iHOPE

An "Unusual" Challenge

Last Sunday, I made a challenge to the congregation that may have caught some people off-guard.

As part of our series on the Sabbath, I challenged people two commitments:

1.  Attend worship services every week, even if you are out of town
2.  Use a "Releasing Prayer" every night before you go to sleep (see below)

I don't think that people were shocked that a pastor thinks people should attend worship. That is not exactly "breaking news". What caught some people off-guard was the challenge to attend worship every week, even if you were out of town. For some, that brought back some dark memories of growing up under some oppressive rules; a kind of religion they are trying to avoid. One of the reasons people like New Hope is because we don't normally approach faith with a lot of Do's and Don'ts. Normally, we want people to attend worship because the want to, not because it is implied that they have to- or even that they are expected to. So why the change?

A New Chapter Begins!

We start a new chapter in Children & Family ministries this Sunday (January 4) with Jordan Warntjes as our Director of Children and Family Ministries.

Here is how he was introduced to our families by Sandi Gager. I couldn't say it better:

Dear Families of New Hope:

We are very excited to welcome our new Director of Children & Family Ministries, Pastor Jordan Warntjes!  Jordan will be introduced during worship services this Sunday (Jan. 4^th).

A little about Jordan:  Jordan grew up in Iowa, received his Masters of Divinity in Michigan and has most recently worked as Director of Education at a church in Evergreen.  He is married to Michelle, who is pursuing a Masters in counseling from Colorado Christian College.