CHURCH HISTORY
From humble beginnings...
With the direction of our Lord and Savior, the vision of a new Church began in the early 1980’s. The vision grew into a plan and with divine inspiration; “East Tawakoni Baptist Church” was open with Spiritual Leader, Pastor J.B. Harlin.
Our first Church building was small in size but large in faith. A mere 1000 square feet of space met the needs at the time and set the church on course for growth and spreading God’s word. The Church was located on Hwy 276 just across from the Blue Heron Cove.
Growth came quickly and we soon found our quaint building to be in need of expansion. God interceded again and moved Lester and Dorothy Lemons to donate land for our new Church on the corner of Hwy 513 and CR 3415 at the Highland Acres Addition.
To save on costs, our humble church was moved to the new site. Land from the original site was sold to Buddy Cline and the proceeds helped finance the move of the building and to add classrooms and a Church steeple. By January 1985, the Lord had provided a great location and a recognizable building!
More blessings were received in March of 1985 with the gift of a two bedroom house to be used as a parsonage. Additional land was purchased to expand the church grounds and the new parsonage was moved into place later that year. The parsonage served adequately for a year but was quickly changed into needed classrooms.
Change followed as we continued to grow with the addition of new Spiritual Leadership. Pastor Rick Sydnor joined the journey as the new Pastor on March 1, 1999. With a new Pastor came a new name for our Church. We were now located in Lone Oak, Texas, so the name of our Church was changed to “New Hope Baptist Church” on July 1, 1999.
Expansion continued and the Lord blessed us with a new Sanctuary and classrooms in 2004. The original Sanctuary was changed into a Family Center. We celebrated the building addition appropriately with first services being held on Easter Sunday 2004. A memorable and blessed day for all in attendance!
The Lord directed change once again by calling Pastor Sydnor away on a new assignment. Interim pastors followed for 12 months until a great blessing was received.
On February 4, 2007, God brought the Spiritual Leadership of Pastor Charles Carter to our family. With an open heart, Pastor Carter was warmly welcomed as he joined our journey to spread the Lord’s word.
Blessings continue to rain down with the expansion of the front parking lot in 2009 and a facelift of our Family Center in January of 2010.
On February 23, 2014, the lord spoke to the congregation with the voting in of our new Senior Pastor Chris Florance.
On June 25, 2017 the lord brought back Senior Pastor Rick Sydnor to the Church.
Our greatest gift continues to be God’s love for our humble congregation and the love, commitment, and fellowship between the memberships.
We don’t know what the future holds or what our Lord has in mind. Wherever our journey takes us we know God has a plan and we eagerly wait his direction. We invite you to come join us in our journey of spreading God’s word.
God Bless.
Anette Lemons