My wife, Michelle, and I feel that in the last year or so God has been working in our lives in a new way, especially in the area of the overwhelming biblical teaching to help the poor, the oppressed, the slaves, the alien, the fatherless and the widow. So this February, we want to take you on a journey! And we hope you’ll join us. It is a journey of restoration called Hope Lives. What am I talking about? Consider this quote: “If there is such a thing as a worldwide plague, poverty is it.” Poverty. Isn’t that for the Rescue Mission? Or Nepal, India or Cambodia? As the back of the Hope Lives book states, “The sheer enormity of the problem pins Christians to their couches. What can we do? Where should we start? And didn’t Jesus himself say the poor would always be with us?” With these questions, we invite you on a journey that, as Hope Lives author Amber Van Schooneveld says, “replaces guilt with grace. A journey that nudges those of us with enough to eat to look beyond the horizons of our 401Ks and expanding waistlines. Not just to save the world…but also restore our souls.” Our Hope Lives Journey will coincide with Super Mission Month here at Faith Church. It will be a five week journey of Sunday morning messages with 25 daily weekday readings and journal opportunities using the Hope Lives workbook. The goal is to help you discover what keeps you from engaging in global issues, explore what Scripture really says about the poor, understand the true nature of poverty, draw close to the poor through prayer, and respond to God’s voice as he speaks to you about poverty. In the lobby we have the Hope Lives workbooks for you to pick up for about $10 each. Please join us on the journey! - Joel Kime, pastor

Super Mission Sunday - Hope Lives 1 God is Not Silent (2/1/2009)

Have you ever had an experience in your life where you felt that God was silent? Perhaps it was a difficult time where you cried out to God for deliverance, and the answer was…nothing. You’re not alone. Millions and perhaps billions across the globe cry out this way every day. And God is not silent. We will look at God's heart for those who cry out for deliverance. What does he think and feel? What can we do about it?

Hope Lives 2 Understanding Poverty (2/8/2009)

Poverty. A word that evokes numerous images in our minds. Famine decimated lands where children with sickly inflated bellies grope at flies. Homeless adults lying on heat vents to keep warm in the icy cold winter. Perhaps poverty is more than images. What does it feel like? Who is truly poor? Join us as we seek to answer these questions and begin to understand our role in the answer.

Hope Lives 3 Following in Nehemiah's Footsteps (2/15/2009)

What do you do when you face a seeming insurmountable task? Set up a steering committee, delegate responsibility, recruit volunteers, solicit sponsors…the list goes on and on. Like the problem of poverty in our day, Nehemiah had to quite a wall to deal with himself. His solution is astounding! We will learn to follow in his footsteps as we tackle the problem of poverty.

Hope Lives 4 - Going Where Love Takes You (2/22/2009)

The Beatles crooned that “all you need is love.” Really? That’s it? There seems to be a lot of love in our world. You hear about it all over the place, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference. Do we need more, or do we need to recover a biblical perspective on love? And when we gain that perspective, especially in light of poverty, we are brought to moment of decision. Join us to learn more!