2018 ANNUAL REPORT

Dear Hope East Queens,

We put out this annual report every year for the following reasons: 1) To celebrate what God has done (over 3 and a half years and still going strong!); 2) To be transparent - “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body”; and 3) To encourage our community to continue to be faithful towards the body God has called us to love. 2019 was…

A YEAR OF SOMETHING NEW

We brought on board Johnny Choi as our College/Youth Pastor. Johnny was born in Flushing, NY but lived most of his life in the suburbs of Long Island. He is now back in Flushing after getting married to his best friend, Anna. He is passionate about meeting new people and listening to their stories. Johnny enjoys taking long naps and playing golf in the summer.

Through Johnny’s giftings, dedication, love and prayer (along with all those who serve our youth and college ministries) we’ve been able to commence both our college and youth ministry this year!

A YEAR OF CONTEMPLATION

March 10 kicked off our season of Lent where we remembered the sacrifice of our Savior. We read liturgy, waved palms, and left the place of worship on Good Friday in complete silence. However, on April 19th that story was finally completed on Easter, a Sunday to celebrate his glorious resurrection!

A YEAR OF MISSIONS & SENDING

On May 19th, we prayerfully sent off Jane Kim to Tokyo, Japan to serve there as a missionary for the next five years. There are currently over 127 million people in Japan, and only 0.3% are evangelical Christians. We will be prayerfully and financially supporting her ministry as God uses our sister to reach the unreached.

Also, on August 25th, we did a missions fundraiser in our cafeteria to help raise money to send Grace Han to Kobe, Japan as a missionary. On October 6th, we prayerfully sent her off to serve for a period of one year.

A YEAR OF NEIGHBORING

In the summer we kicked off a sermon series on The Art of Neighboring where our congregation was challenged to build relationships with our actual neighbors and others who may not know Christ. We finished the series off by taking it outside to our local community in Bayside and spent a Sunday afternoon in fellowship at Crocheron Park.

A year of COMMUNITY

We saw many new Home Groups kickoff this year, including our Women’s Group, Men’s Group, Creatives Group, Art Group, Board Game Night Group, and College Group! We’re grateful for all those who volunteered to host and lead. In September, we launched with eight different Home Groups (our most ever)!

Our basketball team, led by coach/organizer Daniel Yu, won its first ever New York Christian Basketball League championship. Our softball team, led by James Woo and Tae Park won it’s second consecutive New York Christian Softball League Championship and Hope Tournament Championship. It was a great time of fellowship and bonding (we’re looking forward to next season)!

a year of baptismS

Rose Johnson, Abdullah Tasin, William Chen, and Charles Lee gave their hearts to the Lord this past year! After they shared with the congregation their heartfelt testimonies, we celebrated their conversion through baptism, an outward celebration to symbolize their union with Christ. This symbolic act was done through submerging them under water to signify the cleansing of their sins through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

A YEAR OF NEW BEGINNINGS

It was a year of literal new beginnings and celebrations, as we welcomed Ian Yoo, Joey DeCostanzo, Addison Lee, Adrian Christopher, Ryan Kim and Joanna Bae into this world! We also dedicated Jaemin Lim and Evelyn Cruz to the Lord!

We celebrated the union of Matthew & Naomi DeCostanzo, Jason & Judy Kim, Minji & Richard Song and Orlie & Vivian Capulong!

A YEAR OF CELEBRATION

We LOVE our celebrations at Hope East Queens! On October 31st, we did our first ever Hallelujah Night to spread the love of Jesus to our children.

We have much to be thankful for! On November 24th, we had our special Thanksgiving Service where we expressed our gratitude through painting and sharing a meal together as a family.

And as always, we ended our year with our beloved season of Advent where we collectively celebrated the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Christmas Eve!

A YEAR OF GIVING

We are grateful for all those who gave financially this past year! Our 2019 Total Annual Giving was $277,122.01. In addition, we received generous grants from the Redeemer City to City ($20,000.00) and our denomination Foursquare Church ($50,000.00 - this will be our final year of getting denominational support), giving us a total annual revenue of $347,122.01.

The total expense breakdown $320,789.27 is as follows: 1) Personnel $203,912.90 (salaries for three full time pastors, a part-time children’s director, a part-time tech person, and set-up and breakdown people); 2) Staff Ministry Expense $6,207.40; 3) Facilities $36,467.88 (Sunday service lease, office rental, and driveway rental for church van); 4) Missions $34,467.88 (support of short and long term missionaries, church plants, and our public school); 5) Administration $10,863.90; 6) Ministries $15,383.81 (includes baptisms, events, home groups, tots/kids/youth/college ministries); 7) Sunday Service Operating Expenses $4,978.54 (monthly meals, guest speakers, and hospitality); 8) Special Services $2,099.91 (services for Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday, Good Friday, Thanksgiving and Lent); 9) Equipment $5,955.79 (worship and hospitality equipment).

Included in our Annual Giving was $19,505,00 that we raised for Extending Hope, a year end giving campaign to support the following missional causes: 1) PS 41Q - we gave a donation to help with technology upgrades - the picture on the right is with Mary Bow, the school parent coordinator, and Joseph Ferrara, the school principal; 2) Our missionary Jane Kim serving in Tokyo, Japan; and 3) New church plant start-ups in NYC. We managed to raise well above our goal of $15,000.00 this year!

It has been another amazing year of dreaming and visioning with our Leadership Team. I am so blessed and humbled to be a part of this. Thank you for journeying with us, and I am excited for what God has in store for 2020!

In Christ,

David Jung

“We love because he has first loved us.” - John 4:19