In 2018, the New Hope Temple church building, in Taft, CA was found to have major problems with the trusses in the attic. The building was leaning and had dropped nearly 12 inches on one side that made the trusses split in the attic. The church contacted an engineering firm and when they saw the pictures they sent a message and they told the church not to go back inside and to put a lock on the front door. Several months later they had to have the building tore down at a cost of $68,000. New Hope started looking for land and every time they thought they found the right piece it fell through. About mid-July, Dee Bankston (Pastor Joey's father-in-law), heard of some property for sale. He started looking into it and some pieces started coming together.
The land has 4.6 acres and is a phase 4 development with phase 1-2 already completed. Phase 3 sits in between the new land and the new houses. The land for sale was phase 3-4 but was more than the church needed and more than they could afford. The church talked with the seller and he agreed to sell them just phase 4. New Hope then went to the city planning commissioner and he and the seller said they want to see a church on that spot. He told them that they do not have to rezone because they are a church and because of all the endangered species. It was all taken care of.
On August 1, New Hope voted to purchase the land. Right after the meeting one of the guys (who is not a member yet but going through their membership classes) came up to Pastor Joey after the service and handed him a check for $2,000 and said "here is my vote". On Tuesday morning, an envelope was on Pastor Joey's desk and when he opened it there was a check for $10,000 dollars. The people that sent the check moved out of state but said they still wanted to tithe to the church and sent the check. They knew nothing about what the church was doing! "We have a long way to go but God is already providing," said Pastor Joey.
We look forward to seeing God work out every detail of this new direction and build for New Hope!
