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.
Some highlights of HITC's History:
- 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. (A church planting team targeting Central Asia has formed from that class).
- 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 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 March 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 SE Asia in November 2006.
- January 2008 maked the completion of phase three of the construction of our facility. The youth and elementary wings were completed along with the coffee house we call "Awake, Awake!" (There's a dual meaning: It's what we all want when we drink it - it's name also speaks of a spiritual awakening, see Isaiah 51:9.)
- February 2008 we sent another CP team to North Africa.
- August of 2008 we sent a CP to another country in Central Asia, our current college pastor transitioned into their position and 5 months later we sent another team memberto join them.
- September 2008 marked the unveiling of a 5 year plan. We have focused our core values on "Loving God, Loving One Another, and Loving Austin and the Nations." We implemented specific goals around these core values and announced strategies to reach these goals.
- November 2008, 2 teams in Central Asia disbaded due to security threats. Both found homes with one of our teams in a different country in Central Asia and one of our teams in North Africa.
Our history is still in the making. God's intended future for us even far more fruitful than our past. Many lives in Austin and the Nations will be transformed through God's message of grace being communicated through the lives of our church family.