History
The 1999 Board of Directors meeting for Hope Chapel could be said to be the moment of conception for Hope in the City. Board member Gary Kinamen from Mesa Arizona lobbed a bomb into the discussion when he suggested that Ron and Janine become the next church planters sent out from Hope Chapel. When he broached this possibility most of us in the board room of the Embassy Suites hotel on that faithful day in October felt something prophetic had just been released.
At the time Hope Chapel was considering relocating to another facility to make room for growth. Brett and Kay Hart were about to lead a group of 85 "Hopites" to launch Hope Chapel South. Experience had taught us that the pew spaces they would vacate would soon be filled with new worshippers. There were no other potential church planters on the horizon at Hope Chapel so we were once again struggling with the facilities crunch. The idea of Ron and Janine leading the next church plant was radical because at the time, Ron was the senior pastor.
Little did anyone in the room (except Janine) know that for four months the Lord had been dealing with Ron to pioneer a new church. The "word" that Gary gave served to confirm this direction and the months that followed was the opportunity for the elders to buy into the plan with much discussion and even more prayer. By the time the announcement was made at Hope Chapel the new church had the full blessing and support of the elders and pastoral staff of the church.
In August of 2000 Hope in the City began meeting in the cafeteria of Austin High School. Nearly 200 attended that first Sunday. Most had been members of Hope Chapel who felt the call to join Ron and Janine and the core group that launched out from Hope Chapel. To date the majority of worshippers at Hope in the City have no history with Hope Chapel but so much of who we are we owe to the vision and generosity of Hope Chapel.
There have been pivotal points of growth and development in our short history as a church:
- In January 2002 two of our key leaders, made a decision to move to join in initiating church planting movements in one of the world's largest Muslim country.
- Our college pastors transitioned from youth ministry into the role of college ministry at the end of the Spring semester in 2002.
- Sean and Shannon Jones joined us to serve the youth ministry in July of 2002.
- That same month the Lord provided an ideal office/meeting facility we were able to lease at 45th and Red River.
- September 2002 we launched our first class of the School of Church Planting. (Four from that first class are currently serving on CP teams in Central Asia).
- 2003 was marked by transition to a cell-celebration structure. New (and improved) Hope Groups were launched that seek to live out the five core values God has given us as a church.
- In September of 2003 we launched our first domestic church planting venture in Bryan/College Station. Fernando and Cathe Aguirre lead a team in starting Gateway Community Church in Aggie-land.
- In 2004 God provided us with a piece of property located at 4407 Monterey Oaks Blvd. the Monterey Tech Center in SW Austin. Two large flex/warehouse buildings located on 7 acres of land became our future home.
- That same year (2004) we moved from the cafeteria to the gym at Austin High (while waiting on the construction of our new facility.)
- In January of 2005 our church sent a medical team to serve some of the survivors of the Tsunami that hit Northwest Sumatra in Indonesia.
- Our office was completed in September of 2005.
- We launched a CP team to Central Asia in April of 2005.
- We sent a CP team to North Africa in August of 2005.
- We moved into our new worship facility on Monterey Oaks on Palm Sunday 2006.
- Summer 2006 our second team in Central Asia left on their CP mission.
- Our fifth long-term CP team left for Western Papua, Indonesia in November 2006.
We feel like our future is bright. The dreams we have for Hope in the City would require a book to document. Someday our history will be even more of a testimony to the grace of God working in and through a community of believers committed to His purpose.