Sean C. Morgan
With a new pastor and a new name, the former Sweet Home Assembly of God will hold an official launch on Oct. 28 as the Hope Church.
The church changed its name last September when its membership voted to join the Hope Church in Albany. Today, it operates as the Sweet Home campus of the church.
Mark Opperman became the campus pastor in January.
“We’re trying to introduce Hope Church in a big way to our community – officially roll out Hope Church in a big way,” Opperman said. “Our goal is to see 150 people here that day and see it as an official opening of the church.”
The church held a “preview” on July 29 and is planning a second “preview” at 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 16. Meanwhile, regular services continue at 10:45 a.m. each Sunday.
The church is calling to those in the community who might not have a church home, Opperman said.
Hope Church remains affiliated with the Assemblies of God Fellowship, he said, but it is officially a campus of the Hope Church in Albany.
“It had been difficult to sustain a meaningful ministry,” Opperman said, mainly an issue of resources. “We have an older building that needs work (for example).”
The congregation recognized, “we needed some help,” he said. The change has been positive for the Sweet Home congregation.
Hope Church is a visionary ministry, Opperman said. “They really have a heart for missions. They are very generous.”
The church spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in disaster relief through Convoy of Hope, which is operated by the Assemblies of God. Every year, it helps translate the Bible into the African “heart” languages, the languages African individuals think in.
The Hope Church also looks closer to home into its own communities, Opperman said. It’s about “reaching out beyond ourselves, reaching our communities.”
The Hope Church’s slogan is “across the street and around the world.”
Opperman came to Sweet Home after the Sweet Home Aseembly of God merged with the Hope Church.
He grew up in Prairie City, near John Day, he said. “I grew up in a Christian home (professing faith in Jesus Christ at age 8) – struggled with my identity as a follower of Christ, but eventually it took.”
Opperman, 51, graduated from high school in 1985 and attended Trinity Bible College in North Dakota, where he studied biblical studies and pastoral ministries. He attended seminary in Springfield, Mo., earning a master’s of divinity in biblical languages in 2001.
He hadn’t intended to enter the ministry, Opperman said. “I was pre-registered for computer programming at Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University). I was all ready to go. A friend of mine said we should check out this Bible college.”
They did, and Opperman went there.
“I was kind of following his (friend’s) lead,” he said. His commitment level began increasing, and “I began to sense a call in my life to be a pastor.”
He had been pastoring in Elgin for nearly 13 years when he received the invitation to come to Sweet Home as a campus pastor. He moved to Sweet Home with his wife, Robin, who is the worship leader, and their two daughters, Zoe, 14, who appeared last week in the Lebanon Assocation for Theatre Arts production of “The Music Man,” and Noelle, 7.
On the worship team, Robin plays the piano. Zoe plays the keyboards, and Opperman plays bass. The Albany campus also provides musicians to help with the worship service.
Opperman said one of his favorite verses is Romans 8:29: “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Opperman said he’s seen that become a reality in his life. He has lost two brothers, and his family has endured several miscarriages.
It is God who sustained his family through these trials, he said.
“God uses all these things and brings about good from them.”
Opperman won’t say it is God’s will that people suffer pain and discomfort, but He will use them for His purposes.
God used those experiences to deepen his family’s faith and compassion, Opperman said, noting that if people haven’t been through anything, their faith has never been tested.
Opperman said he wants Hope Church “to be a life-giving church in an ongoing way in the community.”
He wants to see the church to systematically reach out to those caught in poverty, dysfunction and addiction, to “reach out to those in need of hope.”
At this time, the church operates a food bank – coordinated with the other food banks in the community – to that end.
Opperman anticipates starting a “celebrate recovery” group in the future as well, a Christ-based, Bible-based recovery for anybody trapped in any kind of addiction, from drugs to gambling or other habits and hangups – “creating an environment that is welcome to one and all.”
He referenced Luke 5:31-32: “Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repent.'”
Of course, “we’re all sin-sick,” Opperman said. “We’re really all in the same boat, whether we know it or not.”
So his church’s goal is to “love people first and last but also to speak the truth: We all need a Savior.”
Hope Church is located at 890 Mountain View Road. For more information, call (541) 367-4673.