About Us
About New Hope...
Two-Fold Calling
New Hope began as a counseling ministry and in our small minds all we could see was that it was to be a local mission work for Centerville, Iowa area. Little did we know that God had a bigger plan. He led us to a Pure Biblical Counseling approach. We didn't get our materials from some other conseling program. We literally watched God's hand at work as He directed and put in order the materials we were to use and it is a very unique approach. We don't really counsel on "issues." (That's why many pastors feel unequipped to do counseling ---- because if you have to consel on "issues," then you would need to know everything there is to know about every single issue ---- which is impossible.) God gave us a burden, not only to help hurting people, but to also equip God's people to help others.
We believe the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, without error and He has laid down some absolute, eternal principles in His Word that if implemented have a 100% guarantee. And through much research we discovered that most experts, even in the secular field, agree that all emotional problems stem from one or more of eight main root problems. When I began to see this I thought, Well, if you already know that, why don't you just cover those main root problems with people first? Why waste so much time traveling down endless roads, that usually wind in circles, searching for the root of the person's problem?
So we developed a set-Scriptural system covering those eight main root problems, that we lead a troubled person through, and we do it the same for everyone. And it's true ---- if you deal with the roots first, the "issues" disappear along the way!
God then led us to put the materials into a handbook form with notes to the counselor and step-by-step instructions of exactly what to do and what to say as you lead a person through it. That made it very trainable. Anyone could be trained to lead a person through the counseling program by just following the handbook. The Counselee gets their own binder and everything we cover with them is given to them in the form of handouts, so when they are done they have their own complete Counseling Handbook. This way they don't lose or forget anything. It is all right there for them. We are not just talking them through these principles to apply one time. We are teaching them how to implement these principles into their lives from that point on, which is what brings about the lasting change.
Then we began seeing it work. Then ---- word of mouth began to travel on how successfully it was working. Then ---- we began receiving requests from other ministries wanting to implement our counseling materials into their own ministries.
This whole ministry was birthed by a great working of the Holy Spirit to bring the Body of Christ together, and there is great power when the Body of Christ comes together.
Due to the dramatic results in the lives of our counselees and the requests from other ministries we went through the process of getting our materials copyrighted. We then put them into kits and made them available to others.
We began teaching these materials in Seminars to groups of people using our Counselor Handbook. So many people at some point would say, “Oh, I wish my whole church could go through this,” or “Every Christian needs to know all of this.” We were also hearing, “This is the best Discipleship Materials I’ve ever seen,” and “I wish I could teach this in a Sunday School Class.” From people in counseling we were hearing, “Oh, if I had only known this sooner, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened…” So we began the work of putting these exact same materials in to a Bible Study form, by simply removing all references to “counseling,” which makes it able to reach, help, and bless so many more people. This is not just for people in need of, or wanting to get involved in, counseling. What a joy it is to be able to get this teaching to people before they develop life-controlling problems!
"Notes to the Counselor" are changed to "Notes to Leader" for the Bible Study form and the instructions are tailored to lead a group through the program. We then adjusted it even further to have a Prison/Jail Ministry form and we also put it into an Individual Workbook.
The same pattern God provided for us to set up our own New Hope Counseling Center is also now available in a kit and provides everything needed to set up an entire counseling center ministry just like New Hope. A smaller kit is available for anyone wanting to do personal Pastoral or Lay Counseling on their own. There is also a Seminar Kit available for anyone to lead groups of people through the Bible Study materials with step-by-step outlines of the 16-week seminar sessions. Hundreds of people from many different churches and denominations have gone through the New Hope Seminars finding hope and healing for themselves personally, while at the same time being trained and equipped to help others. Just as the Counselor and Leader Handbooks provide you with the step-by-step instructions of exactly what to say and what to do to lead someone through the materials, the kits also provide the simple instructions on how to implement them.
The whole idea was to create a ministry tool that anyone could use just by following the instructions. God directed us to make a unique tool that has multiple uses to accomplish His purposes in each person. It is a tool for meeting counseling needs, a tool for evangelizing your community, to help struggling Christians, for discipling new Believers, to help deepen your walk with the Lord, and the training and equipping of people for ministry. That’s what we see happening for most people who go through this¾ they want to get involved in ministry.
God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. He wants to show Himself to be powerful through us, and it begins with one person at a time.
The New Hope Program
The New Hope materials help people, not to simply experience another good program, but to personally experience God. Our goal and desire is to lead people to experience the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at work in their lives and that is what we see happen.
This program accomplishes several very important things. It guides people toward a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ; builds and strengthens their personal, intimate relationship with their Heavenly Father; brings healing and deliverance where needed; grounds people in their faith; produces a desire to serve and equips them to do so effectively. It begins with letting you know that you are a child of the King and ends with you having become a warrior of the King. There is a difference between a soldier and a warrior. A soldier serves out of duty. A warrior serves out of devotion. Imagine what a church full of warriors of the King could do for your church. What it could do in your community. What it could do in our world.