Founders

Pastor Brian & Wendy Smith

For over 35 years, Pastor Brian and Wendy have been clarifying the Gospel for thousands of college students across America. They were both impacted by the Gospel in his college years, and since then they’ve had a passion to help college students find and follow Jesus and change the world.

They started Hope Church in August of 2004 and since then it’s grown from one local church reaching one campus to a collegiate-focused church planting movement in 5 cities reaching 24 college campuses.

In 2023, Pastor Brian wrote his first book called Winning the Battle to Belong; the Key Ingredient to Reaching College Students. In his book, he describes how the Battle to Belong is the internal crisis that students experience when they leave family and friends, arrive on campus for the first time and are desperate for connection. If we lose touch with the battle freshmen experience, we’ll lose the ability to reach them effectively. Winning this battle precedes and paves the way to winning the Battle to Believe in Jesus.

Hope Church Movement

In 2004, Hope Church began its ministry on the Arizona State University campus. The original team held it’s first church service in August 2004. Since then, Hope Church Movement has trained over 200 staff and interns and developed a leadership team of over 375 students and graduates. Each Sunday, hundreds of students, parents and community guests attend Sunday service. Hope is an active member of the Grace Association, which also includes Living Streams Church, Pure Heart Church and Evident Life.

Now, more than ever, our nation needs young leaders who know how to follow Jesus, the greatest leader of all time. As students graduate, they will be able to influence others and fulfill their God-given destiny. Each student has been uniquely created with specific giftings and abilities - they only need to be developed. In the coming years, we hope to plant local churches on other college campuses across the nation to continue to reach more leaders in the next generation.

Over the next decade, Hope Church Movement hopes to plant 10 collegiate-focused churches around the country, starting in the Southwest.