the dream
The Red Barn
Our leadership felt a calling, not just an idea, focused on helping newcomers learn to function in a new cultural environment. The red barn symbolizes the method: people are not simply given help but are invited to participate, take on responsibility, and share daily life, so stability can grow through contribution and routine. “Hope in Jesus” explains the foundation beneath that approach — the belief that restoration is possible and that the commitment to walk alongside others is sustained by faith. Together, the elements describe a place where belonging develops through lived experience, practical learning, and enduring hope.
starting the ministry
Success
Without a location yet, they started the ministry with Homework Club at Isom Elementary School and Greenwood High School, where they met a young lady who had moved to Greenwood from Mexico three years before and was struggling with English and academics. After participating in Homework Club, she improved her grades and her English, graduated from high school, and now works as a Teacher’s Assistant at Greenwood Middle School. Another student they helped was a 4th grader from Mexico who had a learning disability. He thrived with help and eventually went to C9, a local vocational school, where he studied mechanics. Now, he is married and lives with his family in Mexico, where he owns his own mechanic shop and works as a professor at a vocational school.
Currently we serve immigrants from close to
12 different countries or regions and counting.
becoming esperanza
A Multicultural Ministry
From the beginning, Esperanza Ministries wanted to provide medical assistance, advocacy and other services to the Hispanic community, so after several months of serving at the local school, they found a space that they were able to rent. At that point, they were equipped to start creating relationships with community partners to be able to bring these additional services to the Hispanics in the Johnson County area. But as time went by, the community grew more diverse, with Punjabi and then Burmese immigrants and refugees moving in and experiencing the same needs as the Hispanic population had faced previously. Responding to this new need, the board decided to make Esperanza Ministries a multicultural ministry. Now, we serve immigrants from around ten different countries.
esperanza ministries today
After the pandemic of 2020, Esperanza Ministries has changed the way it serves the immigrant community. We no longer have an office or paid staff. Instead, all donations are used to provide Spiritual Life Care services, food for shut-ins, and end-of-life care for those with terminally ill family members. We continue to advocate for people, principles, and justice for the poorest of the poor and those who cannot speak for themselves. We educate our clients to help them learn how to help themselves, using Christian biblical principles to help people grow and thrive in their faith. Our volunteers work from home, and we are blessed to be able to give away 100% of the funds received to help those in need. We set aside 90% of our funds for the benevolence fund, which is meant to help single mothers in extreme need due to premature baby delivery. The 10% remainder of our funds is used for administrative expenses (gas, and stewardship expenses.)