Connect with Hope

By Wendy Liskey
Missions Ministry

Hope’s focus for 2011 is on missions – “Hope 4 the World.” Here’s a summary of how God has worked through the church – that means you — this year:

13 trips – the number of mission trips completed through July
331 people – the number of short-term missionaries Hope has sent across the globe through July
13 months – age of the youngest ever mission trip participant
8 years – the amount of time Hope has sent teams to Mission Jamaica and Mission Appalachia (the longest-running mission trips)
136 people – the number of people who participated in Spring Break family mission trips (the largest number ever)
37 pantries – the number of local food pantries who benefited from February’s Souper Bowl Food Drive
500 people – the number of people who volunteered during the Souper Bowl Food Drive
120,000 pounds – the amount of food donated during the Souper Bowl Food Drive
250 people – the number of Hopesters who volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity Rock the Block event in May
136 people – the number of Hopesters who participated in the 2011 AIDS Walk/Run in April (84 of those ran the 5k race)
800+ items – the number of personal hygiene products donated during the May collection
11 agencies – the number of local agencies who received the hygiene drive donations
$570,000 – amount donated to the Water for Life effort during Lent to provide clean water to wells in Ghana, Africa
71 wells – the number of wells that will be drilled as a result of the Water for Life effort
$21,000 – amount donated to the ELCA Disaster Relief Fund for the tornado victims in the U.S.
3,240 sandwiches – number sent out through July in weekly lunches prepared by the Shelter Sandwich Team for delivery to homeless shelters in Des Moines
58 – Number of high school students who participated in the 30-Hour Famine in April to raise $3,344.88 and awareness of the AIDS epidemic (sponsored by World Vision)
3 – Number of months of the Summer of Love when hundreds of Hopesters went out as individuals, families, small groups and groups of friends to really serve the community.

Debris remains after after a tornado struck Joplin, Mo., seven weeks ago, but not the massive piles in the wake of the destruction.

By Eric Hanson
Hope member and KCCI Channel 8 reporter

Eric’s first blog post on Joplin, Missouri, and what it was like to be there covering the news is here. He returned recently and his story aired on July 15. You can watch that here.

He shares his experiences of the trip:

That late-May trip home from Joplin, Missouri, I was in awe. In the hours after our neighbors were kicked in the teeth by an EF-5 tornado, I was assigned to tell stories of the magnitude of the storm that killed more than 150 people.

I had seen tornado damage before plenty of times, but I’d never seen anything like the beast that had carved its
way through Joplin. Little did I know, I was selling the storm short. You see, seven weeks later, when I was assigned to return to Joplin and show Iowans how those neighbors were recovering, I was overwhelmed.

This time, streets were clear, and we could move anywhere we needed t o… up and down miles of city streets wiped clean that we hadn’t seen before. Block after block, the devastation left me searching for words. The debris was still scattered in plenty of places, but other properties had been wiped clean by bulldozers. Those plots, formerly filled with fully-grown trees and two-story homes, were now barren like a new subdivision. The size of the debris field was almost too big to comprehend.

The first of our two days of recovery coverage filled me with a sense of awe and amazement. Driving back into the tornado’s path the second day weighed so heavily on me, I couldn’t wait to go home. That’s when I realized this flattened wasteland is home for thousands of tornado victims.

There, in the midst of all the destruction, thousands of people from across America were cleaning up what the storm ripped apart. Church groups were paired with non-believers. Teenagers were hauling lumber 50-somethings had hacked apart with chain saws.

When I asked Bill Ehlinger from Sheffield, Iowa why he drove more than six hours to sweat in 95 degree heat, he
answered, “It’s part of the mission that God has given us, to go out and help those that are less fortunate than we are.”

Those first seven weeks after the tornado, 40,000 volunteers like Bill gave 261,000 hours of help to the recovery effort. Volunteer coordinators from Iowa moved into the fellowship hall of a Joplin church those first days and
they’re still there.

Pictures don’t do the tornado’s damage justice. They can’t capture the enormity of the response either. But standing
in the midst of so much damage and so many people living out, as Bill said, “the mission that God has given us,” it’s easy to find yourself lost in a city of awe.

by Mark Brandt
Minister of Children and Student Ministries

This photo is what I get to see every day from the front of the Worship Center during VBS. Awesome!

Here is this week’s Starting Line-Up:

Monday
VBS begins for sessions two and three. The morning session is 9:00 am-noon. The evening session is 6:00-8:00 pm. You can still come, just come at least a half-hour early to get signed up.

Tuesday
There are two ongoing studies – one for men and one for women —  that meet on Tuesdays: Sisters All Learning Together meets at 6:30 am and God’s Transforming Word for guys meets at 7:00 am. New participants are welcome. Check out www.navigatehope.org for more classes, events and studies.

Wednesday
Summer Ignition meets at 6:07 pm at Willow Springs Park.

Thursday
This is community night at Hope. Dinner is at 5:30 pm. There are many options for receiving care: Celebrate Recovery, for those struggling with stresses and bad habits, begins at 6:30 pm; The Landing, for teens who are hurting, is at 6:30 pm; and GraceSpace, a healing prayer service, starts at 6:30 pm.

