Pastors Message | Staff | Worship Arts | Missions | Kids | Youth | Women | Men | Red Carpet | Lone Pine
A Message From Pastor Aaron Barham
Proverbs 3:5 – 6 (NLT)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
What a year 2023 has been! We sent out our first Mission Teams in several years, had our first service in the New Building, opened a food pantry, and Changed the name of the church To Hope City Church. God is faithful and always has been. We can trust Him with our whole heart! He has blessed Hope City Church in so many ways. We have seen tremendous growth as well as a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit PTL!!!
I want to take a moment and thank you for your faithfulness in serving and giving to the Lord. Because of your faithfulness, we have been able to bring the hope of Jesus to a city in desperate need of what we have. That hope was also spread throughout the world as we were able to continue our support for missionaries overseas and in our own nation. So, again, thank you for giving sacrificially and serving with joyful hearts of love. Truly we have been blessed beyond measure and I give God all the praise and glory for everything that was accomplished for the Kingdom of God in 2023. We pray God’s continual blessing on you.
When Amber and I accepted the invitation to become your pastors, The Lord spoke to us and said, “I am going to bring about a great healing in this church, unity, and then revival.” Since 2020 we have seen The Lord faithfully bring healing and unity as we have continually Pursued Him.
As I was praying about our theme for this year, the Lord began burning the word “Thrive” in my heart. This word means to “Grow and Prosper Spiritually.” Our focus in on The Holy Spirit, His Baptism and Empowerment, who He is and how He was sent to lead us into all Truth. I believe the Lord spoke to me that He was going to bring a Spiritual Awakening and Shaking to our Church. And has already begun this work as we kicked off this year with the Heart of God Revival and what a week it was. Where we saw many saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, Marriages restored, and people Healed. Praise the Lord!
Amber and I are so grateful for this opportunity to serve as your pastors. We love you and look forward to all that God is continuing to do at Hope City Church! The future is bright for Hope City, and should the Lord tarry His return, I believe that Hope City Church is going to leave a lasting Legacy for future generations!
Finally, I would like to thank all of our church leadership for their dedication and faithfulness in ministry. From the nursery to the nursing home and everything in between, you are making a difference for the Kingdom of God. I would also like to say a big thank you to our Church Board of Directors, Mike Freese, Deb Nelson, and Kelly Karakas, for their great support. Thank you to our Office Staff, Danielle Wade, Mary Rietz, Tresa Wyatt, and Joshua Barham for their hard work and dedication. Also, to our Pastoral Staff, Matt & Kallie Bockhahn, Moriah Muncy, newly added youth pastor Danielle Slaton, and Greg & Sheri Rickets (Lone Pine Campus Pastors), we appreciate your dedication, excellence in ministry, and friendship. We love each one of you and are honored to work alongside of you! We also welcome newly added Rosie Sanchez as our Receptionist.
Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Amber and our amazing children Joshua & Abigail. I wish I had words that were adequate enough to express how much I love and appreciate you. You are such a blessing to me, this church, and to His Kingdom.
Looking forward to 2024 with my Hope City family. We are truly better together when we pursue Him more and Thrive in His Holy Spirit this year!
Pastor Aaron & Amber Barham
A Message From pastor Aaron
Proverbs 3:5 – 6 (NLT)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
What a year 2023 has been! We sent out our first Mission Teams in several years, had our first service in the New Building, opened a food pantry, and Changed the name of the church To Hope City Church. God is faithful and always has been. We can trust Him with our whole heart! He has blessed Hope City Church in so many ways. We have seen tremendous growth as well as a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit PTL!!!
I want to take a moment and thank you for your faithfulness in serving and giving to the Lord. Because of your faithfulness, we have been able to bring the hope of Jesus to a city in desperate need of what we have. That hope was also spread throughout the world as we were able to continue our support for missionaries overseas and in our own nation. So, again, thank you for giving sacrificially and serving with joyful hearts of love. Truly we have been blessed beyond measure and I give God all the praise and glory for everything that was accomplished for the Kingdom of God in 2023. We pray God’s continual blessing on you.
When Amber and I accepted the invitation to become your pastors, The Lord spoke to us and said, “I am going to bring about a great healing in this church, unity, and then revival.” Since 2020 we have seen The Lord faithfully bring healing and unity as we have continually Pursued Him.
