New Hope Community Church - Eastlake Pastors Rick Morris / Russ Cox

I wanted to thank New Hope for helping me get through so many though times. I’ve been an Eastlake resident since 2012. I really don’t go to church but I knew wanted to get close to God. This January 2020 someone really special to me passed away giving birth to a surrogate baby. I remember driving to the hospital wanting to understand why, what went wrong. First thing that came to mind was to look for a Christian podcast and I came across New Hope. It was crazy, the message was about death and how God always has a purpose of why things happen. We might not understand it but there’s always something good from a tragedy. I’ve been listening to this podcast ever since. Every time I listen I feel like it’s speaks to me. The way God uses the pastor to explain the word of God is so relatable to me. The crazy thing is that I didn’t realize that this church is only 2 miles away from my house. It only took 8 years to find it, and I’m so grateful. Thank you Michelle, in some way you were my angel 🙏🏽. I can’t wait for Covid19 to pass so I can actually start going to the services. Thank you New Hope for always lighting up my day.

Pastor Russ has practical, applicable messages. I like the fill in the blank that goes along with the service. It involves you even more. He has always remembered my name since the first time I attended this church. I joined a small group. The ladies in my group are real, no hiding or pretending to have perfect lives, no judgement, just help and caring and learning. I know if I were to call any one of them for help, they would be there. It’s a strength in addition to your own family strength. This is church that doesn’t pretend that if you are Christian everything goes right.. it’s about real life with real solutions and counting on God’s strength when things are going really bad. Just give this church a try and keep coming back and you’ll see for yourself. :)

Pastor Russ is one of the most beautiful souls I have had the privilege to know and learn from. He truly is a man that practices what he preaches. The first time my family and I attended his church we walked up to see this kind southern man standing outside between services meeting and greeting anyone and everyone with a large smile and a genuine curiosity. Truthfully, I didn’t think anything of it until the next time we attended Sunday service and there was the same man standing out front meeting and greeting and it blew my mind because he actually remembered all of our names! It may not seem huge but to us it was because it made us feel like we were being talked to by a new friend. Not only that but in between attending the first Sunday we had and the following Sunday the church was so sweet and kind to leave fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies on our doorstep as a way to say thank you for giving them a try. If you are looking for a church that gives you practical life sermons, reaches out to their community again and again, and leads by example then this is your home! I promise you will not regret it and you will feel welcome. I know we did and it truly changed my family for the better. I will be forever grateful to Pastor Russ for teaching us who God is and how to live by his greatest commandment and that is love.