The Coming King Foundation Sculpture Prayer Garden

The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden, located right off IH-10 at the main entrance to Kerrville, is the Texas Hill Country town's most popular year-round tourist attraction. It is also located approximately half way between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, at the same latitude as ISRAEL. People from every state in America, and at least 80 countries have already visited the unique 24.5 acre garden. They spend from one hour to 42 days on the holy mountain that opened to the public in 2010. Some out-of-town visitors have returned over 40 times and many bring dozens of guests. Charter buses now bring tour groups from across the USA to see the monumental artwork, enjoy the rustic native Texas landscaping and great views from the top of the 1,930’ hill.  

Visitors come 365 days a year from 7:00 AM to midnight, to experience the peace, power and presence of God Almighty at the non-denominational Christian art garden.  To the surprise of many guests, the garden is not a church or ministry.  It is an art museum, owned and operated by The Coming King Foundation (TCKF), a non-profit, 501c3 foundation created in 2004 to bless Texas and the world. An estimated 136,714 people visited the art garden in 2017. Guest attendance continues to increase every year.

On June 25, 2018, Kathy Adams, a visitor from Odessa, TX wrote: “The garden is my favorite place away from home!  We have to go to the cross always.  I have been there more than 10 times. Usually, I bring friends and stay in the area for a few days, in Kerrville, Hunt or Fredericksburg. The garden is the first place we stop, always, when we are in the area! When we are just passing through Kerrville, we always stop at the garden on the way down and on the way back home.  We love it!” 

On August 1, 2018, Catalina Asound of Port Arthur, TX, wrote on the TRIP ADVISOR Website: “Breathtaking! This is truly a breathtaking and mystical experience. Of course, if you are a Christian believer, you’ll find it totally awe-inspiring. If not, I suspect you will still be awed by the sheer majesty and beauty of this enormous work of art. Words and pictures can’t begin to express the peace and love one feels when on the grounds. It captures the essence of mankind’s quest for spiritual meaning.”

The unique spiritual art garden has drawn national and worldwide media attention. The art park has already been featured in thousands of newspapers, in magazines, on the internet, on radio and TV internationally. The one-of-a-kind outdoor art park has been featured on news programs at ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, TIME WARNER and UNIVISION TV. In addition, the privately owned garden has been repeatedly featured on most of the Christian TV networks, including CBN, TBN, CTN and the DAYSTAR. Associated Press (AP) has done numerous articles on the garden, starting when it was embroiled in a 2008 - 2010 lawsuit that was filed to stop the charitable organization from raising a seven story cross sculpture on its own private land. The lawsuit, prompted by atheists, drew national and international attention for over two years.

Today, almost $2,500,000 worth of monumental sculptures are on display at the garden, making it the most expensive fine art collection in the area.  Currently, 11 monumental sculptures have been donated by three internationally collected professional artists: Max Greiner, Jr. , Beverly Paddleford and David Broussard. Additional art worth hundreds of thousands of dollars will be donated in the future by the Christian artists.

The largest contemporary sculpture in the garden is “The Empty Cross”, valued at over $2,000,000.  The massive Cor-ten steel sculpture is a 77’7” tall and weighs approximately 70 tons, counting the steel in the foundation. The blood red, walk through sculpture is considered by many to be the most symbolic cross sculpture in the world. It represents the Door, the Strong Tower, the Mighty Fortress, the Resurrection, the Way and the Light of the World. The 7' wide center space of the cross is square, like the "Holy of Holies", in the Jewish Tabernacle. The cross arms are 40' wide.

77 Bible verses from the Old and New Testaments leading to the cross are inscribed on 16” Scripture Tiles, in three languages. Four Prayer Plaques can be found inside the massive cross, where people pray and are changed forever. To date, at least 28 people have canceled their plans for suicide, after coming to God’s garden. Doctors and recovery treatment centers from across Texas are bringing their patients to the cross in vans and buses for healing.

The unique contemporary cross sculpture has become a major Kerrville landmark to millions of people across the USA and world, since it was erected over IH-10 July 27, 2010, after the lawsuit ended.  Over 36,422 vehicles pass “The Empty Cross” every day, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. This equates to 13,294,030 vehicles per year, and approximately 34,564,478 people a year.  About two dozen families have actually moved to Kerrville because the 77’7” cross in on the mountain.  The free Christian art park currently receives approximately 12,000 per guests per month, half the population of its host community.

The story of the garden has been featured on thousands of websites, blogs, social media posts and via email newsletters. Thousands of pictures of the art have been sent around the world.  The first social media “burst” occurred during the week of June 2015, when over 53,000 "Likes" were posted in less than one week on FACE BOOK, after unique photo of "The Empty Cross" was posted by a local photographer.  Other TCKF stories have gone viral since.  On August 9, 2018 over 110,000 people responded to a TCKF post on the garden in less than a week!

Each year, the garden hosts one of the largest annual events in Kerrville. Since 2013, TCKF has hosted a two day EASTER event that draws thousands of tourists from across Texas, the USA and the world. On the Saturday prior to EASTER, a “Resurrection Celebration” features Christian bands and worship teams and choirs from across the region. A special “Son-Rise Easter Service” is held each year on Sunday. In 2018, 3,348 people were manually counted over a three day period.  580 people attended the Son Rise Easter Service on Sunday morning before daylight.  Easter visitors came from 33 states and five countries in 2018.   

To learn more, about the garden you can watch TV videos, or read magazine articles,