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As we reflect upon the history of Hope Church, we see an exciting picture of God's gracious blessings. The theme of this history surrounds the Lord Jesus Christ, the One that we as a church body are dedicated to serving, proclaiming, and honoring. Hope Church emerged as an outpouring of a pastor's desire to plant churches in the greater Cincinnati area. This vision was shared and cultivated by a group of about 40 people meeting in a Sunday school class at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Milford, Ohio, in early 1989. After much prayer and discussion, the group made a commitment to begin a church and soon created a pastoral search committee. They learned that Jonathan Burnham, a theology student at Oxford University, had a burden to start a church, and over time it became clear that the Lord would have him be the pastor of Hope Church. Jonathan, with his wife, Faith, came to Hope in the summer of 1989, and he would serve as Hope?s senior pastor for 13 years. In October of 1989, Hope first began to meet on its own at Kings Mills Elementary School. With God?s continued blessing, the congregation outgrew that first rented facility within a year and began holding services at the Village Church in Mason, Ohio. In December of 1991, the church acquired our current location, 20 acres of land on Western Row Road from a Hope family who, years earlier, had felt led to purchase the property for some special purpose. As the congregation continued to grow, church leaders began making plans for a new church building and purchased an additional ten acres. Sunday services were moved from the Village Church to Mason High School in late 1993. In late 1994, we celebrated the opening of our new building in Mason. The 30,000+ square-foot facility provided sufficient space for classrooms, offices, and a 1,000-seat capacity sanctuary. Later, Phase II resulted in 30,000 additional square feet of classrooms. Longer-term plans called for converting the current sanctuary to classrooms and a gymnasium and adding a larger and more specifically designed sanctuary. In 2006, however, the Hope Church elders decided to delay this addition for at least two more years. In 2002, Pastor Burnham left Hope Church to join the faculty of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dr. Michael Moriarty became Hope's Senior Pastor in July 2004 and, after two years of leadership, Pastor Michael felt God's call leading him in a different direction. Hope Church has always been blessed by committed believers who have been equipped to do the work of the ministry.