HEARTOF HOPE So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ —Ephesians 3:17-18 THE
Dear Hope Friend, Looking Forward! — Pastor Paul and Carol Young Adults/College Group Families With Youth Journey Growing Families Junior High God has touched so many lives in amazing ways this past year! A few of these stories of God’s grace are highlighted here. As you read them, you can sense the “heart” of Hope--the love of Jesus being poured into us and through us, as we become God’s family on mission! We are so grateful for your investment in the lives of others, for your loving prayers and for your support for God’s mission through Hope, so more and more precious people of all generations can experience the incredible love of Jesus Christ! We pray that these stories and images will inspire you to remember how great and faithful is our Lord and how we can trust the Lord with our lives, our families and our future! Here’s our prayer for you . . . May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:19) “I lived with a friend until classes started at GCU,” said Jazmyne. “I took out all the loans I could, but I still traveled back to Payson on the weekends to work at the casino, so I could make money to pay my way through school.” Jazmyne said her faith “started sprouting” during her freshman year of college. She and Charles attended a church in Downtown Phoenix together while they were dating, but after returning to the same church after the pandemic — they found it difficult to get involved. “It felt impersonal,” said Jazmyne. “I like having close relationships.” So, after moving to Norterra, Jazmyne and Charles started looking for smaller churches nearby — and that’s when Charles and Jazmyne met during their first semester of college at GCU and got married in October 2021. They started attending Hope Church in 2022 and recently got more deeply involved in the community after attending the Hope Mountain Retreat this past summer. However, Charles and Jazmyne’s story has not been that seamless — or without its fair share of challenges. Jazmyne grew up in Show Low, where she and her four brothers were raised by her grandma on a teacher’s salary. When she was in high school, she started living with her mom for the first time in what she described as a “toxic and abusive environment.” Right after Jazmyne graduated high school — weeks before turning 18 — her mom kicked her out of the house. Jazmyne & Charles Weed GOD’S HEART
Hope Men Women Of Hope People Of Prayer Senior High Young Couples they found Hope. “We really liked the atmosphere of Hope,” said Jazmyne. “It was smaller, and we liked that there were young families, older couples, and more varied generations than our previous church.” After attending worship at Hope for a few months, Jazmyne said she really started to feel a tug on her heart to dive deeper and get connected — specifically to attend the Hope Mountain Retreat. Since money was tight, they decided not to go — until they were offered a sponsorship from the church and accepted it at the last minute. “I don’t know how else to put this — but it changed us,” said Jazmyne. “The two of us have never felt more spiritually connected, and we finally started to feel like we could let FOR ALL PEOPLE people in and let them get to know us.” Charles and Jazmyne had been fighting a silent battle for a while with infertility. “You feel so alone and isolated,” said Jazmyne. “Before the retreat, I had hit rock bottom. I was mad at God, and I wanted to blame Him for all the trauma in my childhood and now my struggle to have a child. My mom — who didn’t want to be a mom — could get pregnant anytime she wanted. But here I was, trying to grow a family that I wanted so badly out of love, and I couldn’t.” Jazmyne said that during the retreat, she and Charles slowly opened up, and they were “prayed over and prayed for like never before.” She remembers being in chapel one night with no power, and during worship, she felt a crushing feeling on her chest, and she started sobbing. She said that after being prayed for that night, she felt “lifted from a crushing feeling.” Jazmyne said that she and Charles left the Hope Mountain Retreat smiling, feeling happy, and confident that God wanted them to build community at Hope. “We are finding people to lean on during this challenging time because it’s not easy to do it alone,” said Jazmyne. “I have been praying for ways to get involved, and so many opportunities have presented themselves. I’ve been talking to Jessi about serving with Hope Kids, and Charles and I have started going to the Growing Families Group. I’m also working at Elevate while finishing school, and I’m so excited to be of service to people by working there.” Jazmyne said that after the Hope Mountain Retreat, it finally feels like things are “clicking” in her and Charles’s lives. “I have never felt more loved by a group of strangers in my entire life,” said Jazmyne. “We’ve been thinking about the future after graduation, and now, we don’t want to move far from Hope because we want our family and community to grow here. We are so excited about the future, and we’ve never felt like this before. Nothing feels better than that!” ♥ “The two of us have never felt more spiritually connected” “Since becoming a family member at Hope Church, our spiritual lives have expanded more than we could ever have imagined. We are so happy that we discovered Hope Church and are eagerly looking forward to our future with our Hope family” Chris & Cindy Lander
