The History of Hope Church

Early History:
In the mid 1990s the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (http://www.epc.org) identified San Antonio as a key city in which they would pray for God to raise up a new member church. Around the same time, Tom and Kathy Masterson began to pray for direction as to whether God might be calling them to be a part of starting a new church.  Over the previous several years, they had been involved with two other new EPC churches and felt a special calling on their lives for church planting.

Rev. Tom Masterson is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri and a native Texan.  He and his wife Kathy were naturally drawn to San Antonio because of family ties here and its rich cultural heritage.

In February 1998, Tom and Kathy began the process of evaluation, dialog and approval for planting a new church.  A great deal of excitement was generated throughout the denomination and many EPC churches all over the country began praying and pooling their resources to provide support for San Antonio.

In the Spring of 1999, Tom and Kathy moved to San Antonio to begin setting up the church, and by the Fall, God had led them to a group of families who would make up the leadership base for launching Hope Church.  This core group of families shared the vision that this church would connect with people who did not have a church home, and bring them into a dynamic relationship with God.  Early in the year 2000, God brought Pastor Darden Caylor, also a Covenant Seminary graduate, and his wife Belinda to lead the worship ministry of Hope Church.  

Hope Church Early Years:
Hope Church hosted its grand opening service on Palm Sunday, April 16, 2000!  There were 133 people in attendance at that first church service and many of those faithful attendees are still members today!  At its second anniversary, on April 14, 2002, Hope Church celebrated becoming self-governing, self-perpetuating, and self-supporting and formally installed pastors Tom and Darden and ordained our first Elders and Deacons.

Summer of 2002 brought the addition of Christy Tayloe to the staff of Hope Church as it's first youth director.  Christy, who moved to San Antonio from St. Louis, is also enrolled in Covenant Seminary's Masters in Theological Studies program.

Meeting Locations:

Meeting Locations & Future Building Plans:
Prior to the grand opening, the core group of families that would help launch the church met for 9 months at the Lighthouse Coffee & Café in the Stone Oak area.  From the grand opening in the Spring of 2000 to Summer of 2002, Hope Church met at the former Redland Hall (now Los Barrios Hacienda Restaurant on Redland Road).  The church moved to its current location of Bush Middle School on Evans Road in the Summer of 2002. 

Hope was blessed with a benefactor that purchased 22 acres on the corner of 1604 & Redland Road in 2000.  This land was held until 2006 when 11 acres was sold (front half along 1604).  This sale allowed for the full balance of the original purchase note to be paid and some money to be set aside for the future development of the remaining 11 acres.  See Builiding Plans to read about the current work being done to develop the land for a church building. 

Hope Church Today:

Fall of 2006 brought the addition of Tammy Rajabi as our first official staff person overseeing Children's Ministry! In 2007 Hope Church partnered with Pastor Darden Caylor as he moved back to the St. Louis area to plant a new church!  After Darden's departure, gifted musician Kate Malchow joined our staff to lead our worship team! Additionally, Regina Murphy joined the team in Spring 2007 to keep us all in line as our office administrator!  In 2008 we hope to add an Associate or Assistant Pastor to the team as we continue to seek the continued realization of our vision to be a "church for the unchurched."