John Greiner, a Catholic from South Texas, was radically born again in 1980 after witnessing an undeniable healing miracle. An engineer by degree, he began digging into the Bible for answers. (Hear him share his testimony here.) He landed in Houston's Lakewood church, serving Pastor John Osteen, kicking off a time of intense growth and ministry development. He was ordained by Pastor Osteen in 1988, and taught classes in the church, as well as performed church weddings, funerals and personal ministry. From time to time he ministered from the pulpit or traveled with Pastor Osteen on overseas missions. In 1995, with Pastor Osteen's full blessing and commission, Glorious Way Church was born. We met for our first service on January 29th that year, quickly expanding to more than 400 members.
After two years, the church began bursting out of our leased building, and God spoke to Pastor Greiner while he was searching for land for a new church site. Regional center, the Lord said. He imagined a campus where sick people receive healing, untaught people find godly wisdom, and spiritually thirsty people receive refreshing drink from the Holy Spirit. As the church walked toward that goal, God provided a wooded 85-acre site in the Champions area of Northwest Houston. We paid for about 30% of the property up front and began making payments on the rest. For 5 years, we leased a church building which we shared with another organization. The facility was nice, but far away from our original location, plus events and signage were limited. Reaching new people became a real challenge. Sure we had land, but we needed money to begin construction. Despite our best efforts, our congregation and funds appeared to be shrinking, and even loan officers could not help us. We needed a miracle.
In July of 2002, we got one. A call came from non-Christian businessman offering a donation that would wipe out our land debt and allow us to receive a more valuable piece of property to move forward. Several months later, we accepted the donation and discovered an unconventional type of structure that could cut construction time in half - a must for us. Funding quickly came in, and in May of 2004, we joyfully moved into our current facility. Thriving once again, we continue to reach more people with the love and presence of God.
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