New Hope United

United is located in Simi Valley, California, just 35 minutes north of Los Angeles and 30 minutes from the Pacific coast’s most beautiful beaches. The United ELN program is part of New Hope Christian Fellowship led by Senior Pastor, James Craft.

Like other ELN programs, the focus of United is to launch young leaders forward with discipleship, college-level courses, and hands-on ministry experience. What sets United apart from any other program as a unique opportunity is our two amazing ministry tracks.

If you choose the Worship & Media ministry track you will serve alongside New Hope Worship Pastor and Press Play lead singer, Dave Hanley. You’ll learn things like how to plan a service, organize a worship team, and incorporate creative worship such as hip-hop dance. You will also learn film & media production, editing, basic sound engineering, media projection. The icing on the cake is that you will also get to serve at Dream Records, New Hope’s own music recording label where you’ll learn how to promote Christian artists in the music industry!

If you choose the NextGen ministry track you will serve alongside New Hope NextGen Pastor and Foursquare National NextGen Leader, Kelly Fellows. You’ll learn how to design ministry for all ages, from “cradle to college.” This includes preparing lessons and illustrations for kids in HopeTown children’s ministry; leading activities in NH Tweens; learning to run events, small groups, follow up, etc. for Switch youth ministry; and how to reach your peers in young adult specific ministry.

Both tracks get to participate in outreaches, conferences, retreats, camps, church events, and a mission trip!

For more information on how to join United visit our website, www.newhopeunited.org or call 805.581.1628.

Watch the video below and discover why their students are saying, “Our lives have been completely changed.”

Imagine how Timothy felt when his mentor, Paul, wrote to a church about him. Timothy was just a young leader when Paul stuck a “letter of recommendation” for him right into the middle of what he was writing to the church in Philippi. He wrote:

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon… I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. (Philippians 2:19-22)

Paul wrote to let this church know that Timothy was now mission-ready, fully equipped to be launched out on the assignment Paul had for him.

Wouldn’t you want something like that written about you? If you’re like me, you want others to see things about you that indicate you’re mission-ready, prepared for whatever God may have for you to do.

Check out the things Paul noticed about Timothy’s life that showed he was ready for mission:

1. He loved people. Timothy showed a “genuine concern” for others — something Jesus said is a mark of a true disciple. We can never truly be ready for mission if we’re living for ourselves. God’s mission is always about others! 
2. He understood ministry. Timothy hadn’t just taken classes in ministry or watched others do it, he had served with Paul in the work of the gospel. Because he’d been mentored in ministry then released to do it, he now deeply grasped what ministering to others was really about.
3. He was proven. When Paul said that “Timothy has proved himself”, he was saying a lot. Reading through the New Testament, we discover that Timothy not only traveled and ministered widely with Paul but that he’d also been imprisoned for his faith. That which has not been tested has not been proven — and to truly be ready for mission requires that we’ve gone through testing and grown in maturity as a result.

I don’t know what your mission is, but I know that you have one. Paul wrote to believers in Jesus, just like you and me, and said:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

God may intend to send you to serve impoverished orphans or to become a Wall Street banker. Maybe both! He may send you to start new churches or write new software. But no matter what your mission may be, you’ll need the same three things that marked Timothy’s life in order to be mission-ready.

Loving people. Understanding ministry. Being proven. These are necessary features in the life of every Christ-follower who wants to impact their world with Jesus’ grace. And they are the kinds of things that are developed in the lives of ELN students every day.

Read the stories of other students who have invested time in an ELN program to become ready for God’s mission — then use the Program Finder to locate an ELN school of ministry that’s just right for you. And use the comment box below to tell us about YOUR mission!

Guest writer, Pastor Jon Looney, is the director of New Hope United, the ELN program in Simi Valley, CA.