Minnesota,” said Terry. “After the service, Nancy and I looked at each other and said, ‘Wow — what can we do to help?’” After the service, Terry and Nancy volunteered to help “push back the darkness” in Lakeville by facilitating pre-marriage courses and providing pre-marital mentoring for couples. God blessed their faithfulness wildly. Terry and Nancy welcomed an average of 30 couples — both from inside the church and outside the church — into their pre-marriage classes every quarter. Terry and Nancy have seen many couples have their relationships and lives transformed during their decades of pre-marriage mentorship. They’ve seen a closed-minded, skeptical couple become comfortable and relaxed enough to open up, a couple who thought they “knew it all” gather a wealth of knowledge and value from their conversations, and a couple with harmful money habits learn how to get out debt and purchase a home and car with their input and ideas. In 2021, Terry and Nancy felt called to move to Arizona. They talked to the pastor they had run the marriage ministry under — Dean Swenson — and he told them about Hope Church. “He connected us with Pastor Paul before we even left the state and told us that he was looking to start a marriage ministry,” said Terry. After praying about it and talking with Pastor Paul, Terry and Nancy decided to start a pre-marriage ministry at Hope Church in 2022. This marriage prep course has already been a blessing to several couples in the church and the greater community who are getting married at Hope Barn & Gardens and across the Valley. Terry and Nancy have also blessed the community at Hope by agreeing to not only lead the Pre-Marriage Ministry but also the Hospitality Team. “It’s not my first nature to walk up to someone new and say hello,” said Nancy. “God is helping me approach new people, be intentional with them, memorize their names, and greet them again the following week. It’s not easy, but God is giving me grace in the process.” Terry & Nancy Larson Terry says he’s excited to continue to grow the PreMarriage Ministry at Hope, and he’s hopeful that future couples in the course will be open to mentorship. “I would love to get back to welcoming couples into our home to encourage and mentor them, and would love even to marry some of them in the future,” said Terry. ♥ Terry and Nancy Larson moved to Arizona from Minnesota in 2021. After getting connected with Hope Church — they wasted no time getting involved. After years of running a successful pre-marriage ministry in Minnesota, they were excited to use the gifts and talents the Lord had blessed them with to bless more couples right here at Hope Church! Terry and Nancy have been married for 43 years and have been blessed with two daughters and three grandchildren. They attended the same church together for several years before feeling called to move to Hosanna Church in Lakeville, Minnesota, in 2000. “One Sunday, a pastor at Hosanna was sharing about how Lakeville — the city we lived in — had the highest divorce rate in the state of GOD’S HEART FOR Worship Hospitality “God is giving me grace through the process.” “Summer Team showed me how important having a strong community in Christ is. It just felt like one big family, and everyone really supported each other through the good and bad. That’s something I really needed this summer!” Reagan Mielke
Jayce Abram Jayce Abram is an enthusiastic and servant-hearted eighth-grade student who has been attending Hope Church for the past couple of years. He is involved in Hope Youth Jr. High, serves on the Hope Kids Team, and was a volunteer during our “Stellar” VBS this summer! Jayce remembers developing a personal relationship with God when he started wanting to go to church when he was younger. Now that he’s older, he loves growing in and sharing his faith by attending church with his family, going to family camp in the summers, participating in the middle school youth group, and serving on the children’s ministry team. Jayce often serves in the nursery on Sundays during worship. He’s grateful to his Nana — Sue Abram — for inviting him to get involved. “Doing the children’s ministry can be difficult at times,” said Jayce. “However, it’s so rewarding to watch these kids know God and have a relationship with Him.” Jayce said he also enjoyed serving in the nursery during VBS this year. “I loved seeing the kids have fun,” he said. “I also like seeing the kids create relationships with God through cool experiences, like VBS, and going to church. I like being someone who can help that happen.” In addition to serving in the nursery, Jayce has enjoyed attending Hope Youth Jr. High. “I like going to youth group because we play games, and I can hang out with Austin and Josh,” said Jayce. “I also feel like when I go to youth group, I am more connected to God throughout the week, and I really like that.” Jayce is really confident in his relationship with God — and the future God has in store for him. “I feel like God has a plan for me,” said Jayce. “Even though we don’t know it yet, He has a plan for all of us, and we get to learn more about His plan for us as our life goes along.” We know God has an incredible plan for Jayce’s life — and we’re so grateful to be a part of his story. We’re so excited to continue to watch Jayce live out his faith in confidence by serving and creating a community here at Hope Church. Way to go, Jayce! ♥ ALL GENERATIONS Hope Kids Team Hope Barn & Gardens “We are so excited to be a part of what God is doing in and through the Hope Family. Since moving to Arizona in 2015, it has been difficult to find a place to call home. However, God is faithful! Psalms 68 says he is a father to the fatherless — that He makes a home for the lonely. We feel we are home!” Jonathan & Holly Canton and daughter Grace “I also feel like when I go to youth group, I am more connected to God throughout the week”
