History:

On September 12, 1900, the St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church was organized by committed group of servants in Humble, Texas under the pastoral leadership of the Reverend R. F. Skinner. The officers at that time included James Warren as Secretary; deacons were Rueben Banks, R. A. Harden, George Brown, H. White, J. W. Reed, M. J. Phillips and R. B. Reece. The first sanctuary was located in the city of Humble, behind the Lindsay Lumber Co. After almost thirty years of faithful service in this location, late one night, a town meeting was held by the white citizens of Humble. The result of that meeting was a unanimous decision to ask the black citizens of Humble to relocate to an undeveloped location on the outskirts of town. That area soon became known as "Bordersville," a community with a rich and often untold story.

Bordersville began its development in 1927 when the Humble sawmill closed and blacks who had worked there were forced to leave. Edgar Borders opened a mill nearby, hired some of the unemployed and provided wooden shacks for housing. In 1940 the community had one store and a population of about 100, but remained at least five miles from the nearest school in the Aldine Independent School district and an even further distance from the grocery stores and libraries. In 1941, Borders closed the mill and rented or sold the land that became known as Bordersville to the people living there. In 1963 when Borders died most residents did not own the land they lived on, but no one asked them to leave and the community continued to grow.

In the early part of the 1930's, St. Luke was moved to the Bordersville community. The church building was moved by a mule team provided by Ellis Hearn and the land was donated by Arthur and Hattie Holland who owned a grocery store in the neighborhood. St. Luke quickly became not only a physical resource, but a spiritual reservoir to the developing community. During the early part of 1940, many of those who joined the St. Luke family were baptized in a little place called the Happy Hole, which was a creek that flowed into the San Jacinto River.

St. Luke has attempted to not only impact the community spiritually, but socially as well. Many of the members led voter registration drives as well as campaigns to insure that Bordersville residents had equal access to city and state resources. Though attention to these needs was not met immediately, the members didn't give up and eventually succeeded. Despite the adversity of the 1960's, Laura M. Hill, a St. Luke member, became one of the first black female principals in the Aldine Independent School District.

Throughout the 1960's, 70's and 80's, St. Luke continued to thrive in ministry and would soon face one of her toughest challenges. On November 7, 1990, the church was destroyed by fire. Serving as pastor at that time was the Reverend Wilford Colbert. Along with a committed assembly of leadership, Pastor Colbert and the church united to begin the rebuilding process. During the rebuilding process, St. Luke held its worship services at the Bordersville 3-H Center. On September 20, 1992, almost two years after the fire, St. Luke celebrated its 92nd church anniversary in a new sanctuary. Soon after completing the new church, St. Luke changed its leadership and the Reverend Wilbert C. Baker was installed as the new Pastor.

With the dedication of a new facility and a change in leadership came new ministries. In 1998, St. Luke was blessed to open a library to serve its members and children. Additional properties were purchased and parking had to be extended to accommodate St. Luke's growing membership. Soon thereafter an educational building consisting of 10 classrooms and an overflow section were added onto the sanctuary

Over the years, St. Luke has enjoyed a long history of pastoral leadership. However, the church has definitely been tried by the fire of crisis. In the early part of 2001, St. Luke found itself without a pastor. With a strong faith in God, the St. Luke family entered a prayerful period of seeking God's divine guidance and petitioning Him for a shepherd after His own heart. In May of 2002, God answered those prayers and the Reverend Dr. Timothy W. Sloan responded to the call to become the Senior Pastor of St. Luke. Not only did he send a Pastor concerned with spiritual healing, He also sent a First Lady concerned with medical healing in Sonya Sloan, M.D.

Upon arriving at St. Luke, Pastor Sloan immediately began articulating God's vision for the church as a holistic ministry meeting the needs of members and the community through: Spiritual Development, Social Witness, Economic Empowerment and Health Awareness. In 2006, Pastor Sloan led the church in the purchase of 21.7 acres of land on South Houston Avenue in Humble. In 2009, St. Luke paid off the property in full and now owns the land outright. In 2010 St. Luke began the building of a new facility that will tremendously increase the ministry capacity of the church. In January of 2011, St. Luke began a Spanish-Speaking Mission which meets at the 8906 Humble Westfield Rd. location with 2 services on Sunday and 2 during the week. St. Luke continues to experience tremendous growth in membership and has become known as simply, "The Luke," a church that is building bridges for future generations.