As I was praying about our theme for this year, the Lord began burning the word “Thrive” in my heart. This word means to “Grow and Prosper Spiritually.” Our focus in on The Holy Spirit, His Baptism and Empowerment, who He is and how He was sent to lead us into all Truth. I believe the Lord spoke to me that He was going to bring a Spiritual Awakening and Shaking to our Church. And has already begun this work as we kicked off this year with the Heart of God Revival and what a week it was. Where we saw many saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, Marriages restored, and people Healed. Praise the Lord!
Amber and I are so grateful for this opportunity to serve as your pastors. We love you and look forward to all that God is continuing to do at Hope City Church! The future is bright for Hope City, and should the Lord tarry His return, I believe that Hope City Church is going to leave a lasting Legacy for future generations!
Finally, I would like to thank all of our church leadership for their dedication and faithfulness in ministry. From the nursery to the nursing home and everything in between, you are making a difference for the Kingdom of God. I would also like to say a big thank you to our Church Board of Directors, Mike Freese, Deb Nelson, and Kelly Karakas, for their great support. Thank you to our Office Staff, Danielle Wade, Mary Rietz, Tresa Wyatt, and Joshua Barham for their hard work and dedication. Also, to our Pastoral Staff, Matt & Kallie Bockhahn, Moriah Muncy, newly added youth pastor Danielle Slaton, and Greg & Sheri Rickets (Lone Pine Campus Pastors), we appreciate your dedication, excellence in ministry, and friendship. We love each one of you and are honored to work alongside of you! We also welcome newly added Rosie Sanchez as our Receptionist.
Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Amber and our amazing children Joshua & Abigail. I wish I had words that were adequate enough to express how much I love and appreciate you. You are such a blessing to me, this church, and to His Kingdom.
Looking forward to 2024 with my Hope City family. We are truly better together when we pursue Him more and Thrive in His Holy Spirit this year!
Pastor Aaron & Amber Barham
Aaron & Amber Barham
Lead Pastors
Matt & Kallie Bockhahn
Executive Pastors
Greg & Cheri Rickets
Lone Pine Campus Pastors
Danielle & Daniel Slaton
Youth Pastors
Moriah Muncy
Worship Arts Pastor
Mary Rietz
Communications Director
Danielle Wade
Events Director
ROSie Sanchez
Office Administrator
RCA Staff
Presented by Pastor Moriah Muncy
Worship Arts
2023 has been a fantastic year for the Worship Arts Ministry here at Hope City Church. We have seen growth in all teams from the number of volunteers to the standard of excellence held by each team. Our goal as the Worship Arts Ministry is to continually pursue the heart of God and to lead our church on and off stage. This the Worship Arts Team navigated our shift from the Student Center into the new sanctuary, allowing our congregation to experience a smooth transition between buildings.
Another goal of the Worship Arts Ministry is to always bring our best as an offering to God. In that effort, we’ve worked hard to improve everything that we put forward. We have greatly improved our online viewer experience through new equipment and great effort by the Live Stream Team. This year we strove to bring more consistent and higher quality live streams, announcement and bumper videos made in house, and excellent live audio and visuals.
Huge thank you to all of our Worship Arts volunteers! Without each of you, your talents, and your dedication, we would not be able to do what we do. Special thanks to the team directors. The Worship Arts Team functions because of your efforts and leadership.
Presented by Debra Nelson Missions Director Missions
Missions Ministries
This past year it has been an honor to serve Hope City Church and the Missions team. Our team has relentless love for missions, our missionaries, and Hope City Church. Our goal is to reach out with the love of Christ Jesus to impact and transform lives both locally and globally through awareness, prayer, and service. We continued our goals to grow our mission, outreach and missionary awareness through prayer, communication, and support.
This year we held our first missions’ dinner and fundraiser in 2023. Guest speaker Missionary Dan Taylor from Portugal joined us and shared about the culture and the need at the Bible College. We raised over 6k to help fund our trip to Portugal. Through donation and giving enough to fund the materials to rehab the bungalows. Those blessings flowed over to Sunday morning as he shared the heart of missions with our congregation. We were blessed to spend a day with Missionary Simon Gounder in Artesia and learned about the Hindu religion. We sent a team to RFK camp. DeNail Sparks shared a powerful message in August.
