Celebrating 10 Years!

From the Founders:

Ten years ago, April 2003, Cherie and I moved to the Nashville area following what we believed was God?s direction. We carried with us faith in the belief that He wanted us there, but we also held onto a little apprehension.

We knew we were being commissioned to create a pathway of service for followers of Jesus who desired to help those suffering the effects of crisis and disaster around the world. Exactly how remained to be seen. Hope Force International (HFI) was still a seed, waiting to germinate.

The creation passage in Genesis encouraged and comforted us as we began the journey. ?In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was brooding?hovering over the waters. And God said, ?Let there be?.??  

No one knows how long the Lord brooded over the earth, but at some point, He spoke the words that brought forth life. The first thing He brought forth was light, the very thing necessary to see clearly.

In a similar fashion, vision often starts in the dark. It is murky and not always clear at first. We need light and clarification in order to make sense of it. This process shouldn?t be rushed, however. It is critical that we cultivate the discipline to wait for His clarifying command that provides light, definition, direction, boundaries, provision, order and life.

This has certainly been true as it pertains to HFI. Over a period of years, the formless and empty concept existed in the hard-to-grasp places of our hearts and minds. At times, even our closest friends planted seeds of doubt with their comments:  ?I honestly just don?t see what you see. Are you just going to sit around and wait for disaster to happen??  

At that time, the dramatic increase in global disasters was not so obvious. The comments came before the back-to-back disasters of this decade, such as the southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

We realize now that God had opened our eyes to this new reality of increased global disasters because He was placing a new calling and vision upon our hearts. Eventually, through something that we?ve come to call ?Godly agitation?, we were faced with a choice: to fervently ask the Lord for clarity and confirmation of the vision, or to let it go.

At times, it takes fairly drastic steps to slow the mind down, and to set aside our own thoughts, fears, and desires?to stop and listen to that still, small, voice. For us, it was a trip to New England to a favorite get-away. It was here that the Lord completed the brooding process and for the first time, as it pertains to what was to become Hope Force International, we heard the Lord say, ?Let there be?.?

We knew then that our lives would never be the same.

Today, we look back to that precise moment and see with confidence that He has watched over the dream He placed in our hearts. He has directed our steps, granted favor and provided hope and faith. He has brought to us highly esteemed co-workers and as a team, we have worked together on behalf of those affected by crisis and disaster. There are over 1,200 people who have been equipped as HFI Reservists -- willing to respond with help, hope and compassion. We?ve expressed our love of God and people through compassionate action in the aftermath of disasters such as the 2004 tsunami outreach to Sri Lanka, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast and New Jersey, fires in Southern California, tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The journey has been filled with unexpected turns, faithful provision, struggles, and amazing celebration. We remain humbled by God?s willingness to entrust us with His dream, and we are overwhelmed by the privilege that has been ours. We want to thank each one of you who have been a part of this amazing journey, and invite you to continue on with us as we seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and mind ? and to love our neighbor as ourselves.