Hope City | West Houston — Attraction in Houston

The short: Best worship I’ve ever experienced in person, love Pastor Daniel, and my daughter loves Hope City too. I’ve been to many churches in the area, but Hope City is home for me.

The long: Usually with churches of this size, the pastors become inaccessible, but Daniel and Jackie make every effort to shake hands and meet people.

The congregation participates in worship. They sing, raise hands, sway, dance even. For someone who was raised Baptist like me, I’m a little out of my element at times, but it’s always evident that the Spirit is in the room.

If you’re wondering about where the church stands on speaking in tongues, as far as I can tell, you’re more than welcome to, but at the same time, nobody is going to make you feel less than if that isn’t your gift.

Pastor Daniel, in his own words, has a prophetic edge. He’ll share stories where God has miraculously moved, and preaches with a perspective that God can and will heal and make miracles happen. (btw, if you’re reading this Daniel, my favorite story is the one about the Moose).

The Kid’s ministry has a really well thought out system, and I always feel safe leaving my daughter with Hope City. They use stickers for each kid to identify their name and a corresponding tag for the parent to keep, so the only person who can get the kid after service is the person with the tag. The restrooms in the kids area are designated for kids only, and there’s always a police officer standing in sight of the restrooms.

The greeters actually greet you. There’s always coffee, water, and lemonade at the entrance, along with an LED screen to show the service in case you’re not ready to go in yet. Eucalyptus hand soap in the restrooms, and mints just outside the restroom. They seem to really dive into the details here.

They make it easy to begin serving. You attend what they call HC Connect, which is kind of like a class, and then they provide you with all the different areas, times and locations you can serve in. I served on the Load-In Load-Out team for a while, and they seem to have a great bond. They make it a habit to go to the movies, often 30 people or more, whenever the latest Marvel movie comes out. I’ve met plenty of cool people through LILO that are super genuine and passionate about their role in serving the kingdom.

Connect Groups are pretty easy to sign up for, and there’s usually quite a few to choose from, with a few groups that are affinity-based (i.e. business, health, exercise, widows). They make it pretty easy to sign up to lead your own Connect Group. They’ll call you, do their due diligence on where you’re at spiritually, what your goals are for the group, and if its in line with the vision of Hope City, they’ll assign you a Group Coach, who checks with you to make sure you’re not overwhelmed or burnt out throughout the semester.

Hope City is large, constantly moving, and fast paced. For that reason, I’ll say if you’re super introverted, have agoraphobia or severe social anxiety, this might not be your church (and that’s okay). The average age, if I had to guess, would be late 20s to early 30s, though you’ll definitely see people of all ages at any given service. As far as racial diversity, everybody’s here.

As far as politics (we’re going there, people), Daniel does a great job of making everyone feel a part of Hope City, regardless of their political beliefs. At the same time, he’s not afraid to tell his testimony about how his mother almost aborted him twice, and has openly spoken on how he believes in the sanctity of life. As far as LGBT goes, I’ve never heard the pastors speak on it directly, so I won’t put words in their mouth, however I will say it’s not uncommon to see openly LGBT people in the congregation, and nobody is getting kicked out for their sexuality. As far as women in ministry, they definitely lean egalitarian, and have several female pastors on staff.

Hopefully, I’ve saved you the legwork of finding out if Hope City is right for you. But in case you still aren’t sure, come through....

Hope City is the best church in Houston, hands down. First of all Paster Jackie & Daniel are meant to be pastors there and whatever happened before that, is history 👋🏿 I came when the church transitioned to the new pastors and some people left but they left too soon and judged to quickly. It was time for some order! I'm glad I stayed because this church has changed my life for the better, and it's only getting better. No church is perfect, and people are always going to find something to complain about. Hope City is a community and a stronger force together! This church serves us, DO YOU HEAR ME! They're always having events, giving and praying for us. I have fasted with the church and saw an amazing turnaround in my life. I strongly encourage the Freedom group. Life changer, and they go deep. This church is serious about God, and they bear fruit. You can tell the dream team actually prays and fast for the direction of the church. I can feel it, and I'm not even serving yet! I enjoy giving to this church because you're supposed to support your church duh and I know they do Godly things with it! The new building is coming too!!

We are living in some crazy times, and this is the place to be. Pastor Daniel and Brandon Jackie are all trusted and verified by God! This church will help you grow, and it's not for spectators. Be ready to change, serve, and not be comfortable living in your sin! But you will always feel loved but were called to change and sharpern each other. This isn't a concert, although the praise and worship is AMAZING, and I cry all the time, lol!! Always have your own personal relationship with God as well! I can't believe some of the petty reviews people leave about a church that only helps! Hope City is always on the front lines, and honestly, houston is like that in general. They have all these different start times and even included Wednesday chapel at 11 am. That service really used to help me when I was going through a very depressing time.

I've been going to this church since Pastor Daniel started, and I was there for only a month before with the old pastor, and let me tell you, Pastor Daniel is powerful and a man of God. The praise team is too. The Holy Spirit was really on him today to the point when I got home, and I was telling someone about the service and the Holy Spirit came upon me, and I spoke in tongues. God's presence was thay stronge today. I had to just go in my room and pray for 30 mins. I've never done that. I cried out to God cause my heart is so heavy for this world and we all can fall short and get stuck in our mess but you don't have to stay stuck in nothing or compromise when God is calling you out of things that will distance or distract you! Overall, Hope City has changed my life, and I have gotten to know God personally with the help of my Hope City family. I love you, My Hope City!! It's just for you, and you feel so much ❤️. I think the visitors can be a little nicer and speak to their neighbors when the pastors...

I saw this church on an instagram ad 2 years ago when I was lost and looking for Jesus. The teacher preacher sermon style helped me learn and want to read my Bible, and the worship experience is always amazing. While the pastor is funny, all his messages are based in the truth of the word of God. This isn't prosperity gospel or hyper grace. But grace and truth. If you need a home, Hope City is the place. God has really used hope city to spread the hope and love of Jesus christ and it has pushed me even further in my relationship with jesus and others than I could've asked for. Hope city is established by God and will grow into a beacon of light in the city of Houston. My prayer for the church and it's pastors is that they continue doing the work of God in the church and in our community. So blessed and thankful for a church like this, I don't think this review does it justice, it's just that amazing. And also you do get what you put in. It's easy to be overtaken by the crowd and production quality and think oh it's just a motivation mega church, but if that's your perspective when you walk in, that's probably gonna be your perspective when you walk out. It took me a year to join the connect group and 2 years to join a dream team, but if you do that when you first join, you'll find that Hope City digs even deeper for your relationship with Jesus. Some people write these reviews and think they don't get spiritually fed but the pastor is diligent in trying to get you in the word of god rather than just crumbs from a preacher. He is diligent in getting you in connect groups bc he knows that a church on Sunday isn't gonna cut it, and we need to walk with believers during the week. He truly does speak a strong multi layered message. At the surface, it's enough to be understood and possibly accepted to a non believer, but if you would inspect his messages closer, you will find something there (unless blinded by your own pride or unwillingness) for even well...