During 2023 we expanded our community outreach. Our community outreach in 2023 grew leaps and bounds. We serve our community with cleanup projects. We sent volunteers to the Royal Family Kids foster children camp. We launched our Shoe Giveaway and gave away over 400 pairs of shoes to kids starting school. We opened our pantry in September to help feed those who are struggling in today’s economy. We started the process to close our CityServe program. We supplied 175 children with Christmas presents this year. We believe we will continue to expand. Our volunteers have great ideas and a heart to serve.
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Our 2024 look ahead for missions. As we missionaries retire and move on into the next journey in their lives, our goal is to continue to pick up new missionaries. We will launch our mission’s brochure and two-year goals at our second annual Mission’s Dinner. Funds raised will go to help meet our goals.
Some of our calendar events include continued support of AG Missions Director/Guest speaker Dan Campbell and Missionary Carrie Johnson are schedule to speak. We are putting together teams to go to RFK camp, women’s trip to Romania and one day trip to Artesia. We will continue to support our community projects including Royal Family Kids, Shoe Ministry, Pantry and Ornaments for Angels. The team is excited to see what else God puts before us.
Thank you for letting me serve as the Missions Director for Hope City Church. It is a blessing to have such a wonderful team to work with.
Deb Nelson Hope City Church | Missions Director
Missions Financial Totals
- Income $236,972.90
- Tithe to Missions: $74,115.49
- Total: $311,088. 39
- Expenses: $315,032.88
Missionary Support
- Income: $25,064
- Support: $39,544.38
Portugal Trip
- Sent two teams of a total of 14 Team members.
- Repair/Supply income $138,614 and sent to Portugal
- Team income: $43,947.46
- Trip expenses: $42,678.6
CityServe and Pantry (CityServe funds have rolled over to the Pantry)
Total family contacts:
- CityServe 55 individuals
- Pantry 271 households/1038 people
- Income: $3,112.35
- Expended: $4,127.40
Royal Family Kids
- Income $4,859.99
- Our Hope City Congregation filled birthday boxes for the camp party.
Hope City Shoe Ministry
- Distributed over 400 pairs of shoes
- Income: $1,948.55
Ireland Church Planting
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Income: $1,050
Serve Day
-
May 2023, 14 projects completed /40 volunteers
Fire Bible
Income: $7,041.25
Ornaments For Angels
- We provided Christmas for 175 children
- Additional Monetary donations of $1,403.98
Presented by Pastor Matt Bockhahn
HopeCity Kids Ministry
Hope City Kids Ministries exists to teach our children how to love God, love people, share Jesus, and make disciples wherever they are.
2023 Was a good year in HC Kids. The leadership team is strong and committed to helping the kids find and grow a relationship with Jesus. We believe that to love God, we have to give him our first and our best. This year, several student from the Jr high and High school leadership team joined the Sunday morning team. Whether they are leading the kids in worship, acting out a skit, leading a game, or teaching the lesson, they model what it looks like to give God our first and our best.
This last summer, we had the opportunity to take around 20 kids to camp. It was a great time where they learned to disconnect and lean into God through worship, prayer, and reading the bible. Several of the boys overcame their fear (swimming or the big swing) and gained confidence in praying, and others received prayers to overcome personal things in their lives.
A number of our kids also helped out at Hope Cities first ever Back to School Shoe Event. They were connected to our water team and passed out water and greeted people in line. They did an awesome job, just proving 1 Tim 4:12 By being an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity, even though they are young.
The kids and our ministry volunteers also worked very hard and rehearsed prior to performing two songs during our Christmas Eve candle light service. They all did an exceptional job.
October of 2023 saw Amy Taylor step back from the Children’s Pastor position. For years she did an incredible job leading and inspiring these young ones to chase after God with their whole heart. She is greatly missed by the kids and team alike. As we search for a new Children’s Pastor, Pastor Matt will step into lead HC Kids Ministry.
Amy, thank you for your years of faithful service to Hope City Kids, We love you.
Presented by Pastors Matt & Kallie Bockhahn
HopeCity Youth Ministry
Hope City Student Ministries exists to glorify God by encouraging and equipping students in their pursuit of loving God, loving others, sharing Jesus, and making disciples.
At the beginning of 2023, God laid one word on our hearts for the students. That word was Discipleship. Our goal was to pour into our students and teach them how to pour into their peers.
In February, we took almost 15 students as well as 4 leaders to winter camp at Thousand Pines Christian Camp. This was a great time of disconnecting from the world, and diving deeper into their relationship with God. During camp, we had several students who recommitted their lives to the lord.