Dora Best and her husband, Michael, have been attending Hope Church since 2021. Little did they know, Hope would come into their life at exactly the right time — and provide the community, prayers, and support they desperately needed. Dora grew up in Cameroon and moved with her family to Maryland in 2008. She and her husband, Michael, met in Maryland while he was a resident at the University of Maryland Hospital. They dated for a few months, got married, and moved to Arizona in 2018 when Dora was accepted as a student at Midwestern University. They decided to stay in Phoenix after Dora graduated for one big reason — they wouldn’t have to deal with the snow! Dora said that when she and Michael moved to Arizona, they weren’t going to church. However, her sister encouraged her to get involved in a faith community. “She actually was the one to send me Hope’s address,” said Dora. “She read about the church online and loved it, and she told me I had no excuse for not trying it out because it’s right behind my house.” So, Dora decided to attend Hope Church one Sunday right before Easter in 2021, and she instantly felt at home. Dora said she called her sister and said, “You were right. This church is amazing!” She was later invited to an Easter brunch and then the Young Couples Group. After a while, Dora said she and Micahel started to feel like they had another set of family. “We didn’t have a lot of friends or any family here in Arizona,” said Dora. “Our family is all on the East Coast, and we really had no one besides each other. Now, it’s nice to feel like we have this big family and group of friends through Hope Church that we can hang out and talk with.” However, this family couldn’t have come at a better time. After Michael and Dora started trying to have a baby in 2020, they had two miscarriages. They decided to see a fertility doctor, and after several hurdles in the IVF process — Dora started to feel like she needed God more than ever. “I felt like God was telling me that I couldn’t do this by myself,” said Dora. “I thought I would see a doctor, get medicine, and have a baby. But that was not my story.” When her sister suggested that she attend Hope Church, Michael and Dora were right in the midst of their fertility struggles. It took her a while to open up, but one Sunday, Dora decided to pray with someone from the prayer team during worship. “He comforted me and told me I was going to have a breakthrough,” said Dora. After that, she started to feel more comfortable opening up to others about what she was going through. “It was a difficult time, but I didn’t feel alone,” said Dora. “I knew I had people who were supporting me and praying for me.” After years of struggling and trusting God, Michael and Dora’s prayers were answered, and they became parents to a beautiful baby in October! “I knew God had answered my prayers and the prayers of those who were praying alongside me,” said Dora. Dora says she is so excited to bring her daughter — and GOD’S HEART FOR Young Life / WyldLife Angel Tree Gifts for Underprivileged Kids Dora Best future children — to Hope. “I am already so blessed to be surrounded by so many women who are going to be moms at the same time,” said Dora. “We will be able to support each other, and our kids will be able to form friendships with each other!” ♥ “...it’s nice to feel like we have this big family and group of friends through Hope...” Hope4Kids / Water4Kids
ALL THE WORLD Kelly and Trevor Ettenborough in Josh James with Likewise Worship Collective Dearborn, MI Gennari Family in Mozambique Chase and Marissa both grew up in the church. In fact, Marissa’s dad was a pastor at a church here in Phoenix that she attended for over 30 years! At this church, Chase and Marissa met each other (thanks to a little matchmaking help from their parents). They have been married for 14 years and blessed with two beautiful daughters, Lainey (12) and Leah (11). However, a few years ago, Chase and Marissa felt called to transition from their longtime church home to a larger megachurch in the Valley. After struggling to connect at this church and find community as a family, they decided to search for a smaller church with more opportunities to connect with people, build community, and do life together. And, despite having the intention of visiting other churches, Hope was the first church they tried in March 2023 — and they felt peace that this was the church that God was calling them to stay at. Chase, Marissa, and the girls started serving and connecting at Hope immediately. Chase and Marissa began to serve on the worship team — Marissa as a vocalist and Chase as a drummer — after hearing an announcement one Sunday that the worship team was looking for people with any musical abilities to serve. They had already been praying about serving through worship — and God opened the door for them in such an obvious way. “Being on the church worship team brings me so much joy and fulfillment,” said Marissa. “Music has always been a powerful way for me to connect with God and express my faith and love to Him. When I’m on the worship team, I have the privilege to help lead others into a similar experience, fostering a sense of unity and spiritual growth as we draw closer to Him together. While Chase and Marissa started serving on the worship team, Lainey and Leah got plugged in with Hope Youth Jr. High. “Growing up in youth group and having friends that were Christ followers was really important for me growing up,” said Chase. “The girls weren’t connecting or building relationships at our previous church, but that was something we wanted for them, so we’re thrilled they adore the youth group at Hope so much.” While Chase and Marissa were happy to see their daughters building community with other students, they noticed a lack of community for another group Marissa & Chase Harberson “Being a part of the Hope community has truly been a blessing in my life. I’ve been able to make amazing friends through the Summer Team and the Jr. High Team, and being a part of these groups has really pushed me in my faith.” Mitchell Curl-Welch Continued next page...
