a day to bless member's pets—dogs, cats, iguanas, ferrets, turtles, fishes, birds and even snakes.

“We have a brief liturgy, and then, it's amazing, the animals settle down,” she said. “When Jesus started talking, the animals would listen.”

Kaleda said her family picks a different pet each time and would likely bless the cat this year.

Long-time community member Judy Hunt said she first attended Holy Comforter in 1974 and has noticed considerable growth in the church's Bible study and pre-school participation.

Bartling called the church “Kingwood's best kept secret.” She said she wants to change that and double the church's size in the next three years. She said the church absorbs about 30 members each year and wants to increase that number.

She said word of mouth, which early churches in Italy used to spread their messages, is the best way to increase membership.

“There's still more room for growth and that's the next 40 years,” Bartling said.

* Holy Comforter's 40th anniversary party

When: Sunday, Oct. 26 at noon after the 11 a.m. worship service.

Where: Holy Comforter Lutheran Church

1901 Woodland Hills Dr. Kingwood, TX 77339

Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett are expected to attend the ceremony

Photo: The Holy Comforter Lutheran Church opened a part of its current facility in 1972, a few years after the congregation first convened in a trailer. Community members will celebrate the church's 40th anniversary with an Oct. 26 party.