(**Note: If it is your first time visiting this page, please read the first post from July 6, 2016, on this same page)
We wanted to provide a special word (and some proof) on Hope Church ASU and their use of "front groups", which has been of great interest to ASU administration in the investigation, with Lisa Porter and Carla Mahnke (from Student Rights/Responsibilities) multiple times requesting more information on this issue.
This is important because the ASU students who are met by Hope Church are deceived as to the nature of what they are getting into, and the real purpose of the "clubs" they are joining, and in addition, ASU admin is deceived in approving the clubs, as well as granting them time, space, and even money for their operations. Essentially, ASU is an unknowing party to the recruitment of Hope Church. While all of our contributors believe sharing and representing the Gospel is a great thing, we likewise believe in boldness and authenticity in doing so, not deception.
Below, we have several pieces of proof detailing Hope's use of these clubs as front groups, these are:
1. A Prezi presentation by the Outreach Coordinator at Hope, showing how the clubs contribute toward Hope recruitment goals (The Pastor took the Prezi down, so we have now provided screenshots instead)
2. A picture from Hope Church's website, which names Outlaw Comedy as an Outreach of Hope Church (although the students they engage do now know this, nor does ASU)
3. A copy of the 2015 "Hope Magazine" which references all the clubs.
Prezi:
Screenshot from Hope's Website:
"Hope Magazine" 2015:
*NOTE: If it is your first time visiting this page, please read through the first post from July 16, 2016.*
Hi, we wanted to share some contacts with any:
1. Parents, family, friends, current students, alumni, etc who would like to file individual complaints (separate from the report filed by this group) regarding Hope Church ASU.
2. Current members of Hope Church ASU who have been fed the narrative that "there is no investigation" and would like to verify it's existence.
ASU Administrators
Dean's Office: Jennifer.stults@asu.edu
Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities: Carla.Mahnke@asu.edu , Lisa.A.Porter@asu.edu
Council of Religious Advisers (CORA): Amy.golden@asu.edu
Student Organizations: Kimberly.Scatton@asu.edu (We have not had direct contact with this office as of yet)
News Reporters:
AZ Daily Star (covered Hope's mother-church in 2015): Caalaimo@tucson.com
ABC 15: Chris.Gros@abc15.com
ASU State Press: Ryanerica4me@yahoo.com
We have a few updates regarding the open investigation of Hope Church ASU (see original post on this page from July 16, 2016). The updates are as follows:
1. Three offices of ASU administration are now involved (Student Rights/Responsibilities, Student Orgs, Council of Religious Advisers) as well as the Dean's who we originally reached out to. All three offices are jointly meeting next week to discuss next steps.
2. Hope Church somehow got ahold of our report a while back, and has since tried to undermine the effort in various ways, including contacting one of our contributors employers, bad-mouthing him, and trying to get him in trouble. This was unsuccessful.
3. About 60 current members have been notified of the situation (Hope had not notified them themselves), but best we can tell, Hope Church is attempting to convince them that, in the words of one current member, "there is no investigation and you (this group) falsified information".
4. Hope has also rebranded as just "Hope Church" (formerly Hope Christian Church) and has changed all of their artwork and other branding elements. We are trying to keep our materials up to date with these changes.
