Since 2000, Mark Gould has been the cowboy pastor of Morning Star Ministry on a twenty-acre horse training facility in Leesburg, Florida. His wife Debbie joins him in hosting horse shows, trail rides and other faith based equestrian events along with a fresh-grilled pancake breakfast every third Sunday. The ministry has grown exponentially in a short amount of time and was built from an unlikely foundation.
     Though often said lighting seldom hits the same place twice, Pastor Mark is living proof it does. He emerged from the first experience a changed fifteen-year-old. "I lost my best friend David. We had just been talking about dying and finding a way to let each other know about the other side. Then the bolt hit us and David was gone. I prayed. I would have done anything to get him back. Now I realize David went to a better place and wouldn't want to come back. I was given absolute faith that day. I lost my best friend but I gained a new best friend in Jesus."
     He also remarked, “My best friend on earth now is my wife Debbie.” They married in 1999. With her love and love of the mission to spread the gospel, he began to heed the call to preach but not from a traditional pulpit. He came from a family combined of pastors and horsemen so his faith was deeply rooted. However, disdain was expressed by the clergy in his family when he earlier chose a goal to become a member of the Olympic Equestrian team. That meant horse shows on Sunday and not church.
     But God is everywhere! One Sunday, he discovered “Cowboy Church” in the bleacher of a show arena. He heeded the call to do the same. That goal was realized, but the Olympic dream became a nightmare in 1992 when he was struck by a vehicle. His back was broken in eight places and he was nearly paralyzed. This would have also broken the spirits of most men, but Pastor Mark said, “My passion to preach comes from my life experiences.” And he knows better than most, the meaning of Daniel 10:6 and Matthew 28:3 that mention the Lord’s face is like "lighting.” Mark’s own face lights up when he preaches. His heartfelt, passionate messages help many others to get through their personal storms. 
      The peaceful and rustic chapel was also born of storms.  In 2004, Central Florida was hit by three major hurricanes. Pastor Mark and Debbie noticed their property seemed to fare well, but neighbors’ properties “looked like a war zone.” They knew of uninsured elderly couples with crushed homes. He took his backhoe and removed fallen oaks, pines and cedars. Pastor Mark shared, “It was a blessing to help those people and to see the look in their eyes when I told them they didn’t owe me a thing.”
     But God has a way of paying His servants back. Debbie reminisced, “Mark always was saying, someday I’m going to build a chapel." She continued, "He would bring home huge trees from the hurricanes and dump them in burn piles. One day I asked him when he was going to burn them. He thought for a minute and said he wasn’t going to burn them, he was going to buy a saw mill and build a chapel! Not one trip to Lowe's or Home Depot for lumber!”      Less than a year after it was complete, the attendance grew so much he had to add on another section in 2006. Debbie landscaping is a work in progress and she said, "God wants flowers there because it helps put people in a good mood." She’s also the song leader and shared, "I feel praise and worship is important before a service because it's a time where you empty out your vessel so you are able to receive The Word."  She spent 25 years in the hospitality industry and that fruit of the Spirit is apparent on the property.
     The effort Pastor Mark made from his background in building and air conditioning also makes a comfortable place of Worship. Pastor Mark commented at a service, "I didn’t build this chapel for God.” The confusion eased when Mark explained with a smile, “God is where the weather is perfect all the time! But we’re down here in Florida. I built this chapel for God’s people.”
     And the people love it. Church member, Debbie Granger, of Hegstrom Homes, knows a thing or two about buildings and their purpose. She shared of Morninstar, "It is a ministry that is an extension of The Kingdom of Heaven, established for saving lives and souls. It is a ministry of ordinary folks entitled to a loving home forever." It has become the home church of many with many more on the way.
     Before the chapel was built, Pastor Mark was holding one service outside once a month. People wanted more. Pastor Mark wanted more in the way of providing a stable church family and not just out in the stables! They had outgrown those long ago. Now they meet every Sunday and have healing services the first Friday of the month. Join them in this casual, yet reverential environment. Like the secular film, Field of Dreams, when a man heard the words “build it and they will come,” Pastor Mark Gould’s message and testimony are better put to the Word, “build it and not only will they come, but HE will come.”