Hope Blog

What's new at Hope.

  1. Good Friday Service • April 3rd • 6:30 PM

    Community Updates


    April 3rd’s Good Friday Service at 6:30 PM includes seven friends from our community reflecting personally over the seven last phrases that Jesus spoke from the cross and is interspersed with worship and silence. It is always a very beautiful and poignant time together. You’re encouraged to invite friends, family, and coworkers.

    We recommend the service for children ages 6th grade and up but leave this to the parent’s discretion. Testimonies given may contain more mature content.

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    HOW GOOD FRIDAY IS CONNECTED TO PASSOVER

    Jesus shared Passover meal with His disciples after sundown the night before His death (evening is the beginning of the Jewish day). He also gave His disciples a new way to remember Him: Communion; the unleavened bread represented His broken body and the cup of wine represented His blood shed for us (John 20) just as the Passover lamb’s blood marking the enslaved Israelites’ houses caused the death of the first born to “pass – over” them safely. Jesus, the true representation of the Passover lamb, freely gave His life as a sinless sacrifice in payment for our sin (ours rightfully deserving death), freeing us from our enslavement to it, rescuing us from death – even as God freed the Israelites from Pharaoh’s slavery (Exodus 1-15). The Passover prefigured Jesus’ death – one Lamb for all humankind.

    Learn more about Passover in Exodus And learn about The Last Supper, Good Friday, and Easter by reading about them in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – or by listening to the musical drama our own Dennis O’Donnell wrote partially from Exodus and John – or in this article about Passover and Jesus: Four Ways Passover Foreshadowed Easter.

  2. Men of Hope Retreat 2026 • April 24-26th

    Community Updates

    Registration Open

    April 24-26th, Friday – Sunday

    Join us at T Bar M for men and young men ages 16 and up. We’ve got a great facility – with lots of amenities including a pool, disc-golf course, pickleball, volleyball, basketball, tennis, putt-putt, soccer, air hockey, and ping pong! Enjoy unstructured time for fellowship: as a group, with old or new friends, or solo time for fellowship with God.

    EARLYBIRD DISCOUNT AND SCHOLARSHIP FUND

    Sign up early and receive a discount! There are a limited number of single or double occupancy rooms – late registrations may be in a room with 2-3 other men (two queen beds). All registrants must complete and sign the waiver for the camp. Register on Realm today!

    Cost concerns? There’s a scholarship fund. Don’t let money be the reason you don’t come. Hopites can check with Joe Friedman.

  3. Women of Hope & MomCo Clothing Swap

    Community Updates
    Come join WOH & MomCo for a super fun night of swapping clothes and accessories you’re ready to part with! Clean out your closet, bring your gently loved pieces, and leave with “new-to-you” treasures – on Friday, March 27th from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM in the Family Room
    RSVP & sign up to bring a snack HERE! (drinks provided)
    For questions, contact Joelene Michel.
  4. Women of Hope Night Out: Strike, Spare, & a Surprise: Thursday, February 26, 6PM

    Community Updates

    Join us ladies at Hope for a night of bowling, laughs, and a surprise wig exchange you won’t see coming! Each guest should bring a surprise wig for someone else—and yes, you’ll be receiving one too (this is NOT mandatory). Come ready to roll some frames in a brand-new look.

    $4 for bowling shoes. Wig reactions encouraged.

    Time: 6:00pm at Hope in the Family Room for light snacks & wig exchange. 7:15pm at Pins & Wheels (8822 McCann Dr, Austin, TX 78757) for bowling.

    Contact Joelene Michel with any questions!

  5. Smiles & Stories Social International Potluck 

    Community Updates

    Creative, New Culinary Delights Welcome!
    Sunday, February 8th – International Foods

    Come join us for our monthly potluck as we celebrate spreading God’s love around the world and we bring together dishes from places we’ve been or places we’d love to visit. Hope Chapel provides the Slavic dish Plov. Bring an International food dish maybe from a place our own GO Team or our youth have gone cross-culturally. Bring something from there or from a place you’ve been or would like to go.

    Pitch in as you can before you leave – many hands make light work!

  6. Joe Friedman, A HopeArtist Presents: Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” Reading on Sunday, December 21st, 6-8:30 PM

    Community Updates

    AN EVENING OF IMAGINATION
    Invite friends to come and hear this timeless redemption story as veteran actor, Joe Friedman, in period costume, reads aloud Charles Dickens’ beloved classic, A Christmas Carol, for our enjoyment. Ebenezer Scrooge, Marley, the Ghosts of Christmas: Past, Present, and Yet To Come, and Tiny Tim with the rest of the Cratchits will come to life in your imagination. Joe is in his 36th year of reading this story for others.

    BRING SOMETHING TO DO “AROUND THE HEARTH” 
    Bring your puzzles or knit, sew, make crafts (a great time to make ornaments!) – whatever your preferred activity to do is while you listen – in the Den upstairs.

    ARE CHILDREN WELCOME? YES, OF COURSE… Parents, it’s up to your discretion as to whether your kids have the right temperament for a two hour reading (with an intermission).

    Joe says, “Feel free to dress in period costume!”

    RSVP ON REALM
    No tickets needed: free for all as Joe’s gift – but let him know you’re coming.