Partner Stories Series: John Sparks

Welcome back to the Partner Stories Series, where we have been sharing conversations with our U.S. partners! We’ve heard from former and current HopeChest Partnership Leaders, pastors, and church leaders to talk about their inspiring experiences with HopeChest and the most moving stories from within their own communities.

Today, we are so excited to feature one of our partners John Sparks, pastor of the River Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In this inspiring episode, John talks about his church’s partnership with Oditel CarePoint in Uganda, as well as the other partnerships he has developed as 35+ years as a pastor in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. He used to be at the Haven Reformed Church, which is partnered with the Katuba CarePoint in Uganda, and at Centerpoint Church, which is one of the partners of the Centro de Alcance CarePoint in Guatemala.

“Partnering with Children’s HopeChest is an opportunity to not just give money to a good cause and hope for a good impact. It’s rolling up your sleeves and working with others (both here in the states as well as at the CarePoint) to make a generational change—not only for the children, but also the families, community, region, country, and even hemisphere… that’s the power of relationships. Through my partnership with HopeChest as a pastor, I have the opportunity to not only invite people to give to a good cause, but they can do much more than that by building relationships with those who they were seeking to support.”

In this podcast episode, Wil Crooks, our VP of Strategic Partnerships, sits down with John Sparks to have an inspiring conversation about what it truly means to help and to be a partner.

“Build Relationships. Break Poverty.” is a podcast that challenges the Western perception of international poverty by elevating the voices of local leaders and processing how we can help to alleviate poverty without harming those living in vulnerable communities.