Blessings and Merry Christmas

Please watch the video above and then continue reading to see how God is moving in Fairfield, Alabama and Urban Hope.

People of God, for 12 years I have followed our Lord in pursuing this dream of Urban Hope and this vision of Manifold. Many of you know much of this story, and it has been full of ups and downs, hope and triumph, suffering and death, and everything in between. It is a God story, so it has had all the things that come with a movement of God. One aspect of this work that you may not know so much about is how much time I have spent fundraising rather than serving the people of Fairfield & Urban Hope.

Urban Hope is a wonderful church and a wonderful fellowship, but we are small and heavily under-resourced by suburban church standards. And the needs within and around our church are significant and at times feel overwhelming. So, in order to fill the gaps created by this vast difference between internal resource and surrounding need, I have had to spend a huge amount of my time fundraising in order to be able to build a church and meet basic needs. However, our Lord in His divine providence has seen fit to bring around Urban Hope a group of men and women to assist in reducing the fundraising burden that I have carried for so many years.  

We call them the Manifold Group, because they are a manifestation of the Manifold vision itself: men and women who I never have thought that I would call friend or brother or sister that have dedicated themselves to meeting together, praying, and taking on the work of raising funds to allow for the work of Urban Hope in a powerful way.  

I would like for you to meet them:

Sam Tortorici
Beth Drennen
Gene Borgosz
Chase Anderson
Clay Wheeler
Alton Hardy
Denton McLane
Phil Reddick
Jay Lloyd
Greg Mixon

Our staff is small and most of the church staff has to spend the little extra time they have raising their own support. And the administrative tasks of asking, receiving, processing, and properly distributing the significant funds needed to support our church, our staff, and the many community efforts in which our church engages, so that we may be light in a dark place in our city, are immensely heavy. As a result, we are raising these funds in a Manifold Fund housed within Clerestory, Inc., a 501(c)(3) that has been a close ministry partner with Urban Hope for more than 10 years.

The Manifold Team above is tasked with not only raising the needed funds, but also with overseeing their distribution as well as providing accountability for their application and use.

I know to some this might seem a bit confusing on the surface — why not just give the money to the church directly? Certainly for our members and close partners, as well as those that support our church staff directly, I would ask you to continue to do so. And by all means if our Lord is directing you to give directly to Urban Hope, which could be for a whole host of reasons, then please do.  

However, our Lord has given us a large vision:

He asked us to acquire a building next to the church and to build dorm-style lofts with 8 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a large kitchen and common area. This was so 8 young men could come to Fairfield each year to spend a year living in community with Urban Hope and learning how lead in their homes, their churches, and in urban ministry. This cost nearly $2,000,000, and it has been fully completed and furnished.  

He has asked us to build out the bottom floor of this same building fully fitted for a grocery store. This is so we can lease this space to a special grocery store concept that fills the extreme need in food deserts like Fairfield and allow access to fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables. You have no idea the impact this will have in our community and on our church, because a grocery store is something that many of you take for granted. But imagine not having reliable transportation and never being able to go to a grocery store for your family — only convenience stores or Dollar Generals — and never have fresh foods of any kind?  We have an opportunity to bring this light into Fairfield, which will only put a bigger spotlight on the gospel and all God is doing with Urban Hope. This buildout and the facade and external improvements needed to the building are approximately $1,500,000.  

By God’s grace the Manifold Team has also raised half of this amount to this point, so this work is underway.

In addition, over the next 3-4 years our Manifold Team has a vision to raise another $4,000,000 to reduce our church staff’s fundraising burden for salaries, to complete and open Urban Hope Cafe at the front of the church’s current building in Fairfield, and to plant 2-3 additional Urban Hope churches in other strategic parts of the city. In truth, all of this is simply too much and too complex for our small and overworked church staff to handle properly and still have time to do the work of ministry. So, we are beyond grateful that God has raised up the Manifold Team to raise the needed funds and has provided Clerestory as a vehicle to house, oversee, administer, and provide accountability for the funds. Blessed be our Lord! He is who He says He is.

As you prayerfully consider your year-end giving, we ask that you seek our King as to whether and how much He would have you invest in the needs and opportunities discussed above.

If you are inspired to give to the Manifold Vision, you can give online at www.manifoldvision.org by clicking on “Give Now”. If you would like to send a check, please send to:

Clerestory (Manifold Fund)
44 Inverness Center Pkwy, Suite 140
Birmingham, AL 35242

Blessings & Merry Christmas from Urban Hope and the entire Manifold Team!

Pastor Alton Hardy

Learn more about my new book, Long Is the Way, published by Small Stories Studio.