Woodlands Church

Woodlands Church (formerly known as Fellowship of The Woodlands or FOTW) is a non-denominational mega church located in The Woodlands, Texas, about 27 miles north of downtown Houston, Texas, led by Senior Pastor Kerry Shook. Shook founded the church in 1993, and it is now the 9th largest church in the US and the 4th fastest-growing church in the US, with an average attendance of over 18,434 people each week.

The church is located on three campuses. The main campus is in The Woodlands, Texas, with the others in Atascocita, Texas, and Tomball, Texas.

History

Kerry Shook established the church in 1993 with his wife, Chris Shook. It initially had eight worshipers,[1] and rented facilities at The Woodlands High School for its services. Shook was previously a pastor at Airline Manor Baptist Church.[2]

In 2001 it had about 10,000 members in its congregation,[3] with that number attending on a basis of two to three months, and with 6,000 regularly going every weekend.[2] Its permanent church building opened on August 19, 2001.[3] It is located on a 65-acre (26 ha) plot of land, with a 150,000-square-foot (14,000 m2) building, including a 4,000 seat multipurpose room. The facility had a cost of $24 million.[2]

In 2005 it held a 12th-anniversary celebration with Randy Travis performing.[4]

Circa 2007 the church had about 14,000 worshipers per Sunday. About 2,000 of them, including 800 regular worshipers, were from Atascocita, Humble, and the Kingwood area of Houston. In response to the numbers of Worshipers, the church established Woodlands Church East, a satellite center, held at Atascocita High School on Sundays.[1]

By 2008 the number of total Sunday worshipers in The Woodlands and Atascocita had increased to 15,000,[5] and its congregation included about 3,000 children. The church had established a children's center at its main Woodlands church.[6] On September 14 of that year it established another satellite campus held at the Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball.[5]

In 2013 the church had about 2,000 parishioners from Conroe or from areas north of Conroe; that year it began the Conroe campus with worship at Conroe High School.[7]

See also

References
  1. Meinholz, Susan (2007-09-12). "Fellowship of The Woodlands opens church in Atascocita". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  2. Durrenburger, Roy (2001-07-26). "Fellowship of Woodlands to move into new facility". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  3. Bosse, Sondra (2001-08-09). "Fellowship of The Woodlands Church moves into new home". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  4. Rowe, Deborah (2005-11-23). "Fellowship of the Woodlands celebrated 12th anniversary with legendary musician Randy Travis". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  5. Schumann, Anna (2008-09-04). "Woodlands church opens Tomball satellite campus". Houston Chronicle. The Potpourri. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  6. Hodges, Lauren (2008-03-31). "Fellowship of The Woodlands making most of child center". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  7. Roden, Howard (2013-01-14). "Woodlands Church launches Conroe campus". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-09-12.


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