Higher Hope Partnership with The Dominican Republic

an Interview with Pastor Mike Schooley by Ben Tobias

Pastor Mike Schooley is the founding pastor of the Higher Hope Church in Horseheads, NY. A few years ago, he contacted Global Reach about connecting with one of our international fields – a request we LOVE hearing! – and after talking with him about Higher Hope’s goals we put him in touch with Latino Ministries Directors Caleb & Christina Acosta. The Dominican Republic seemed like a perfect match! No one knew, of course, how COVID-19 was going to disrupt the world in 2020, so it was a tremendous blessing to see Higher Hope move forward in global mobilization. We’ve asked Pastor Mike to share some of his thoughts and the lessons he and the church have learned so far.

Pastor Mike, please tell us some of your story at Higher Hope. When the church first got started, how did global mobilization fit into your plans?

We started the church in 2006 in my home area of upstate NY. My wife and I previously had been with Chambersburg Church of God (now Grand Point Church) where we spent six years, but felt a call to return to our home area to reach people in upstate NY. Although it is a small town region, there is a great spiritual need here in NY.

As we walked through the start of the church, we knew we wanted to be an Acts 1:8 church. We wanted to be witness in Jerusalem - we wanted to be a city on a hill here, serving, giving, and connecting with the needs and people of this area. Judea - we also wanted to care for ministries in the states. doing mission trips to NYC, work projects in NJ from the damage of the hurricanes, to Washington DC. We try to engage our young people in the power of in states missions because these trips are so powerful in our lives. Samaria - we wanted to make an impact in an area that is not like us. For us, we prayed that we could impact the city of Elmira - praying for a church plant, and doing a few things along the way to reach into the city and build relationships with people there. And also to the ENDS OF THE EARTH. So we wanted to be part of what God is doing around the world. From the first few years we prayed that we could support missionaries but also have a connection with a place overseas that we could really partner with and focus on fanning into flame what God was doing there.

As we looked around at what other churches were doing, such as Exponential Church partnering with a sister church in Haiti and Grand Point Church partnering in different places as part of their mission, along with a few other churches as well, I was encouraged and challenged to continue to pray and look.

There are many different ways to engage cross-culturally, so what led you to focus on the Dominican Republic?

One of our goals as a family is to take each of our kids when they become a junior or senior on an overseas mission trip. A few years ago, I was planning a trip for my son who loves baseball and connected with an organization in the Dominican Republic where we could play games, do baseball clinics, along with connecting with kids, feeding the hungry, and connecting with the local church.

We invited many of the young men who played baseball with him on his high school travel team (some of whom had no spiritual background) and we ended up taking 15 young people and three adults on this trip… and it was life changing for many of them.

Last year we continued to look for a place to partner. The CGGC staff pointed us to Caleb and Christina Acosta with whom we have had many conversations. As we talked with them, I began feeling like this was the place God would have us partner with to encourage, pray, and support the move of God that was already happening there. My prayer is that we won’t get in the way but in a small way we can fan into flame the work of God that is already happening. We have also committed to partnering on a deeper level with a ministry in Honduras and a ministry in Ecuador… along with supporting missionaries in various ways.

How did the pandemic affect the church’s engagement? What were you able to do in the past year?

It was during the pandemic that we really started talking to the Acostas and they laid out some needs for us that came with COVID but also had some opportunities to expand what they were doing in the DR. God had and has blessed us all through COVID and because one of our core values is generosity, as we heard the needs we were able to say, “YES.” We continue to have conversations on what other needs they have that we can help with. Right now I believe there are four churches in the DR with the CGGC. My prayer is that those four churches would reach and disciple more in their areas and that we would see more churches started there in that region.

We hope in the next year that we will finally be able to go down and really begin a relationship with Pastor Fremio Jimenez and the other leaders in the DR. We pray we can do more than send money, but really take people down to connect, serve, and walk alongside the leaders in the DR. We also hope to be creative in our connection there. There are some ideas that we are bouncing around that we hope will impact our church as we seek to follow Jesus. We want to create a deeper connection of not just generosity, but a partnership, so that both our church and the churches in the DR are seeing God move in powerful ways.

Because of COVID-19, we’ve all learned to be resilient and adaptive, so what were some of the lessons you’ve learned?

When the shut down first happened - there are many things you have to process as a leader - doing ministry was one, mission trips another, finances another. How do we become more generous in a time when we are concerned about finances? How do we partner in a greater way when we aren’t able to do mission trips?

One of the many joys of walking this last season as a church is being able to step into some needs that the DR and other areas were/are having and using what God has gifted us with to help. And we are looking forward to this next step of connecting and growing our relationship with the DR.

We thank God for Pastor Mike and the Higher Hope Church! If your church is considering a deeper connection with global mobilization, please let us know at Global Reach. We want to do everything we can to bring glory to God in every part of the world!