If you’ve kept up with Shaunie Henderson and her husband’s social media recently, you’d know the couple is facing some serious challenges in their ministry. Her husband, Pastor Keion Henderson, has led one of the oldest churches in Houston and Shaunie has been a remarkable fit as first lady of the Houston Lighthouse Church. Now together, they have to pull their congregation through a crisis that struck a month ago. Hurricane Beryl lashed Houston on July 8 and caused significant damage to the city. The Lighthouse Church was one of the worst hit.

We’ve seen the north campus in Humble through Shaunie’s weekly roundups on Instagram with inspirational messages and doing fun challenges with fellow parishioners. In Keion’s update on his YouTube channel, the sprawling building is now in shambles.

Wearing a hard hat and safety gear, Keion took cameras on a dicey trip through the building with its roof caved in at several spots. The chairs are piled away in the hall because of collapsing structures. He said that the damage was escalating with mildew and rot setting in. “We have no carpet, we have no ceiling, we have little to no ventilation. It’s extremely warm in this building.” 

The sanctuary is the worst hit and in initial inspections, the building was flooded with three-feet-high water. A month ago, it was also reported that the electrical situation was dangerously compromised.

In this unfortunate situation, Henderson skipped the introduction and fanfare of his usual YouTube channel. The 20,000-strong congregation is displaced and relocated to another church. But the Lighthouse Church continues to run its outreach services at the local community center. The local community has extended support to the displaced members, and he’s grateful to people around the country who sent in support to keep them afloat. Henderson stated they are in “dire straights” in this rebuild. However, the Hendersons got devastating news and are reaching out for help.

Back to the drawing board for Keion Henderson

Henderson went deep into the Houston Lighthouse Church history. It’s been around for 15 years but didn’t have a building for at least five years. Now it has four physical campuses around the city. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Keion Henderson also built a widespread online ministry that still operates.

Before Hurricane Beryl, Henderson revealed they were making plans to expand the sanctuary in the north campus to accommodate a 1000 more people. He and Shaunie had successfully completed the second annual Cry Out Experience before the disaster and that event was drawing more people to Houston Lighthouse Church.

Now the situation is back to square one, in the days when the church was first founded. The Hendersons are confident Lighthouse Church will rebuild and are hoping more people extend help in their efforts.