Living Hope Family Church began as a Bible study led by Mike and Jane Petzer of South Africa in the summer of 1995. More than 40 people attended the first church service on October 1, 1995. The church began to worship at our current location in June 1996. <\/span><\/p>\nTwo years later, Mike asked Darryl and Janine Mather-Pike, his former colleagues from Zimbabwe,to join him in the work. They and a team of elders became the church\u2019s leadership when the Petzers started an Arizona church in 2001. Two years later, Erik and Tami Eskelund joined the team, with Erik as worship pastor and later as the lead pastor. <\/span><\/p>\nErik and Tami served faithfully until May 2023. As their ministry came to an end, God already had the church\u2019s next pastor in the third row on the left side. Ben Greene, his wife Halley and their children first attended Living Hope in 2021.In response to the Eskelunds\u2019 transition, the elders asked Ben to serve as interim pastor. Then, in January 2024, the church began to pray about making Ben the church\u2019s pastor. The elders and congregation finalized that decision in March 2024.<\/span><\/p>\nAs the church\u2019s 30th anniversary approaches in October 2025, Living Hope continues to <\/span>come and see that Christ is our all-sufficient savior. Because we have seen that the <\/span>Lord is good, we grow and go and tell others an indestructible, imperishable hope can <\/span>be theirs through Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.<\/p>\nMatthew 16:18<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1024","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Two years later, Mike asked Darryl and Janine Mather-Pike, his former colleagues from Zimbabwe,to join him in the work. They and a team of elders became the church\u2019s leadership when the Petzers started an Arizona church in 2001. Two years later, Erik and Tami Eskelund joined the team, with Erik as worship pastor and later as the lead pastor. <\/span><\/p>\nErik and Tami served faithfully until May 2023. As their ministry came to an end, God already had the church\u2019s next pastor in the third row on the left side. Ben Greene, his wife Halley and their children first attended Living Hope in 2021.In response to the Eskelunds\u2019 transition, the elders asked Ben to serve as interim pastor. Then, in January 2024, the church began to pray about making Ben the church\u2019s pastor. The elders and congregation finalized that decision in March 2024.<\/span><\/p>\nAs the church\u2019s 30th anniversary approaches in October 2025, Living Hope continues to <\/span>come and see that Christ is our all-sufficient savior. Because we have seen that the <\/span>Lord is good, we grow and go and tell others an indestructible, imperishable hope can <\/span>be theirs through Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.<\/p>\nMatthew 16:18<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1024","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Erik and Tami served faithfully until May 2023. As their ministry came to an end, God already had the church\u2019s next pastor in the third row on the left side. Ben Greene, his wife Halley and their children first attended Living Hope in 2021.In response to the Eskelunds\u2019 transition, the elders asked Ben to serve as interim pastor. Then, in January 2024, the church began to pray about making Ben the church\u2019s pastor. The elders and congregation finalized that decision in March 2024.<\/span><\/p>\nAs the church\u2019s 30th anniversary approaches in October 2025, Living Hope continues to <\/span>come and see that Christ is our all-sufficient savior. Because we have seen that the <\/span>Lord is good, we grow and go and tell others an indestructible, imperishable hope can <\/span>be theirs through Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.<\/p>\nMatthew 16:18<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1024","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
As the church\u2019s 30th anniversary approaches in October 2025, Living Hope continues to <\/span>come and see that Christ is our all-sufficient savior. Because we have seen that the <\/span>Lord is good, we grow and go and tell others an indestructible, imperishable hope can <\/span>be theirs through Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.<\/p>\nMatthew 16:18<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1024","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinghopefamilychurch.com\/staging\/8393\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.<\/p>\n
Matthew 16:18<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>