The church had long outgrown its Davis Drive facility. God had given the members of Christian Hope a vision of growth and a heart for ministry to the people of Warner Robins.

"We purchased 5. 1 acres of land on Carl Vinson Parkway and planned to build a 10, 000 square foot facility there," Watkins said. "One day as I was driving on Elberta Road, I noticed the ‘For Sale' sign at the Flint building and God spoke to my heart. We had already discovered that it was almost cost prohibitive for us to build the facility we wanted on the land we had purchased.

"I spoke to my congregation about the Flint facility, and they noted that the first appraisal was $900, 000 for it. We prayed and God revealed to us that we should be spending about $400, 000 for a new facility. So we placed a bid of $400, 000 on the Flint property.

"Flint got a number of bids and went back to all of the bidders and said that the property was going to be rebid, starting at $500, 000. Again, we prayed about it and know that God was telling us to bid $400, 000. I went to Flint with our first bid and told Bob Ray, Flint CEO, and David Carr, manager of community affairs, that we believed that this was God's will for us – $400, 000.

"Strangely, none of the original bidders submitted a second bid," Watkins said. "God works His will in unusual ways." Now, the Christian Hope Church is housed in a 16, 000 square foot facility. Their building on Davis Drive has been sold to the Agape Outreach Ministries. Christian Hope will sell its acreage on Carl Vinson Parkway and will be able to worship in "more than adequate facilities" for now, have room to grow and will not be financially strapped.

With the first-class facilities came a parking lot with 120 spaces. "That was one of our problems on Davis Drive – no place to park," said Lou Widener, one of the church members.

"We can seat about 160 people as the sanctuary is presently configured," Watkins said. "We have already seen some growth and some interest in the church since we moved to this location. We expect growth because of the great expectations of the people in the church and their hunger to reach the community for Christ."

"Our church's mission statement is ‘Making Visible The Kingdom of God,'" Watkins said. "Our members intend to live that statement. It is more than just a slogan."

"We plan door-to-door visitation to let the people of the community know that we are here. We will have Vacation Bible School in the summer, concerts for the community. The people of the church are eager to work with the Warner Robins Rehabilitation Center which is across the street from the church. "We already have the wheelchair ramps and other features to serve their physical needs. Now we want to serve their spiritual needs," Watkins said.

The church plans to set up a church library with books, videos, CDs, DVDs and other items for the congregation and people of the community. The members remodeled the foyer, added a baptistery, "used about 120 gallons of paint," replaced carpet and is planning to use the former drive-through payment area as a drive through entrance for getting people into the worship center in bad weather.

Church Staff

Pastor Mark Watkins is a native of Albany, Ga. He is a 1984 graduate of Albany High School. He then attended Albany Tech, earning an associates degree in computer programming. His biblical studies were completed at Luther Rice Seminary in Lithonia, Ga.

Pastor Watkins served as youth pastor of Hanleiter United Methodist Church as well as the associate pastor of New Covenant Church before assuming the pastorate of Christian Hope Church in August 1999.

Watkins and his wife Melanie have two children, a 21-year-old daughter, Kaleigh Drew, a third-year student at Wesleyan College in Macon, and a 19-year-old son, Cory, who attends Georgia Military College.

Luke Goddard serves as the youth pastor of Christian Hope Church. He is engaged to be married to Drew Watkins in September. He and Drew have formed the musical duo of Luke and Drew, which will be introducing its first CD album, "Our Own Little World," on March 14 at 7 p.m. at the church.

Debbie Olds, the church worship leader, leads the congregational singing. A three-member praise team and a five-member praise band assist her with the music. The music is a mixture of contemporary music and old familiar hymns.

Christian Hope's regular schedule is Sunday School at 10 a.m. , Sunday morning worship and children's ministry at 10:45 a.m. , Sunday evening worship at 6 p.m. and Wednesday Bible study and prayer service, 7 p.m. Office hours for the pastor are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The church's phone number is 478- 328-7543, and the email address is chopechurch@gmail.com. The church's web site is Christianhopefamily.com.