Hope Fellowship Church Review

Some time ago, we did a Google church for highly recommended churches in the Frisco/Plano area. There were about 4 or 5 churches whose name kept coming up. Three of which were Prestonwood Baptist and our previous church and this church, Hope Fellowship. And of course we decided to visit.

One thing that was interesting to us was the fact that they offered a 12:30 pm Sunday service. That struck us as pretty interesting. I assumed that this was the equivalent of a Saturday evening service that many larger churches offer. So, we decided to go to this one. When we arrived at the church we were ushered into the parking lot as the previous 10:45am service attendees were ushered out. One thing that we noticed that a lot off the members were leaving service with shorts and flip flops on. Hmm we thought. This is pretty different. We've never been witness to this brand of casualness (is this a word?). When they say, come as you are, that's exactly what they mean. At the same time, I wouldn't say anybody was dressed particularly trashy either. It wasn't hard to tell that the general aura of the church was quite youthful. I'd say that the target age group was between 15 and 40.

The sanctuary/auditorium sat about 1,000. The stage setup was pretty modern/contemporary as well. Probably a dozen stringed sconces hung from the ceiling. The music is a praise & worship style with a half dozen or so singers and musicians. All appeared to be under or around the age of 30. It appeared to be a somewhat racially diverse crowd.

There were a handful of things that we were not used to. For instance. It seemed that a couple of the teenagers that attended the service appeared to have just rolled out of bed, threw on a t-shirt and shorts and headed to service. People were allowed to bring coffee that was served in the hall into the service.. Never seen that before. The pastor while giving his message sat on a stool while delivering his message. He was also outfitted with jeans and one of those churchy/hip log sleeve dress shirts that everybody is wearing now. I'm not hating. Although I'm used to ministers wearing suits on Sunday, it's not a problem for me just as long as he delivers the truth and isn't trying to be all flashy and stuff.

The message was pretty good. The pastor is currently in the middle of a series about the Holy Spirit. He exhibits more of a teaching style and encourages you to take notes. I filled up a page in my tablet and left with tons of scripture references. I like how he sets all of his sermons up in series. It's also easy to know what he's going to talk about the next week. One thing I thought was cool was that during the week you receive an email about the week's upcoming events and some insight into what the next weekend's message will be about.

In conclusion, I think that people who are looking for tradition definitely will not find it here. Hope Fellowship struck me as the type of church where teens and young adults who want to experience a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit can do so. It also seemed like a place where some parents might decide to become members because their children can relate to the style of the church and delivery of the message although it doesn't necessarily match their personal taste. I'll admit that in my personal opinion the attire of the of the congregants could be tidied up a bit. Jeans and tennis shoe should be fine at the very least for Sunday worship. I'd personally save the shorts for a Saturday service for others, although I'd never personally do it. Sometimes, even in our culture we forget that God still demands modesty. If you're looking for a cool hip church with tons of upside as it relates to outreach programs for all ages and it still seems small enough to where you feel you could make a difference in a growing church, then Hope Fellowship may be for you.

In the meantime, we've decided to keep searching. I think we'll try Grace Outreach in Plano on Parker and Preston next.