Building Hope Schematic Pictures of people — the parents. “Our generation is isolated and has trouble creating community with people. People our age need a group of friends to connect to, be open and honest with, and do life with,” said Chase. “Chase and I believe community and friendships help us thrive in the Church Body,” said Marissa. “They provide emotional support, a sense of belonging, and opportunities for spiritual growth. Our desire is to create a space where families can share their joys, navigate challenges, and strengthen their faith together. We’re so excited to watch these connections grow and create a sense of belonging in our Hope Church family!” This void that Chase and Marissa noticed and started to fill with coffee dates, gettogethers, and international conversations with parents has led to a new missional community — Families with Youth. This community is designed to help parents of teenagers and their families foster intentional relationships with each other. “We’re excited to see what God will do, and we know He will be faithful throughout the process,” said Marissa. Chase and Marissa have both seen God work in their lives in incredible and unique ways since finding Hope as their church home. “The past four years of change and transition have been challenging and, to be honest, tested my faith along the journey but also stretched my understanding of God and His loving ways,” said Marissa. “I’ve learned to trust in His guidance and rely on His strength. Stepping out of complacency has brought me a lot of hope and healing. Hope Church continues to play a huge role in that.” Chase is thrilled to be serving and connecting to a community again — and helping others do the same. “I hope God uses us to capture people who might only show up to Hope once or twice,” said Chase. “Maybe we can be the difference in making those people feel welcomed, in the same way that others made us feel welcomed when our family stepped through the doors of Hope for the first time.” ♥ “We’re excited to see what God will do, and we know He will be faithful throughout the process.” Marissa & Chase continued
Here are some future projects that will enhance our mission in 2023 and beyond! • Summer Team Intern Scholarships for 2023 — $20,000 • Still needed for Multipurpose Center for Children/Youth — $200,000 • Landscaping for Next Phase — $100,000 • Classroom Furniture for New Multi-purposes Center — $75,000 • Audio-Visual System for New Multipurpose Center — $75,000 • Furniture for Outdoor Cafe and Gathering — $50,000 • Multi-purpose Sport Court for Youth — $50,000 • Misting System for Outdoor Serving Area — $25,000 • New Kids Playground Area — $25,000 Your generous support through October 17, 2023 Offerings Mission Partner Gifts Campus Improvement Gifts Wedding/Rentals Elevate Coffee Income Programming/Misc. General ministry Income Here’s where your generous support is invested... Staffing (Children, Youth, Adults, etc.) Support for Local/Global Missions Property (Imp., Maint., Utilities) Interest on Loan Property/Liability Insurance Marketing/Advertising Wedding/Event Rental Expenses Programming (Children, Youth, Adults) Summer Team Intern Progam Operations Total Expenses Amount still needed to meet our 2023 Projected Gifts Goal: Thank you for your faithful generosity! Income Goal 12/31/23 $405,000 40,000 5,000 340,000 35,000 56,700 $861,700 Expense Goal By 12/31/23 $389,500 40,000 75,000 32,733 12,500 4,000 163,429 53,400 33,500 36,600 $ 840,662 $123,618 Through 10/31/23 Year to Date Actual $323,137 2,320 925 259,170 22,200 37,592 $645,344 10/31/23 YTD Actual $294,564 29,201 75,427 23,577 12,069 2,098 124.095 46,006 29,873 28,119 $ 665,029 Ways you can support Hope’s mission... Your continued generosity will help us reach more who need to know the love of Jesus! Thank you! In our weekly offerings at Worship every Sunday! 4 Text to 84321 3 Checks can be made to Hope Church and mailed to: 26525 North 19th Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85085 1 hopechurch.me/give 2
SOME HIGHLIGHTS Hope Family raised over $17,000 for fresh-water wells in Uganda through Water4Kids Gennari Family on mission in Mozambique building a Health Clinic Successful Building Hope Adventure — $1,332,917 received so far in gifts for land purchase and next phase, and design completed for New Multi-purpose building Thousands introduced to Hope and Jesus through over 70 weddings, proms for foster kids, memorial services and other community events
OF 2023! 20 engaged couples received excellent pre-marriage training from Terry and Nancy! 86 kids and leaders reached through Vacation Bible School Hope Mountain Retreat An amazing Summer Team of young adults who inspired hundreds of children, youth, and families through retreats and outreach events!
Hope Church 26525 North 19th Avenue Phoenix, Arizona 85085 623-565-8076 www.hopechurch.me