Story By: Brayden George

CALERA, Ala. – Nestled along the tree line just off of Shelby County Highway 63 in Calera, stands one of Alabama’s most unique places of worship, The Rock Igloo House of Prayer. 

The structure stands out among the trees due to its peculiar shape and dark stone exterior, appearing more like a Revolutionary-War-era fort than a place of prayer, now weathered by nearly 50 years of withstanding the elements. 

Built in the late 1970s, sometime between ‘78 and ‘79, by retired Alabama State Trooper Robert Kendrick. The structure was created in response to a troubling series of church break-ins around the state.

Kendrick desired to build a theft-proof temple with no door and nothing to steal. He believed that the lack of a door would thwart any temptation or reason to break-in.

He built the stone and cement hut on land donated by a friend, Clyde Carden, both wanted to contribute to a project to simply glorify God. Kendrick enlisted the help of his wife and three daughters to pick up and select the rocks that make up the prayer house.

Out front stands a tree trunk carved into the shape of two hands, clasped together in prayer. Between the two hands a makeshift cross, fashioned together out of barbed wire. Credit has not be attributed to the person that carved the hands.

Upon entering the rotunda, the average person must lower themselves due to the small frame door. Kendrick built the doorway this size to ensure that every person would enter with humility and reverence.

In the middle of the room sits an old millstone, which now serves as a table and makeshift altar. Originally, the wood in the middle of the millstone was carved with the Lord’s Prayer. In a 2014 interview with AL.com, Kendrick’s daughter said the family planned to restore the prayer at some point.

Upon the millstone sit many Bibles, books, devotions, Chick tracts and encouraging words left by visitors. 

For over four decades, people have stopped in to the rock and cement chapel to meditate, share prayer requests and encouragement through the provided pens and paper, and to simply pray in peace. 

The House of Prayer has remained largely unchanged over the last four and a half decades, with legal notices posted inside warning against any alterations to the structure.

Robert Kendrick passed away in 1996, followed by his wife, Grace, in 2016. Though both are gone, the Rock Igloo House of Prayer still stands as a tribute to Kendrick’s vision and his desire to glorify God.