New Enthusiasm at Hope Church

The mission and vision of Hope Church is to make much of Jesus by living out the love of God in every single area of life.  Our goals are to help meet needs, show kindness, provide services, have fun, and touch the lives of those in the communities around our campus. As our church grows, we plan to add multiple services and launch new churches in areas that need the Gospel. 

Our desire to sell our current location and move came to the forefront of our plans sometime in 2015. Hope Church (previously Berean Baptist Church for 61 years) was mostly hidden behind three houses. Buying the three houses and moving them looked impossible. We needed a better location to do the work we knew God had called us to as His church. There is no telling how many times during our 44 years at that location we heard someone say, “Oh, I didn’t even know there was a church there,” upon hearing where our campus was located. If we were serious about our mission and vision, a move was imperative.

Hope Church’s New Facility

We sold our building in August of 2017 and moved into our new facility in August of 2021. Those four years saw our first piece of land pulled out from under us, our architect vanish, the pandemic hit the world, and material costs skyrocket into outer orbit. Through it all, our God remained ever faithful to us. He has greatly blessed our church by walking with us each step of the way. He has led us to amazing people who have helped us complete our new building and sustaining our people during it all.

Response to the new building and finally having a home has been exceptional! Hope Church members and guests have been so excited, encouraged, and encouraging to us. Since we have only had four services in the new building at the time of this writing, the immediate impact the transition has had on the church is new energy and enthusiasm. There is definte excitement as to what God will accomplish through Hope Church in the years to come!

I don’t have enough time to share all I would say to a pastor beginning to build a new church campus. Obviously, for funding, I would suggest considering the Foundation! That’s a total no-brainer. I can’t remember how we got turned on to the Foundation’s role in our project, but I’m not sure we could have built the new building without them. The biggest thing after that would be the team you assemble to help oversee the project. Somebody from the church (preferably with some authority and good knowledge of the building plans) must be at the site every single build day. This is 100% crucial after the foundation has been poured and the building begins to go up. Nobody else will care as much as you do that things are done right!

If I could reiterate one thing— everything we did regarding moving the location of our campus and the type of building we built was all with the mission and vision as “the why”. It was and still is all about being the church God has called us to be and seeing more and more people come to know and follow Jesus.

Mike Harper
Lead Pastor, Teaching & Administration
Hope Church, Sunnyvale