The Story of House of Hope

We write this to you with grateful and expectant hearts knowing that the Lord has created us for such a time as this.

The ministry of House of Hope has been on quite a journey over the last few years. After returning to Florida from an opportunity to lead an Evangelistic crusade in Chicago, IL, we found ourselves extremely unsettled. We had nowhere to live and felt that our place and the mission we had thought was so clear suddenly felt so uncertain. By the grace of God and the kindness of an old friend from middle school, we were blessed with a place to live. A place we could never afford at the time, but he was insistent on helping us in order to keep our dream of House of Hope alive.

In May of 2016, we hosted the 1st House of Hope gathering inside that very home. There were about 7 people who came. We gathered for dinner and fellowship, we worshiped, testimonies were given, and Tim shared a short word about the vision and the heart behind House of Hope. Tim also shared the scripture that would serve as the core biblical principle that House of Hope would stand on:

1 Corinthians 9:19

“We are a slave to no man.

But we became a slave to all - So many could come come to Christ.”

With that scripture deeply rooted in the the heart of the ministry, We created a “Tag-Line” to highlight the vision for this calling the Lord laid on our hearts:

House Of Hope

“Where Hope Wins

Transformation Takes Place

and the Community gathers as One”

Where Hope Wins: Jesus is the only hope we see and ever will be in an exceedingly hopeless world. “We rejoice in the hope and glory of God..” (John 3:17) 

Transformation Takes Place: We believe that if we gather in the presence of the Lord we

can leave transformed through the power of His grace, mercy, and love.

The Community Gathers as One: When we gather together as one body in prayer, reverence, and worship. Jesus is present. (Matthew 18:20) We are believers that expect miracles of life changing healing when we gather. Where the impossible becomes possible, not by anything we could ever do, but by the supernatural power of God.

(Matthew 19:26)

After our 1st meeting, we continued to follow what the Lord had laid on our hearts and welcomed our friends, family, neighbors, and anyone God put in our path into our home at 6625 9th Ave. N is St. Petersburg, FL once a month until the middle of 2017. Around that time we had to move to a different part of town and the home we were living in would not have been able to sustain our “home ministry”, so we prayed and felt led to take a leap of faith and move into creating the “House of Hope Experience” at Shore Acres Recreation Center in Shore Acres, FL. At this point, we were blessed with upwards of 60 people attending the last Saturday of each month growing steadily to a little over 80 attendees until June of 2018.

We knew we had outgrown that space and began speaking with several churches in the area which blessed us with the ability to hold House of Hope in their facilities. Although grateful for the opportunities, none of them ever felt like “home.” At one point, we met at one of our leaders' homes. It was an outside service on a tennis court, and although it was an amazing experience, we realized that with all the moving we had done in such a short amount of time, we found we had lost some support and people. 

A little discouraged, but always hopeful that the Lord was working. We held a prayer meeting in November 2018 with my prayer team and core members of the ministry.  Amongst many prayers said that night for clarity, favor, protection, wisdom, and provision. There was one prayer in which one of our brothers prayed, quite simply, and said “God, can you please just give us a church?”

 I had honestly forgotten about that simple prayer as the holidays passed by quickly and all of a sudden the last Saturday of January was creeping up on us and we still did not have a place to meet. The tennis court we had met at previously wasn’t out of the question, however at the time, Florida was experiencing our “winter” and the temperatures were in the low 40’s at night, so we needed somewhere indoors to meet. I reached out to an old friend who I knew had a space that he had built out a few years ago. It was perfect for what we needed and he was gracious enough to open his church, “House of Prayer” to us that evening.

That evening was January 26, 2018. What an anointed night for House of Hope. We had 78 people + 8 children show up to enjoy fellowship over a delicious meal, worship together and hear an incredible teaching from the Word of God. That alone was enough. 

Our hearts were full. And then, what happened next was a true miracle and blessing beyond what we could have ever imagined. The pastor whose space we were using that evening got up and asked to speak a word. He went on to explain that after much prayer he and his wife had felt lead in November 2018 to shut down this church in order to follow the prompting to move to Lakeland, FL to come under the covering of another church. 

He then proceeded to say, “With all that being said, and after witnessing how the Holy Spirit moved in this place tonight. God has put it on my heart to give you this church. Everything. It’s yours. I pray this place is just the beginning of the work you will accomplish for the Kingdom.” He then proceeded to lay his hands on Myself, Tamara, and our son, Austin. It was one of the most beautiful, emotional, and encouraging moments we have experienced. Our prayers had been answered so we Thought.

All the Glory to God as we met Feb 23 2019, we soon realized that the space and all the stuff as great as it was , was not conducive to the vision and feel of House of Hope. We had already outgrown the space before we had already taken it. God is good though, that week before the meeting we were contacted by another local Pastor in the area that he had his location available and the upside of the building the money was the same to secure the location. 

At this Time we are in need and believing to raise 30,000 in our first year to provide for the use of the building, office space in the church, full access past using just Saturday nights. We will need to provide some resources to secure staff positions, men's ministry, children, media/social media, sound person, worship positions, outreach pastor, and exe pastor to run the services. 

Great news, our initial money needed is as follows, $750 move in for the Month of March. April 1, 2019 $1500 for the first 4 months with the opportunity to start other ministries, like Hope Chicks (women), Disciples of Hope (men), and Hope Kids and Hope Tribe (youth) as the calendar as the Vineyard church will allow. Then $-2000 after 4 months for full access for a year commitment to grow House of Hope into a vibrant and life giving church.

We have come a long way, and experienced our fair share of ups and downs following what the Lord laid on our hearts so many years ago. There had been a time or two where we had almost given up hope in our hearts on this journey. But each time the Lord showed up and reminded us to be strong and courageous. (Joshua 1:9) To be confident that the good work he began in us, will be carried on to completion. (Philippians 1:6) And we believe His promises are true!! Being able to have a church to call our own would be a blessing we have prayed for 18 years. To not only be able to grow in fellowship but to also be able to have an impact on the surrounding community by sharing the Gospel of Christ and doing all we can to advance the Kingdom and bring more souls to know and accept the saving Grace of our Savior. We are honestly still in awe at the opportunity the Lord has given us and we hope that you will pray for us and prayerfully consider this proposal for support.

God Bless You,

Pastor Tim Marshick

House of Hope St. Pete