Empowering Teen Moms:  Hope House of Colorado

What we do:  Hope House Colorado empowers parenting teenage moms to strive for personal and economic self-sufficiency and to understand their significance in God’s sight, resulting in a healthy future for them, and for their children.  

Our Programs:  Hope House is metro-Denver’s only resource providing free self-sufficiency programs to teen moms, including Residential, GED, and College & Career programs. Additional supportive services include parenting, healthy relationship classes, and certified counseling, all designed to prepare them for long-term independence.

June 30, 11:00 am | Hope House Mission Serve – Help Serve lunch | Details to Follow

What we do: Mission: We are here to serve and bring good news of salvation and hope to the Spanish-speaking community.  Our vision is to orient lives in love towards salvation, integration and service.

How 4Cs Partners: We share our space for Oasis to worship and office. We support this church plant financially and with encouragement and prayer.

What we do:  To connect people to Jesus, drawing them one step closer to God, one prayer, one caring act, one conversation at a time.  The ministry operates in three spheres: previously (and newly) established relationships, neighborhood, and public spaces.  AVAILABILITY and TIME are key.  Whatever it takes to meet with people to fit their needs and schedules.  The Oasis is geared to be relentlessly available to the unchurched/dechurched, the uninformed moralist, and those not currently being discipled, making the most of every opportunity to draw people into relationship with Jesus.  This is the kind of love that speaks volumes to those forgotten, neglected, snubbed, overlooked, and unappreciated.  The Oasis exists to give people the time they need to talk, process, and be cared for.  Because we are laser focused on connecting people to Jesus, a majority of time is devoted to conversations and activities that focus on God’s loving presence.  The message: “You matter.  God loves you.  Because of Jesus, I’m here for you.  Take all the time you need.”  There is a strong resolve to be connected to, and help, the poor who are financially vulnerable (homeless, near-homeless, and those living month to month), and those living in assisted living facilities for the poor.  I would categorize our ministry as discipleship with an outreach emphasis.

How 4Cs Partners: We share our space for Oasis to worship and office. We support this church plant financially and with encouragement and prayer.

Discipling Leaders to Reach Alaskan Youth:  Covenant Youth of Alaska—Marc & Angela Lantz

What we do:  We are Marc and Angela Lantz, and we are thrilled to be called to serve with Covenant Youth of Alaska (CYAK), serving youth and young adults across the largest US state. After meeting at a youth ministry internship, we have spent the last 11 years serving in youth ministry together, we were asked to direct the Acts29 school of discipleship that was hosted by the Covenant churches of Alaska, as well as to stay and serve with CYAK.  We said ‘yes’ to both, and moved to Palmer in April 2019.  Marc serves on CYAK’s Leadership Team as program director, overseeing all (4-6) regional and statewide youth/young adult events.  He also directs Covenant Bible Camp in Unalakleet for 5 weeks in May/June.  He works closely with volunteers, interns, and veteran staff as they team up to serve youth/young adults together.  Angela serves on CYAK’s Team Care Initiative, as a care coordinator.  She helps provide mentorship and care to CYAK staff and volunteers, promoting healthy leadership.  We really appreciate the work CYAK does across the state and the partners they share across the rest of the continent.  Though we are based in Palmer, CYAK’s ministry is statewide and includes lots of travel to events and various other forms of communication.  Our heart is to encourage and assist the discipleship and growth of young Alaskans.  We want to help more Alaskans lead like Jesus both at home as well as in a world that needs the hope of Christ. If we had to categorize our ministry in a word or phrase, it would be to Develop Leaders.

Sharing Jesus with Alaskan Teens:  Covenant Youth of Alaska—James & Rachel Ventress

What we do:  Pastor James (Associate Pastor of Youth Ministries) wife Rachel and their children have made Alaska their home for the last 11 years.  In 2014, he became the Associate Pastor of Youth Ministries for Nome Covenant Church. He is also the director of Checkpoint Youth Center, the church’s outreach drop-in center open to any and all jr. and sr. high school students in the community.  James and Rachel have big hearts for youth, especially those who are hurting or vulnerable.  The vision for their ministry at Checkpoint began in their 900 sq. ft. house in 2012, when Rachel’s students from the junior high school began stopping by to visit and eat dinner.  James and Rachel began a weekly “Bible Club” in their home where students came to eat dinner, play games, and listen to a Bible presentation about the gospel. The ministry grew to where the entry way was filled with shoes as students sat on any open space, including lining the spiral staircase, to hear about Jesus, His love for them and His plan for their lives.  In 2014, the ministry moved to Checkpoint where there was more room to accommodate the growing number of Nome youth seeking the Kingdom of God and His love.  He is often found serving youth in the Norton Sound Region at Covenant Bible Camp and Fall Blast, as well as in his living room, at Checkpoint, at the bike repair shop across the street from the church, and at community events in Nome.  They would describe their ministry as apologetics and evangelism for third culture youth in rural Alaska.

Connecting College Students to Jesus: Andrew & Jena Brown, serving with Cru in Lynchburg, Virginia

What we do:  Cru is a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ. Cru is a campus ministry that is about two things: Jesus and Community.  We think that Jesus is the greatest person to ever live and that our relationship with him is the most fulfilling thing on earth.  We believe this so much that we want everyone at UVA to have the opportunity to know him too.  In fact Jesus is really the whole reason we exist and he is the focus of our mission:  Cru is a community where the gospel captures hearts, transforms lives and launches men and women into a lifelong adventure with Jesus.  We want to experience Christ, embrace the gospel, be on mission and extend God’s love.  The second thing we are about is community.  Nobody likes to be alone and so we make it a priority to have an incredible community.  While the Large Group meetings may not give you a chance to meet everyone well, there are many interconnected groups of close-knit friends. We want our community to grow, which is where our love for Jesus and our natural desire for community come together.

