"We really had nothing. All we had were our hearts and a vision. We just loved Jesus and were passionate telling people about His love for them,”"recalls Carol Ann, former administrative assistant to Pastor Wayne. Today, even in plenty, God still seeks our hearts.

They launched an Oahu outreach over several months with letters and Pastor Wayne doing dozens of inspirational speaking engagements. He spoke to anyone who would listen; businesses, churches and civic organizations. At one bank's regional meeting, 26 people expressed an interest and after following up, Pastor Wayne led 14 to Christ. The vision casting team determined they needed 118 leaders to effectively launch the new congregation. On June 25, 1995, they held the first orientation service at Aliamanu Intermediate School. They then held a worship service at Nuuanu Elementary School with 72 people seated around cafeteria tables. People began to see that there was something exciting and different about the people of this new church.

"It was dark and rainy at Nuuanu when I attended my first New Hope service. I was amazed how these guys were using their flashlights and umbrellas to walk us through the parking lot to our cars," recalls Arlene Delisio, now small groups director at New Hope. "And the first person who greeted me was Carol Ann. She gave me my nametag after I carefully reminded her to spell my name "e-n-e". The next week I came back, and she said, “Hi! "E-n-e, right

She also remembers the worship team--- Pastor Wayne with a guitar. And the speaker, Pastor Wayne with the Bible. And the...(you get the idea)

With the first offering, they bought folding chairs and Vornado fans for the next gathering. Pastor Wayne and Dan would not take a salary for over a year using the offerings to go to the ministry as they diligently recruited and trained up volunteer leaders to form serving teams. A group of men began meeting with George Iranon in Kakaako Park, 7 a.m. Saturday mornings. Leaders gathered at Stevenson Intermediate to form ministry assignments in Frontlines, Sound, Children/Youth, Greeters, Ushers, Parking and Prayer ministries.

The Sunday night service grew to over 250 worshipers and they learned about the church's core values and statement of purpose. Leaders were encouraged to go to the streets to invite people to attend the first service and their prayer was that 500 would attend.

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