HOPE FAMILY NEWS

HOPE PORTLAND, USA - PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

It’s one thing to hear about God answering prayers, but another to experience it personally. I can assure you, it is definitely an awesome feeling. My name is David and I have lived in Portland for over 10 years. I was called to serve at Hope in the summer of 2000. I had attended many churches before, but I sensed God’s calling particularly strong in the Hope movement so I decided to follow and serve God in this family.

Hope Portland church has always wanted to start a care group at the Portland State University (PSU) campus to reach students. Portland State University is in downtown Portland and it is the largest university Oregon with over 18,000 full-time students.

When we were informed about the arrival of Praew from Hope of Bangkok church who was going to be studying at PSU and living on campus, we knew this was the answer to our prayers.

She received news and advice about Hope Portland church from Tab from Hope Seattle church. After praying specifically about Hope Portland, God finally opened the way for Praew.

Our team consisting of Mak, Pei San, Ann, and I prayed for over two months for God’s direction and guidance on how to start the university group. Mak and Pei San were returning to Malaysia in mid-July so we had to work quickly in getting the group started or risk losing momentum when Mak and Pei San would leave the group.

We started our very first care group on March 17 at Praew’s apartment. God blessed us with over ten students who came from various backgrounds joining us.

It was an awesome feeling to see Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists singing worship songs and participating in Biblical discussion together. We were also blessed to meet some committed Christians on campus that came to help build this group.

The very first week we met an American Christian named Autumn who was just delivering soup for a restaurant nearby, when Praew approached him to join our group. He immediately agreed and has been with us ever since. During the following months, we met a Nigerian named Lakon who learned about our campus ministry through friends and decided to join us in our ministry. Most recently, I challenged my Asian American friend, Moses, to commit to the campus care group to serve God at PSU together.

We consistently have 12 people come to our care groups weekly and working actively on campus to reach out to students. We currently have four pre-believers that we are praying for and sharing the Gospel with. Two are from Japan, one from Sri Lanka, and one from China. They all have been coming to the care group regularly for the past two months and have expressed a growing interest in the Gospel.

Looking back to when we first started, we truly feel God’s favour and blessings have been upon us from the beginning.

We started this group with only a vision from God, and by following God’s word, we can really see and feel God’s hand moving and guiding this campus ministry group.

David Lee, Hope Portland church (Website)

HOPE NORWAY VIDEO INTERVIEW

A video interview with Tor and Wanda Haabrekke from Hope Norway. A wonderful story of how God called them into the Hope Movement and church planting (Click on video to view)

For more information about church planting in Norway,

• Tor and Wanda Haabrekke wanda.haabrekke@hopenorge.no

• Visit: www.hopenorge.no

HOPE SOLO, INDONESIA - A GROWING CHURCH

Hope Solo, Indonesia had a wonderful 15th annual camp called “A Growing Church” on August 10-12, 2007 at Kaliurang, Yogyakarta. More than 350 people from Hope Solo, Kudus, Semarang and Purwodadi were at the camp. The speakers of the camp were Ps. Dennis Lu from Hope Kuching and Ps. Kusumo from Hope Indonesia.

It was an amazing camp. God touched many lives and encouraged many hearts. Every session was so powerful and everyone in the congregation had life changing encounters with God. We were inspired to grow and live a fruitful life for Jesus.

Our youth who provided backing vocals to the band, helped introduce the churches to the opening ceremony for the Camp. They performed a dynamic dance and lighted up the atmosphere.

After we had the 1st session, we closed the day with a very fun and entertaining game. Then we prayed together hand in hand around the open fire and gave thank to our beloved God for a beautiful day. This event built and strengthened the fellowship and the sense of unity among us.

The 2nd day was another amazing day. All of the youth and the university students joined the hiking event. We learnt to work together with people from all ages and we all supported one another. Another incredible event was the praise and worship night. It was so breathtaking. God’s presence was so real and so strong.

No one wanted to stop praising and worshiping Jesus since He had shown His awesome power. Everyone in the congregation were jumping and shouting to praise Him!

On the last day, we were encouraged by the marvellous testimony from Mr. Marjan from Hope Kudus who was miraculously healed from severe lymphatic cancer by our great God!

A performance from our youth creative ministry who created a beautiful dance formed part of the closing ceremony for the camp. The dance was about three butterflies in their cocoons who struggled against all obstacles and difficulties as they tried to grow into mature butterflies. It taught us not to give up regardless of the circumstances and to keep fighting and growing until we become like Christ. Amen!

Pastor Pik Jiang
Hope Solo, Indonesia

HOPE HONG KONG: 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Praise the Lord that more than 450 guests and members came and celebrated our 15th Anniversary. The theme was "Venture into the New Realm".

Before the start of the service, the lights were dimmed and everyone was excited. Following the impacting video opening, a family of honey bees appeared. Together, they worked very hard and built their strong and secure honeycomb. However, the honeycomb was soon running out of room which meant some of the bees couldn’t fit into the home. As a result, they had to think of a solution and decided to build a new home, in order to accommodate more bees. This musical skit, presented by our exuberant and energetic brothers and sisters from the Youth group, symbolised our church’s need to find a bigger location in to win even more hearts for our dear Lord Jesus Christ.

After welcoming each other, Brother Allen led the congregation into a time of cheerful Praise and Worship. Many brothers and sisters danced with joy in their hearts especially when the lyrics reminded them about "This is how we overcome" and "Hallelujah to the King of Kings…"

Life transformation stories

In a pre-recorded video, three sisters, Yammy (SD3), Julie (SD6) and Hoi (SD5), testified how they had moved into a new realm.

Yammy said that, after receiving Christ, her life has been significantly changed. She was no longer relying solely on herself and had joy and peace in her heart. Also, she has received tremendous encouragement from the care of her brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, she is working very hard to share gospel and following up on new believers. Thank God for her life!

Julie shared with us that her life before knowing Christ was very negative. Her father was so cruel to her that she was often severely beaten. She even thought of attempting suicide twice. However, Christ brought her to a new realm and today, God has healed her completely and she has found real joy in Him. Now she is serving God joyfully; the pain in the past can no longer affect her new life in Christ. Also, the miraculous thing is that her brother followed Jesus and is now a Pastor. Praise God!

Brother Hoi, who is weak in hearing, shared with us that life was never the same again after knowing Jesus. Although Hoi and his friends have trouble singing and following the lyrics during praise and worship, they could now use sign language to express their praise and worship to Jesus. Hallelujah! Life has never been so exciting to brother Hoi before! Glory is to Jesus!

A message from Ps Gavin

Pastor Gavin shared with us that we should venture into a new Realm as Jesus is the door, a door of salvation.

With Revelation 3:8, Pastor shared that Jesus was the door that will never shut. This is because Jesus has the authority to, and opens the door to those who are faithful. Praise the Lord also for the 19 new believers. One of the new believers was a hotel guest who came down to our service wondering what was happening. Hallelujah!

[Hope Hong Kong 15th Anniversary Banquet]