Sharing Christ’s Loving Mercy with Kids: NAOMI House, Arizona

Our Mission:  Native American Outreach Ministries Inc. is a non-profit mission home dedicated to providing a safe and loving home for Native American Children.

What we do:  We are told that it takes a village to raise a child.  However, when a child has been abused and wounded, it takes more than just one village—it takes many.  NAOMI is one small village, working with many others to help hurt children recover from child abuse.  The reason NAOMI exists, is to share the healing love of Jesus Christ, with hurting children that desperately need His healing touch.  NAOMI was established as a non-profit home for abused and neglected Native American children and we moved into our present home in January of 1995.  We strive to maintain an atmosphere that not only looks like home but also feels like home.  We are a family.  For the sake of the children, we avoid all appearances of institution and endeavor to be as culturally appropriate as possible.  Meeting the  diverse and complicated needs of sexually abused children as soon as they have been hurt enables them to heal and come to terms with their abuse.  We aspire to help end child molestation one child at a time, by removing wounded children from the vicious cycle that led to their abuse.  N.A.O.M.I. is a non-denominational Christian Ministry.  We minister primarily to Native American Children and their families. Our main thrust of ministry is the Children’s Home we operate in Joseph City, Arizona.

How 4Cs Partners:  We send annual short-term groups to encourage and support the kids and staff at NAOMI House. 

Rescuing and Protecting Vulnerable Girls: Agape International Mission School, Cambodia

What I do:

“My name is Sophie Wysocki and I live and work in Phnom Penh Cambodia serving with Agape International Missions (AIM)—a Christian anti-trafficking organization fighting for freedom and justice in Christ’s name. I serve at AIM’s prevention project AIM School, in the small community of Svay Pak, which was formerly referred to as the epicenter for child sex trafficking. Our school serves as an outreach to children and youth who are at high risk for being trafficked or who come from poor households with no means of education.Our hope is that through our school, we create a safe place for students where they can meet Jesus and experience His love and power. And through empowering our students with education, we hope to instill self-worth and value to our students as well as positively change the way the community views the youth in order to break the cycle of child sex slavery. We also work hard to pour into our local Cambodian teachers, empowering them in leadership and professional skills, as they bring the love of Christ to their own community and change their community through Christ’s power. I have had many roles at the school, the latest being English Department Principal. I have now handed over all of my leadership positions to Cambodian leaders who I’ve trained and now serve as a leadership mentor and consultant for the school leadership team.” 

How 4Cs Partners:  We financially support the AIM school.  We keep in touch with Sophie, who grew up in our church family. We have held “pop shops” to sell AIM products to further empower women and girls in Cambodia.

2022 Home

Building Italian Believers: Anthony & Nikki Testa, Italy

What we do:  Anthony, Nikki, and their four kids, affectionately known as the Testa tribe, is a crazy-for-Jesus, worshiping, mountain climbing, disciple making family serving Italians, Europeans and the nations.  They believe that God wants to call everyone “Into the Wilderness” to encounter Father’s love and become activated into the Kingdom!  They have helped found two churches in Italy, founded a house church network in Piemonte, Italy, and founded and entrusted the Into the Wilderness (ITW) program to Italian nationals.  ITW is designed to bring people into experiential encounters with the Creator, equip disciples, and form multiplying discipleship families in the wilderness through camping, rock climbing, mountaineering, rafting, trekking, and other mountain adventures.

Mentoring Kingdom Builders in Colombia: Gary & Mary Lou Sander, ECC Global Personnel

What we do:  We are working in the area of leadership training, facilitating the strengthening and development of mentoring relationships with the present pastoral and ministry leadership of the local Covenant churches, with the Social Justice and Community Outreach Ministries, and with the new leadership found among the young adults.  We share life experiences and Biblical insight and truths with one another.  Such strengthening and development of these mentoring relationships will facilitate unity and have a positive impact among the current and future Covenant leadership in Colombia, as the participants are encouraged and equipped to mentor others.  Together, with the Colombia Covenant leadership, we are addressing the past and present realities of social injustice and racial prejudice.  As we are moved by the Holy Spirit to be a prophetic voice we share, teach, preach, mentor, encourage and advocate for the reconciliation of God’s creation as we live out our identity in Christ. 

What we do: Tricia and I have been missionaries serving in Slovakia from 1994 to 2013.  Now we live in Vienna and work as Area Leaders for Pioneers in South Central Europe and in Iberia.  As Area Leaders we assist our Pioneers families so they can better equip and empower the local churches as they start more churches.  We serve and encourage our teams and support them in development, refining their strategy, and implementing the plans they have from the Lord.  Our local ministry in Vienna revolves around our church, The International Chapel of Vienna, which works hard to share Christ with the English-speaking international community.  Doug serves on the deacon board and Tricia is helping our church’s teens.  Together we host a young adults Bible study in our home on Fridays.  If we had to categorize our ministry in a word or phrase, it would be providing oversight for church planters.