Max Greiner Jr., founder of The Coming King Foundation, shared the story behind one of Kerrville’s most recognizable landmarks during the Kerrville Host Lions Club meeting on Tuesday, March 24. He blended personal testimony, art and community impact in his talk.
Speaking at the club’s regular Tuesday gathering, Greiner recounted the decades-long journey that led to the creation of the Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden and its centerpiece, a towering cross that has drawn visitors from around the world.
Greiner, an artist and designer with a background spanning architecture, paintings and sculptures, described his early passion for creativity and the outdoors, tracing it back to his childhood. The Texas A&M University graduate said his artistic career began to take shape during his college years, when his work gained national attention.
“I knew early on that art was what I was supposed to do,” Greiner told the audience, describing how his career eventually shifted from traditional architecture into full-time artistic pursuits.
He said he started creating art as young as 5 years old. He gives the glory of all of his peace to God.
Greiner earned a degree in environmental design from Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture in 1974. His wife, Sherry Greiner, graduated with high honors from Lamar University in Beaumont, earning a degree in English and Spanish.
After college, Max Greiner worked with the Architects Partnership in Dallas before transitioning into advertising and graphic design. In 1976, he joined Jennings Compound Bow Inc., then the third-largest archery company in the world, where he was later promoted to advertising and promotion director.
In the spring of 1978, the couple made a life-changing decision. Leaving behind stable careers in California, they returned to Texas to pursue a living through Max Greiner’s fine art.
The couple faced early financial uncertainty, with their savings dwindling to $40. Their fortunes quickly changed after publishing their first art newsletter. Within 48 hours following the mailing of about 250 newsletters, they sold more than $15,000 worth of paintings and wildlife bronze sculptures.
In 1981, the Greiners purchased 12 acres of rugged land near Kerrville. Living initially in a mobile home, they set their sights on building a studio and home. That vision became a reality in 1999, when they completed their custom-designed studio on an expanded 120-acre property.
Throughout the 1980s, Max Greiner’s artwork gained traction through art shows, galleries, trade shows and a mail-order catalog, as well as their Kerrville gallery. By 1986, at age 35, the Greiners had sold more than $1 million worth of fine art. That same year, they expanded their offerings to include a line of art-inspired gifts.
The couple continued adapting to new opportunities. In 1996, encouraged by his wife, Max Greiner created and designed a website to showcase his work online — an early move into digital promotion that broadened their audience worldwide.
While Greiner’s early work focused on wildlife, landscapes and people, the couple says a pivotal shift occurred in 1986 that reshaped the direction of his art and business. They credit that change with opening new creative and professional doors in the years that followed.
That path, he said, was not without hardship. Greiner detailed financial struggles, health crises within his family and the collapse of the Texas art market in the 1980s, which he said forced him and his wife to rebuild their livelihood from near ruin.
When the economy crashed some years later, they were dwindling down in finances again.
“We couldn’t pay our lands, we couldn’t pay them all home no, we couldn’t pay nothing. And then at that time, my wife got a life-threatening illness, and so did my dad, and I was losing everything. Everything important to me. The land and the house, my wife, my dad, and I cried out, and I said, ‘Hey, God, I hope you’re watching, but we’re losing everything down here, would you please move?’” Greiner said.
God told Greiner to sculpt a scene of Jesus washing Peter’s feet. Max Greiner was unsure about it, and God showed it to him again. After not taking it seriously for two years, he finally sculpted the vision, and it gained recognition worldwide.
The foundation’s most prominent project, The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden in Kerrville, has grown into a major tourist attraction. Max Greiner said the site now ranks among the top-tier destinations globally on travel platforms and has welcomed more than a million visitors.
“We’ve had people from all over the world come stand inside that cross,” Max Greiner said. “It’s brought people to Kerrville and has blessed local businesses and the community.”
The seven-story core-ten steel cross, which Max Greiner designed and donated to the foundation, stands as the focal point of the garden. He described the project as the result of years of planning, fundraising and perseverance in the face of legal challenges and public opposition.
“There were people locally and across the country who didn’t want it built,” Max Greiner said, recalling the hateful things said and protests about the sculpture. “But we stayed committed, and today it’s here and impacting lives.”
It is seated at roughly the same latitude as Israel and is about halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.
Max Greiner emphasized that the garden is free to the public and intended to serve as a place of peace and spiritual reflection. In addition to the cross, the site features sculptures, prayer areas and landscaped grounds overlooking the Hill Country.
Max Greiner also highlighted the role of community support in bringing the project to life, thanking Kerrville residents and organizations for their prayers and contributions over the years.
He encouraged Lions Club members to remain involved, suggesting potential partnerships with the foundation, including support for ongoing projects such as memorial installations and donor-funded plaques.
“We want this to be something that continues long after we’re gone,” Max Greiner said. “It belongs to the community.”