One of my favorite parts of our Christian journey is watching God “work all things together for the good of those who trust him”. It’s so fun to sit back and admire the way God expands his kingdom in ways I could never imagine. As an associate pastor at New Hope Christian Fellowship in Simi Valley, CA I get a lot of opportunities to see God dazzle people with his creativity in their situations. And as the Director of our ELN program, called New Hope United, I love helping young leaders discover God’s calling in their lives. I am also fortunate to serve with senior pastor James Craft who is passionate about helping young people discover their God given destiny.

Have you ever started something thinking it was your idea and then mid way into it you realize it was actually God’s idea? As we begin our second year of United it has been yet another vivid example of God creatively knitting his kingdom together in ways that astound me, and me just trying to hang on for the ride! Let me explain.

Pastors David & Gina Hanley, lead singers of Press Play worship band, started dreaming with Pastor James years ago about sending music missionaries around the world. That vision led to the establishment of Dream Records Media Group and just last year God opened the door for Dream to move from Los Angeles to a state-of-the-art recording studio in Simi Valley–just two blocks from New Hope! God birthed the vision and orchestrated the circumstances to allow New Hope United and Dream Records to partner together to create a unique and dynamic ELN experience.

Students at New Hope United can select the Worship & Media ministry track in which young people receive hands on training in the studio from David & Gina. This discipleship teaches things like how to lead with the heart of worship, technical excellence, recording, sound and editing, basic film production, and much more. Its the perfect combination of releasing young leaders in their calling and sending music missionaries to reach the world through creative forms of worship. This joins our existing NextGen ministry track in which young leaders are discipled by Foursquare’s National NextGen Representative and New Hope Associate Pastor Kelly Fellows on how to design dynamic age appropriate ministry for kids, tweens, youth, and young adults.

United is emerging as a premier discipleship school that only God could have designed. I can’t wait to see how God blends these incredible ministries together, “United” for the expansion of his kingdom as only he could dream of!

For more information on becoming a New Hope United student please contact our United staff at 805.581.1628 or visit www.newhopeunited.com.

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What will your story be?

Would you like to take part in this adventure? The application deadline is coming up soon, so watch the video below, then head over to the Israel Impact website for further information and registration details.

Click here to see a highlight mix from Pete’s college years at LSU. You’ll get the picture.

If you’ve ever played a game of basketball, you know one of the key rules: once you stop dribbling the ball you can no longer move — you either have to pass it or shoot. If you’re like me (easily beaten by the third-grade C team), you’ve probably stopped dribbling too early and been stuck. You’re too far to shoot the ball effectively, and you’re being crowded by the opposing team so you can’t even get off a decent pass.

I think life can be a lot like this. We stop moving forward, get stuck, and the enemy starts pounding on us.

What made Pistol Pete so amazing is that he mastered the art of not-getting-stuck. I think there are lessons we can learn from the way he played the game.

1. Keep dribbling. Even when you feel like you’re stuck, if you keep dribbling the ball, opportunities will present themselves to get moving again. In our spiritual lives, maybe we “keep dribbling” when we spend daily time with Jesus, serve others, participate with our church family, choose to obey, etc., even when (especially when) it would be easier to simply stop. Keep going! Don’t give up. Hebrews 10:36 reminds us that God’s promises are fulfilled in the lives of those who keep going.
2. Keep practicing. As long as we’re living we need to keep growing. The Apostle Paul urged believers to NOT STOP their growth in Christ.  “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).
3. Remember you’re on a team. When you watch Pistol Pete’s highlight reel, you quickly realize that he loved passing the ball off to team members. And he was great at it. We often get stuck when we begin thinking that we’re on the court alone, trying to fend off the opposition all by ourselves. Jesus’ prayer for us is that we’d be so closely tied together that we’d be “one”. That sounds like a good team to be on.

Now that the school year has ended, it could be an easy time to back off and quit pressing forward. Keep dribbling. And if you’ve got a shot…take it! God put you in this game to score…a lot!

This fall, hundreds of high school grads will be in ELN programs around the country. They’re committed to improving their game: leadership skills, their heart to serve others, and a deepened understanding of God and His Word. How about you? Wherever you go, keep pressing forward into all that God has for you.

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