I joined St. Luke’s in 1983, when I moved back to Houston from New York City to continue my career in oil and gas finance and banking.  I am profoundly grateful for the life-changing, spiritual-awakening opportunities St. Luke’s has offered me and for the many life-long friendships that have grown out of the St. Luke’s family. My early life at St. Luke’s developed along two parallel tracks: administrative and teaching. In the late 1980’s, I was excited to join the church’s finance committee.  That first committee assignment began a long period of service on the finance and executive committees.  The highlights of my administrative years were chairing the 1995 stewardship campaign, the year St. Luke’s celebrated its 50th anniversary, and then chairing the Board of Stewards in 1998.  I made life-long friends during these years and learned from amazing mentors at every turn. These years taught me servant leadership and I [...]

My St. Luke’s story goes back 65 years to August 21, 1955, the day I was baptized by Rev. Durwood Fleming in what is now Fellowship Hall (the original “temporary” Sanctuary). Of course, I have no memory of that day, but every time I am in Fellowship Hall, I think about how this was the spot where my SL journey began. My parents Ray and Camille Simpson were not founding members; they hadn’t even met yet in 1945, and didn’t marry until 1948. Because the SL congregation was still holding services at Lamar HS, their wedding took place in the beautiful sanctuary of Bethany Christian Church, right across Eastside St. from Lamar. A few years after I was born, my dad got transferred to New Orleans, where I spent my elementary school years at Lake Vista Methodist Church. But every [...]