By Kevin Austin
The following account of what God is doing at the Foothill Community Church in Oroville, California, show us how a church can make a real difference. How they are following the Spirit’s leading is compelling, replicable, and encouraging. The best defense against human trafficking and other injustices is a strong, healthy, Christ-centered, Spirit-led church. Foothill Community Church is an example of this.
Crazy Mobilization
“Do you know that 5150 is police code for crazy person?” Kathy Zancanella asked.
We had just told Kathy the audacious, crazy plan for Foothill to engage strategically in Cambodia and beyond. Pastor Chris Hemberry replied, “Yes! Crazy for God’s mission.”
Pastor Chris Hemberry is a winsome, charismatic person. His enthusiasm seems to know no bounds, and it’s 100% genuine. He’s also a strategic leader who is careful, smart, but willing to think outside the box. It was 2021, and the Hemberrys had recently relocated to Oroville, California, to lead Foothill Community Church. He described the members of the church as mature, primed for real impact, and he was searching for a way to help mobilize his people toward something of significance.
_
“The mission isn’t about a church building. It’s about people and ministry.”
_
We were talking together, trying to connect the dots. Pastor Chris has a great relationship with Asia Area Director Eric. The church supports Eric and his wife, Virginia. Chris has also been a longtime supporter of my work with the Set Free Movement. The question was: How do we connect these dots? My suggestion was that his church become a strategic partner with Cambodia. Doing so connects the dots with Eric in Asia. Also, Set Free had just started work in Cambodia and needed partnership.
Chris thought about this some more. He mentioned the church would probably need to expand the current meeting space. I suggested he do what some churches do with a building project: tithe a percentage of that expansion to ministry outside the church walls. We talked some more.
“Wait a minute,” Chris said with enthusiasm. “The mission isn’t about a church building. It’s about people and ministry. Why don’t we do 50/50?”
He paused. Reflecting back, I now know that the Holy Spirit was speaking. Chris was listening. “No! Not 50/50 — 51/50. We should give away more than we receive.”
Of course, it’s crazy! It doesn’t even work; 51 plus 50 is 101%. Kathy Zancanella (an A to B then C type of person) just smiled when she told us that 5150 was the police code for crazy person. She had been working with Chris long enough to know that sometimes Chris takes a more circuitous route to strategy.
It’s crazy like Gideon was crazy to fight the Midianites with jars and torches. Crazy like Jesus feeding thousands with a couple of fish and some bread. Crazy like Mary saying, “Let it be according to your will.” Crazy like God sending Jesus to die. Crazy like the resurrection.
We are meant to be crazy, to take bold risks, to dream bigger than our imagination, to trust God when it looks foolish and impossible.
Pastor Chris cast the vision to a select group of godly members at his church. They agreed with the crazy plan and threw money at Chris. He discussed it with Area Director Eric and me. Then he cast the vision to the church with Eric and me by his side. The church rallied, and over the past five years they have:
- Helped fund Cambodian Superintendent Daniel’s position
- Helped fund the Better Together Conference in Asia in 2024
- Funded several church plants in Cambodia
- Help fund the Set Free Movement in Cambodia
- Sent missions teams to Cambodia three years in a row
- Pastor Chris is serving the Cambodian church with coaching
- A Set Free Movement team is launching in Oroville
Additionally, they fund:
- The Set Free Movement in general
- The Oroville Homeless Coalition, giving them office space as well
- And more …
But it’s not just about money. They have a posture of generosity that includes time, space, and leadership. They have a strategy of one for one. If Foothill runs a vacation Bible school (VBS), they want to help someone else run a VBS. When Foothill adds to staffing, they will add staffing elsewhere. As the church’s building and mission expand, they want to bless others by building more churches and expanding more missions in the United States, Asia, and beyond.
2024 was the fourth year of God giving the vision. To date, Foothill Community Church has given away more than $650,000 (not including time). Chris comments, “It’s cost us nothing. God has provided what we’ve given away. The church budget has doubled since then.”
When Pastor Chris first arrived, the church had an attendance of 150. COVID hit, and attendance dropped down to 88. The church is now averaging close to 400 people on mission with Jesus — not just attendees, not just members, active servant worshippers.
In 2024 they gave away more than they received.
Several application points:
First, generosity is a sign of the kingdom.
We give freely because Jesus gave everything to us. God’s love is lavished on us with wide-open arms of hospitality and grace. We imitate God in being generous.
Jesus pointed out the widow who gave out of her poverty, contrasting her with the rich people (Luke 21:1-4). He held her up as an example to follow: trust, faith, giving to God with a grateful heart. We do likewise.
Eugene Cho writes:
Generosity is what keeps the things I own from owning me. In other words, the point of my generosity isn’t just to bless others; it’s also to liberate me.[1]
Second, we embrace integrity in church ministry.
When we talk about multiplication, justice, evangelism, church health, and discipleship, it’s helpful to keep in mind that everything is connected together. It’s like an automobile having all its parts working well together. This is what “integrity” means: all parts working well together. If things are calibrated, the tank full, the wipers functional, etc., the car will get us down the road. Foothill Community Church is moving forward on mission with Jesus.
Third, we live a different allegiance.
We do not operate as the world does — out of fear and control — but with hospitality and generosity. Our priorities are kingdom-oriented.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 states:
This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
If the Lord delights in knowing Him, in exercising kindness, justice, and righteousness, then will He not bless us as we act like Him? Of course, God will bless us as we do good in His name. When we value what God values, God will lead and provide. We follow with confidence.
_
“We are the church. Not called only to gatherings of the faithful, but empowered to be a transformational.”
_
Jeremiah shows the contrast. The world tells us we should boast about our wisdom, strength, and riches. These things are what matter. However, the prophet points us in a different direction, to boast about knowing God. To know God is to know what God values, the priorities of shalom, the goals of the kingdom of God: kindness, righteousness, and justice.
Howard Snyder writes:
Early Christians believed not that the church “had a mission” but that the church was God’s mission in the world — the living body of Christ, the actual visible embodiment of the good news.[2]
Fourth, we have a charged and changed identity.
We are missionaries. You and me. Together, we are the “visible, embodiment of the good news.”
We are disciples, church planters, justice warriors, pastors, artists, children in the nursery, people with disabilities; people from every tribe, language, political affiliation, and economic demographic. Some of us are deeply disillusioned. Some of us are mentally ill. But we are the church. Not called only to gatherings of the faithful, but empowered to be a transformational, unstoppable, Spirit-led, love-driven, hope-infused, army of sinners turned saints by the blood of Jesus.
Together we are agents of hope and healing.
The kingdom impact that Foothill Community Church is having is incredible. People are coming to know Jesus. Churches are being planted. Human trafficking and other injustices are being confronted. Worship is energized. Jesus is being followed.
What would happen if more churches did what Foothill is doing?
Watch THIS VIDEO of Chris unpacking his philosophy of generosity.
Watch THIS VIDEO of Chris talking about missions engagement.
Contact me to talk this through. I would love to connect: kevin@setfreemovement.org
[1] Cho, Eugene (2014-09-01). Overrated: Are We More in Love with the Idea of Changing the World Than Actually Changing the World? (Kindle Locations 567-568). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
[2] Snyder, Howard A.; Scandrett, Joel (2011-07-13). Salvation Means Creation Healed: The Ecology of Sin and Grace: Overcoming the Divorce Between Earth and Heaven (p. 7). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
+
Kevin Austin, D.Min., is the founder and director of the Set Free Movement. He is also a Free Methodist elder and the author of “Set Free: A Guide to Pursuing Liberation in an Age of Bondage.”
Great Writing + Discipleship Materials
