As I write this week, I am filled with joy, gratefulness and genuine excitement. This past weekend, more than 1,000 people worshiped at Hope Des Moines during our Good Friday and Easter services! The reason this is so important is that 1,000 people heard the Good News of God's love for them and experienced Jesus in a powerful way! It's never been about numbers - it's always been about transformed lives, and we've experienced that!

One lady wrote, "After attending Easter at Hope Des Moines, I can honestly say 'I'm home.' I've been wandering with no church home for too long, and it's time to join a church family." Another gentleman wrote, "Wow, the power of the Holy Spirit was so evident during worship. God showed me just how powerful he is, and I'm ready to activate my faith again!" And there are countless more notes of God at work, changing lives. My encouragement to all of us is to never take these movements of God for granted. We praise God for the crowds, for extra seating, and, most importantly, for changed lives!

I also want to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who prepared for and helped us serve our guests all weekend with "5-Star" hospitality. From our parking team, ushers, greeters, coffee team, children's leaders, production, worship, set design, flowers and landscaping team, and many more - THANK YOU for being the church! Thank you for giving Jesus your best and welcoming people with the love of Jesus!

Finally, on Easter we highlighted a few key "next steps" coming up:

• New Member Class: Sunday, April 3. A great way to discover the vision of Hope and join our family!
• Finding Your Way Back to God: Wednesdays beginning April 6. A great new class for those looking to get started in their faith or simply re-connected and go deeper. Starts with dinner, worship, live talk and small group discussion.

I'm looking forward to kicking off our new sermon series this weekend, "Starting Fresh with Church"! Bring a friend, and we'll see you there!

He's (still) Risen!

Jon

P.S. As our staff continues to grow, we also go through transitions. In a few weeks, Dustin Fergesen, who has been our facility coordinator, will be transitioning to a new role with his full-time job in downtown Des Moines, and will be unable to continue to serve in his staff role with us. However, Dustin and his family plan to continue to serve and be a part of our community in a variety of ways! Look for more information coming soon on a new staff member in this role, and let's thank God for Dustin's service to our church community!