New Hope's Past and Future

On Wednesday evening after dinner at the church I sat across from Sarah, a guest, who said, “Tell me about this church’s history and it’s plans for the future.” Here is how I responded.

New Hope came out of South Daytona Baptist Church 15 years ago: August 4, 1996. They met at Spruce Creek Elementary School, then bought the A-frame and worshipped in it until they built the current sanctuary. Armand became the accompanist early on and has been with New Hope for most of its 15 years. Dennis (who was sitting beside me) has been minister of music for 10 years. Fleda and I came 5 years ago this month.

Part of the strength of New Hope is the people who have been members since the beginning. They form a loving core. They know each other well and care about each other deeply but remain concerned to reach out. When I talked to the Pastor Search Committee of New Hope five years ago, I asked them, “What are your hopes for the church?” They responded, “We want to reach younger families.”

I said, “If we are going to reach younger families, we have to prepare for and care for their children.” That is what we are working on for the future.

New Hope has always been a different kind of Baptist church, I said to Sarah. We are not a Southern Baptist church. We have always given our mission money to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which began in 1991 as an alternative to the SBC. We take the Bible seriously and want it to shape our lives and our church, but we try to understand the Bible in historical and cultural context. We differ with the SBC on how to interpret Paul’s words, “Wives are to graciously submit to their husbands,” (Ephesians 5:22). Nor do we say, as is now in the Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 2000, “The office of pastor is limited to men as taught by the Bible.” We believe God’s will for today is reflected in the fact that women are educated and taking leadership roles in every area of life.

Our young guest seemed to respond very positively to what I told her about us. She stayed for Bible study and talked to me afterward about how a church might reach young adults. Her daughter, Madison, a first-grader, was participating in our children’s program, and I believe they will be back.

Extravagant Hope

The prophet Jeremiah says God has extravagant possibilities for you and me. Every once in a while we feel the Spirit pulling us to do something new, something rare, something good. There’s a relentless spontaneity about it. Every once in a while we should act on impulse with just the faintest impression that we heard God say, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Brett Younger writes, “No day is without the possibility of a unique opportunity. If we keep asking, ‘What peculiar thing might God want from me?’ we’ll find ways to adore God.

“Try telling God,” Younger says, “that you want to live an out of the ordinary day. Pray more than an ordinary prayer. Pray that God will empty you of everything that isn’t love. Speak an extravagant word of grace to someone. Look for words so lavish that their face and yours will turn red. Read the Bible. Do something for your church that you’ve never done. Pick something that frightens you. Stir things up. Be the one who mentions Jesus during deacons’ meetings.

“Speak to someone to whom you’ve gotten used to not speaking. Sell something and give the money to feed hungry children. Give more than a reasonable amount. Be open to all kinds of extravagant possibilities. God may invite you to go beyond what’s reasonable. God will lead us to become better thinkers, better ministers, better Christians, to love the church, love Christ.”

These words about living on extravagant hope are for you, my New Hope family. Our church came into being 15 years ago this month. The God who called us into being wants to give us “a future with hope.”