In the spring, we had a handful of students partner with our Hope City Missions team on a one day trip to Artesia. We connected with Missionary Simon Gounder to minister to the people of the area. Simon took us on a tour of two Hindu Temples, and were able to do some street witnessing in a predominately Asian/Indian part of the community. This trip was an eye opening experience for both the students and adults alike.
This summer, we took a group of students to the Central Coast on a missions, outreach and discipleship trip. We partnered with North Central’s Pastor Matt Emerson who challenged the youth to be involved in the lives of their friends. As part of the Missions and Outreach, we linked up with two different homeless organizations in the area. While at the El Camino Homeless Organization, In Atascadero Ca, we helped clear out their old community garden and prepare the new garden site. We also helped to clean and organize various areas of their campus. The director said we helped them get through about 6 months worth of projects in one day. Next we worked at Good Samaritan Shelter in Santa Maria Ca. While there, we cleaned painted a large dormitory. During this trip, we saw many students step up and show leadership potential in many different areas.
The leadership we witnessed prompted us to organize a student leadership team. The student leaders have been instrumental by volunteering in many of the ministries of Hope City Church. We have continued to add to this team as more students step into the leadership roles God has prepared them for.
In September, Hope City Student Ministries hosted a one night outreach event on our campus called Illuminate. We had about 150 Jr. High and High School students come to our campus for a night of games, fun, and most importantly a dynamic Gospel presentation. Our student leaders were able to utilize the lessons they have learned this year to engage their friends with the life changing message of Jesus.
Wednesday night youth group continued meeting in person at the church through 2023. We average of forty to fifty students each night. Our focus this year has been on leading the students into deeper, more intentional relationships with Christ.
Kallie and I would like to thank you all for your continued support of Hope City Student Ministries and our mission to Love God, Love People, Share Jesus and make Disciples.
Student Pastors Danielle & Daniel Slaton
Presented by Pastor Amber Barham
HopeCity Women’s Ministry
2023 was a year of growing closer to God and to each other for RCA/Hope City Ladies Ministry. Our team planned and organized different events that reached out to ladies in our church and community in several different ways. Here are a few of our highlights!
Ladies Spring Bible Study
Ladies Bible study, held on Tuesday evenings, stretched us ladies in Discerning the Voice of God. Each week we had between 30 to 40 ladies attend! Our Bible study consisted of hearing the teachings from Priscilla Shirer and then joining in on a table discussion amongst ourselves. Discerning the Voice of God study propelled us into a year of diligently seeking God and obeying His voice.
Ladies Luau
This was a fun event simply to bless the ladies at our church. We dressed up for the occasion, had delicious food, provided by many of our ladies, floated in the pool and made lasting connections. It was a perfect way to bring our ladies together and have a great time of fellowship.
Feeding Our Teachers
We have many teachers who attend RCA/Hope City Church and what better way to show our appreciation than to serve them lunch. This year a group of our ladies partnered together in providing a Taco Bar for the teachers at Inyokern Elementary. Each year it is our goal to choose two schools in our area and serve the ones who spend their days pouring into our children.
Soup and Testimony Night
Our Soup and Testimony Nights are such a great way to encourage the Ladies in our church.
This year, we had three lovely ladies from our congregation who stepped up in obedience to God’s call and gave their personal testimonies. God used them to remind us how much He can use circumstances in our lives to encourage us to obey what He asks us to do. And as always, the soups are all so delicious!
Presented by Rich Merati
HopeCity Men’s
In 2023, the vision of the men’s ministry was to continue doing the fun things great but to do the spiritual things even better! As we moved through 2023, we introduced some new things and kept some of the older things going. In 2023, we had several key events that stood out and were very successful. We started the year off with our Chili of Champions and crowned a new Champ, Danny Griffith! At this event, we had a couple of men share their story and it was very impactful. We had over 40 men attend this event and this year are looking for a greater turnout. In 2023, we introduced a men’s worship night where our men could come together, worship, and be sharpened by one another, as well as come along side each other in times need. What great time we had just worshiping our God with our brothers. The men of Hope city Church came together for a men’s breakfast ate a lot of Bacon, mingled with each other, had great fellowship, and were challenged by Pastor Greg from Lone Pine Campus by a great message from God! Moving to later in the year we held a men’s retreat at Pine Flats Lake, over 30 men attended and 15 men were baptized in lake before returning home. Directly following the retreat it was time for the annual golf tournament!!! Again, this year we held the tournament at the Bishop Country Club. This event is the largest event our men’s ministry hosts. At the tournament this year, we grew to 112 golfers, the largest turnout since we began the tournament. We also had the best number of sponsors for this tournament we have ever had with an outstanding 36 hole sponsors! We raised just short of $30,000.00 for our beneficiaries and were able to give $17,000.00 to them. During the year we also continued our Sunday morning men’s prayer, as well as there were a couple men’s small groups in action all year. One those being held in my garage called Shop Talk. Incredible things have been taking place in this small group and God is moving in it.
