(Kim Kyle Morgan, Houston Chronicle)
Instead of colorful stained glass, there’s vibrant green grass. Instead of wooden pews, there are metal folding chairs. Instead of the sounds of fidgeting and whispering, birds are singing, insects are chirping and the rumble of an unseen train fills the background. This is the Under Over Fellowship, a church without walls, windows or doors.
“They can’t close the doors on us here because there are no doors,” “Underling” Gregory Miskowski said. It’s happened to Gregory and his wife, Jacqueline, before. “Other churches told us not to come back because of our tattoos,” he said.
Several months ago, Gregory and Jacqueline left a life of drugs and alcohol in Florida, hoping for a fresh start in Texas. They soon found themselves jobless and homeless. Searching for a church left them feeling hopeless, until they came across Under Over Fellowship in Conroe.
Lead Pastor Jerry Vineyard makes the rounds in Conroe, seeking out the homeless, defeated and broken for his services on Sundays at Heritage Place Park. “I started street ministry, but I was still learning who God wanted me to be,” said Vineyard, a 37-year-old married father of two. “Finally I realized that it was OK to be a pastor of a church that doesn’t have a building, that meets in a park.”
With the support of the city of Conroe, Vineyard preached his first service in Heritage Place Park on March 20, 2011. (Read more at the Houston Chronicle)
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