Holy Comforter Lutheran Church, located in Kingwood, Texas, has served its community since 1966—but it didn’t start off in its current location. Back in the beginning, when Reverend V. George Brookover, TLU class of ’61, was called as mission developer, the brand new congregation met in Humble, in a trailer-chapel they shared with a small Episcopal church. Pastor Brookover had accepted the call with his wife Claudia—who graduated TLU in ’61 as well—by his side. (The two, in fact, had met on the first day of freshman year.)

“FIRST is a word that denotes a lot of our connection with Holy Comforter,” Pastor Brookover says. This was, after all, his first call after his ordination as a Lutheran pastor. He was entrusted with the task of establishing the first Lutheran Church in northern Harris County. At the time, the entire Houston area anticipated the opening of a new airport—George Bush Intercontinental—and the inevitable spike in the surrounding population that would go along with it. “The original plan was to find property to purchase south of Humble, Texas and east of U.S. 59. This idea never materialized since the opening of the airport was delayed because of weather and construction issues.”

The congregation would have four different temporary addresses before finally settling down in its current location on Woodland Hills Drive in Kingwood. With a vision of their own church building and a whole lot of faith, they broke ground in the spring of 1972—and opened their doors for the first time that Christmas Eve. “The new facility was the first church in Kingwood,” says Pastor Brookover. “By the late 1980s there were a total of six churches which were located on Woodland Hills Drive. And many other churches were established throughout the community.”

As the first pastor serving a congregation in Kingwood—with more people moving to the area every day—Pastor Brookover had the opportunity and challenge of welcoming the new clergy and new residents. In peak times of construction, there could be as many as 25 new families moving into recently purchased residences in the span of a month.

More firsts were to come: The congregation offered the first pre-school and the first Mother’s-Day-Out ministries. Claudia took on educator roles in both of these programs, and in the early 1990s, she was hired to be the congregation’s very first Director of Christian Education.

As the congregation grew larger and larger it became more apparent that additional clergy and support staff were needed. At one time there were 12 full- and part-time people on the team.

In March of 1996, Pastor Brookover shifted gears. “We departed Holy Comforter when George accepted a call from the Gulf Coast Synod-ELCA to be an Intentional Interim Pastor,” the Brookovers say. “Claudia resigned from her positions and taught at a Kingwood Catholic school. And she completed her professional career as a teacher in the Humble Independent School District.”

H. Eldon "Cliff" Akerman was the church’s next pastor, following on the heels of Pastor Brookover. He’d signed on as an interim rector and became senior pastor a year later. He stayed with the parish until 2002, when he retired with the understanding that he would remain as interim until a new rector was called.

In 2003, the parish found their next shepherd in another TLU alum. Reverend Barbara L. Bartling, class of ’89, stepped into the role of pastor at Holy Comforter and remains there still.

As part of its 40th anniversary celebration in 2008, October 26th was declared "Holy Comforter Lutheran Church Day" in Houston and Harris County, Texas.

These days, the church is going strong, and it still maintains its faithful connection to TLU. “There are a number of graduates from TLU in the congregation and several previous Board of Regents members from here as well,” says Pastor Barb. “We have hosted the TLU Choir on tour. Dr. Cottrell

has visited. Previous campus pastors have preached here. There is a long history between the two.”

Pastor Barb currently sits on the Board of Regents at TLU, and one of the young adults in the parish, Claire Carver, will be attending TLU this fall!