One last thing I would like to take a moment thank my team! This ministry would not be a success without these guys. So thank you Alan, Dave, Blake, Caleb, Rich B, Tim, Jason, and Daniel for all you guys do!
We are looking for a great 2024 as we move forward with anticipation to see what god has in store for our men!
Presented by Pastor Amber Barham
HopeCity Red Carpet Ministry
How exciting it is to finally be in our new building! The Red Carpet Team has done a fantastic job loving on the many people that walk into Hope City every Sunday. They have stepping up to the challenge of now having a much larger foyer and 5 front doors vs just 1.
The Greeter team and The Hub team are so essential to the first impression that we give off as a church community. I am so proud of those who serve on this team! It is such a joy to watch them in action.
Something new that we started at The Hub this year, is selling our own Hope City Merchandise. We have sweatshirts, t-shirts mugs and journals as well as different books that Pastor Aaron has recommended.
We also opened up our new Coffee Shop! We are so thankful to Geoff and Jessica Constable for leading this team so well. It is so nice to come in on a Sunday morning and get a warm cup of coffee or a specially iced drink.
We are so blessed here at Hope City Church to have so many ministries that faithful serve our community here in Ridgecrest.
Presented by Pastors Greg & Cheri Ricketts
Lone Pine Campus
2023 has been a great year in Lone Pine and we continue to see growth in spiritual maturity, epic momentum in outreach and faithful stewardship. We are beyond proud of this church and what God is doing.
HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2023
- Our average weekly attendance has increased from 29 to 31 over this past year.
- Our children’s program is growing with the help of our children’s missionary who conducts 2 big splash events (VBS and Jesus’ Birthday Party), each year.
- We had an average of 24 people committed to serving on a regular or semi-regular basis, which is about 77% of our average weekly attendance. Some serve in multiple areas.
- Number of youth attendance on Sunday is growing.
- We had 3 new recommits this year.
- Started Sunday morning adult Bible studies.
- Started a Thursday morning Women’s small group study.
- We have a volunteer to lead children’s and youth ministry.
- We continue to live stream our messages on our Facebook page with good response, not just locally but throughout California and the U.S.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
We continue to reach out to the community of Lone Pine in ways outside of our regular Sunday service.
- We hold memberships with the High School Booster, Western Film History Museum and the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce.
- We have participated in feeding our community through City Serve Food Boxes and other food items provided by Inyo County and donations from the community and FFA.
- Maintain a pantry for those in need.
- Conduct fundraisers for families after loss.
- Conducted Cowboy Church for the community.
- Participated in Community Trick or Treat
- Community Sunrise Easter service on location
GOALS FOR 2024
- Replace sidewalk and pave behind the church, parsonage back steps and fence. Sidewalk is dangerous.
- Increase church lighting.
- Build a Webpage – (Gain access and editing privileges to ours)
- Install 8 x 10 church sign.
- Replace both signs at the entrances to town.
- Enlarge stage.
- Paint Ceiling and stage to increase light.
- Install needed Sanctuary and stage lighting.
- Replace four exterior doors.
- New flooring and carpet in parsonage
- Personal and church Leadership Development
- Team Building
- Relationship building
- Sermon planning & classes
- Launch children’s and youth ministry
- Looking at the church mission differently to have more impact in the new vision for the church by conducting remote church services.
- Repair roof leaks in parsonage
- Repair/replace entire West side of parsonage.
- Update software to enhance our church service experience and improve the quality of our streaming look and capabilities.
Cheri and I, as well as Lone Pine and the surrounding communities look forward to great things in 2024 for the glory of God.
Greg & Cheri Rickets
RCA Church | Lone Pine Campus Pastors