To our brothers and sisters in Christ,
We hope this message finds you well. We have received many phone calls and emails from people asking about Hope Tent, and until now we have only been able to tell them that we were in talks with potential new leadership.
Hope Tent began 6 years ago with the goal of sharing Christ’s love with a hurting community. We grew by leaps and bounds, expanding from one church and one tent, to nearly half an acre of covered tent space, with over 200 volunteers from more than 20 different churches throughout the area. Some volunteers traveling from as far away as Syracuse, and Monticello, with a select few coming all the way from Florida to volunteer with friends at the Hope Tent. Hope Tent was a success because of the countless hours our volunteers dedicated to sharing the love of Christ.
It has always been our goal to be faithful and obedient servants to the Lord. All of our major decisions have been approached prayerfully as well as praying that His hands would be on this event. After 6 years of ministry, the leadership of Hope Tent believes that God is calling them in new directions in ministry. Over the past year, Hope Tent met with several different ministries that were interested in taking a leadership role in Hope Tent. Unfortunately, none of those relationships developed. At the end of Hope Tent 2012, the leadership agreed that for Hope Tent to remain viable, we would need new leadership, and without it, it would not make sense to continue Hope Tent. We believe that all the reasons that prevented other organizations from taking over leadership of Hope Tent, was God’s way of telling us that it was time to end the Hope Tent at Spiedie Fest. We have prayerfully considered the future of Hope Tent and are at peace with the decision we have made not to continue Hope Tent this year. The Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally has been aware of the potential for new leadership for some time now, and have been most gracious in the sun setting of Hope Tent.
We want to again thank all of our volunteers for their tireless efforts in making Hope Tent a success, and hope that you are not discouraged by the absence of Hope Tent, but rather invigorated and energized to dedicate your time and energy to another ministry in sharing the love of Jesus Christ. Thank you again for all you did to make Hope Tent a success.
In Christ’s Service,
Jim Byron – Event Coordinator
Keli Cooper – Event Coordinator
Jeff Coghlan – Event Coordinator