Re:vive for young adults is at 7:30.

Friday
Last day of VBS 2011 – Wild for Jesus!

Saturday
Taste of Hope with 5:00 pm outdoor worship. See this blog post.

Sunday
Regular worship at 8:00 am in the Chapel and Well; 9:15 and 11:00 am and 5:00 pm in the Worship Center.

by Pastor Mike Housholder

There’s a popular misconception that kids and teens these days are drifting away from God simply because they’re part of a rebellious and self-centered generation.

But according to a recent study in a leading Christian journal, most kids wander from God due to a lack of spiritual guidance from surrounding adults, and, in fact, today’s youth are crying out (not always in the most obvious or healthy ways) for faith and a moral center in their lives, longing for “grown-ups” to teach them about God, values, and boundaries …

Exhibit A: Hope’s Vacation Bible School, which continues to explode in growth. As a church, VBS is a way for us to communicate clearly to children biblical truth and moral boundaries. Jesus is praised as Lord, the one true God, and the way of salvation for all. Children are taught God’s commands to love all, forgive freely, honor parents, worship fully, pray fervently, and give generously.

Those Bible-based life lessons are precisely what today’s youth yearn to learn, and they show up by the thousands, and then they bring their friends. Along the way, they discover God, new life, freedom … and the blessing of moral boundaries.

Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t live, theologically, on the edge of some kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism, and I’m not suggesting every aspect and issue in a child’s life is clear-cut, with an overly simplistic spiritual application. I don’t want to reduce the Christian faith or biblical scholarship into some watered-down, conveniently interpreted weapon for a misguided culture war. I am, however, suggesting that in a culture that defaults toward spiritual and moral relativism far too quickly and easily, kids often get lost in artificial shades of gray that don’t exist in reality … and it’s hurting them.

Despite the changing moral whims of pop culture, there remains this virtue called truth, acknowledged or not. All truth is God’s truth, or it is not truth.

Truth is … there is a God. Regardless of precisely when or how, God did create the universe. God is love. Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and rose from the dead to open the door to new and eternal life for all who are joined to him by faith. The Holy Spirit directs our lives, producing love, joy, peace … and self-control. He afflicts the comfortable, and comforts the afflicted. That’s a short list. It’s all true, Bible-based, and there’s nothing gray about it.

I know it’s tempting for parents, mentors, teachers, coaches, and even church leaders – living in a world that has grown increasingly hostile toward all things religious (particularly Christianity) – to remain vague about God with our kids, to minimize God-commanded moral boundaries, and soften the lines between right and wrong.

But it’s not worth it. Too many kids are getting lost. Too many are drifting. Too many are walking without God.

I believe it’s time for the grown-ups to grow up and take on the responsibility of instilling faith and values in our children. Let’s teach our kids the truth about God and his guidelines for life this side of heaven. Let’s lead by example, not superficially, but honestly. Let’s pray with our kids, read them Bible stories, and talk openly about God with them.

Most of all, let’s give them Jesus. Let’s give our kids a love that will fill their hearts now … and forever.

Here’s a photo of Day 2 of the first session of Vacation Bible School “Wild for Jesus” this week. Check out www.facebook.com/hopewdm for other photo galleries of every day of VBS.

You can still register for sessions 2 and 3 next week here.

Here’s a reminder of the fun, energy and lessons from Vacation Bible School 2010 – “Raise the Roof.” VBS for 2011 – “Wild for Jesus” – starts in 72 hours and 48 minutes from the time this goes online. (That’s 9:00 am on Monday.) There’s still time to sign up and to invite your friends. If you aren’t a kid, you can join the party by helping out – even for one day. We hope to see you soon.

Hope member Shauna Soderstrum was a recent member of the South Africa mission trip. Here she shares her experience about serving:

This June, I had the opportunity to go on the Mission South Africa trip.  South Africa is a country that has been stricken with an AIDS epidemic, resulting in many orphaned children.  The poverty rate is huge. While in South Africa, we spent time with the disabled teens and adults, as well as small children and school-aged children. We cooked, served them food, played with them, talked with them, and put smiles on their faces. I taught a lesson on the resurrection through a translator — that was quite an experience.  We read the story together, answered questions, discussed, and loudly declared that Jesus loves each of us!

We were also able to visit a man, Moses, who was dying of AIDS. We prayed with him and talked about salvation through Christ.  When we left, we all knew there was not much time left for Moses on this earth, but told him about God’s love and forgiveness.

We also were able to help people “see” by giving them vision tests and providing glasses for adults and children.  The smile and thumbs up we would get when they could see something they hadn’t been able to see before was so fulfilling.  While testing the eyes, we were able to share God’s love and pray with each of them.

We were also able to see the African animals, but we focused on the people and God’s love. Hoping to make a difference in the lives of the people of South Africa, I came to the realization that we did what we could to help them at that time, but the people of South Africa made a difference in my life in very deep and meaningful ways.

God’s love is amazing!