The story began when the Lord gave Pastor Hubert Nolen a promise and the result manifested as?The Hope Center Indy. When God plants a dream, He provides the way. A God-sized dream generally requires miracles on the order of parting the Red Sea. God shows up with miracle after miracle to confirm it is indeed His show. Standard Operating Procedure at Hope Center is “Let’s pray and then wait until Monday and see what God will do.”
It took twenty years for the dream to take root. The desire to create a center to reach the community in order to serve?the least of these?became a center of hope to rescue women from the bondage of human trafficking and show them the miracle of what Jesus can do. (See Part 1)
Pastor Nolen recalled “I had a large church congregation when I pastored Brookville Road Community Church and we had resources but at Hope Center I only had God. It would take an incredible stream of miraculous provision to be able to do this.” When Pastor Nolen and his son David moved in to the 25 acre facility, they had one desk and two mostly broken down chairs. They looked around, scratched their heads and prayed. God moved.
Magnitude of Miracles
Pastor Nolen met Kris Woodward of I-Space Office Interiors and took him on a tour of the 25,000 S.F. facility. Kris Woodward then took Pastor Nolen on a tour of Roesche Diagnostics with?300,000 S.F. of office furniture he arranged to have donated to Hope Center. Overcome with the enormity of this God sized donation, Pastor Nolen was trying to figure out how to get it all moved in the trucks and SUVs of volunteers. Roesche said no volunteers would be allowed to load.Roesche would load the trucks, so they ordered semi-trucks and all told, the gift of office furniture filled 9 semi-trailers! Kris estimated the value of the furniture at $750,000.
Nine semi-trailer trucks were provided for FREE. Professionals loaded it for FREE. Professional drivers drove it for FREE. Volunteers from every walk of life unloaded it for FREE. God was already working in the hearts of hundreds of people.
All the offices at Hope Center had to be painted and made ready with miles of carpet shampooed. Kris Woodward sent an army to set up all the offices. One company painted all the doors. Obviously God was preparing for something big. It was just Pastor Nolen and his son David occupying the premises. It was now time to bring people on board immediately.
Pastor Nolen keeps a prayer journal. In the first year of preparing the center for residents, there have been 21 miraculous answers to prayer. Provision included a new roof for the greenhouse, someone to mow the 25 acre campus for free, and $19,000 was needed for the security system. When Pastor Nolen reached out to friends asking if they could reach out to others in order to raise $20,000 to renovate the prayer center, friends said they would cover it in full.
Rachel Klein is Pastor Nolen's daughter and she along with her friend Sarah Blair wanted to create a boutique to help support Hope Center. Flooring for the boutique was priced at $2,000. Not wanting to ask dad for money, Rachel prayed for another solution. A man came in to the boutique and offered to buy the flooring and install it himself. The boutique generates revenue which covers the monthly lease payments.
Jesus Dollars and a Volunteer Army
Even before opening in August of 2017, fifty-eight churches and countless volunteers from all walks of life provided financial support and prepared the rooms for the residents. Each room housing three ladies is decorated with every design of hope and love. The campus is huge at 210,000 square feet with 35 offices, 6 classrooms, computer lab, commercial kitchen and cafeteria, 300 seat auditorium, 50 residential rooms, wedding barn, greenhouse and a coffee shop.
There is no state or federal funding. Hope Center operates on Jesus dollars and depends on the generosity of those who love Jesus. It takes $1,500 per month per resident. Hope Center is the largest facility in the country with capacity to house nearly 150 women. Throughout the entire United States, there are only 500 beds available in residential aftercare programs for women rescued from human trafficking.
Want to be part of the story of Hope? Pray as the Holy Spirit leads. Visit the prayer center which is run by IHOPE, the Indiana House of Prayer and Equipping.
Visit the coffee shop Cuppa Hope and the boutique Redefined Hope as these serve as full time fundraisers for Hope Center. Take a tour and learn more about how you can get involved as a volunteer. Tours take place every Saturday at 10:30 am. Request a speaker for your church, organization, club or small group.
Hope Center Indy is located at 11850 Brookville Road, Indianapolis, IN 46239.
See Part 1:?Hope Center Indy-When God Makes a Promise-Part 1
Polly Riddell writing as G. Polly Jordan is a freelance journalist connecting people through the stories they tell.