“Termination Dust” on the mountains indicates that winter is coming soon. We are hoping to stay outside under the canopies for the next few weeks, but definitely seeing our end in sight. Bittersweet it is: as seasons change, there are both challenges and opportunities. We do miss some sweet faces, as some don’t come to church inside making our crowds much smaller. 

In March of 2023, Tricia Hight Martin shared a “peek” into a Hope Church Sunday on Facebook before they were scheduled to leave to fulfill some obligations in the Lower 48. I thought it would be good to share it here for you that wonder what it’s like. 

“Sunday morning we left the house at 12:30 PM for Hope church, after James packed the Yukon with around 3 totes, several bags and our church sign.”

“Arriving at Hope church, which is on the second floor of Hope Center in downtown Anchorage, James set out our church sign and unloaded all the totes.”

“Inside, we loaded everything on the elevator, then wheeled it into a classroom, which is our Sunday church sanctuary.”

“We take down the classroom’s tables and set up around 40 chairs, of which I place a wrapped Lifesaver mint in each chair. Just a little “welcome treat” on their seats when they come in.”

“Then, set up the keyboard and podium.”

“James sets up a podium for his laptop and Bible.
For the past month, he has been putting the songs, his sermon scriptures, and easy-to-follow notes on his laptop, then “jumping them” to the classroom monitor so everyone can follow along. They loveeee this!! However, that’s way too much hi tech for Tricia to translate properly – so … jumping along here.”

“James goes to the kitchen on the 1st floor, gets the lunch bags and brings them upstairs. He then puts them on a cart with the bottled water and ice cream sandwiches.”

“Tricia sets up the COFFEE bar!!
And I certainly know how to do that in fine fashion. Plentyyyyy of creamer and sugar. Coffee cups and stirrers. Hand sanitizer and paper towel.”

“Typically we use a 100 pot coffee urn, but due to us flying out immediately after the service, we used 3 pump pots of coffee, which hardly lasted until service started.”