Fresh Hope: Chapel of Change Serves Christ From Southern California to Samoa

By Jeff Finley

A rapidly growing, multiethnic and multisite Southern California congregation has developed close ties in recent years with residents of the Polynesian island nation of Samoa.

“Samoa has been on our heart for a while at Chapel of Change,” said Pastor Eleitino “Tino” Tuiasosopo, who explained that when she first began attending Chapel of Change eight years ago, Lead “Pastor Brian [Warth] would often, in passing, say to me — almost in declaration —  ‘I want to go to Samoa.’”

At first she thought Warth was merely being friendly or expressing his desire to visit the land of her ancestry, but then she realized Warth’s repeated statement had “something to do with a purpose and a mission. Fast-forward to early 2020, just before the pandemic, my nephew came from Samoa and visited our church, and I introduced him to Pastor Brian. His name is Apostle Cruise Westerlund.”

Warth and Westerlund, co-founder of Samoa’s Supernatural Fellowship youth organization, discussed whether Chapel of Change could send a mission team to Samoa. Then the COVID-19 pandemic prevented that possibility for several years.

“In 2022, we announced to the church that we’re going to go. Of course, we said that by faith,” said Tuiasosopo, who was asked by Warth to organize the trip. “He didn’t really give me any further instructions. I was given a task, and I ran with it. I said, ‘Well, I’m definitely going to need a team.’ I didn’t know how many. I thought, ‘Well, I’ll start with three or four. We’ll put our heads and our hearts together, and we’ll pray, and we’ll organize this mission trip.’”

Only a few people initially expressed interest, but that soon changed while Tuiasosopo prayed for direction from God.

“As they heard more and more about it through the fundraisers, people got more and more interested, and God put a team together,” Tuiasosopo said. “We had about 30 members — both travelers and support; 22 of those people traveled with us the first wave of our mission trip in 2024, and the age ranges [15 to 70], backgrounds and ethnicities were quite diverse.”

Tuiasosopo expressed appreciation for Warth’s trust as she built the team and organized the Fresh Hope Samoa mission trip.

“Initially we had Zoom meetings, and then I felt like we needed to get together. We’re a unique church. We’re in four different cities, so I realized quickly a lot of people really didn’t know each other, and my goal was to build a team of relationships, at least to try to see if we can get along here on this side of the Pacific Ocean,” said Tuiasosopo, who had decided “there’s no way we’re going to be able to go overseas and reach people if we can’t do that here in our backyard, and so we partnered with another brother in our church who led homeless ministry in the city of Long Beach.”

The team put together hygiene kits and handed them to local homeless people. Tuiasosopo reflected, “It was very helpful, because some of our folks had never been on an outreach.”

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“We’re just a little bleep on the radar of God’s kingdom in the broad spectrum of the whole world to see people’s hearts on fire for Christ.” – Art Martinez

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Answering the Call

The team included Art Martinez who acknowledged, “To be brutally honest, I was not drawn at the beginning. Everything was so foreign to me that I actually had to sit back and do a lot of self-reflection, a lot of praying. As someone who’s been identified with an anointing for evangelism, the Lord just strongly started to put it into perspective that I needed to step out of my comfort zone and be faithful to the mission that was given in the call.”

Like some other team members, Martinez was also concerned that he was not financially able to provide the amount of money (nearly $4,000 per person) needed to pay for the trip.

“I had just started a new position for a new career, so everything was kind of in place that would actually speak against me making a decision to go,” Martinez recalled. “But then someone blessed me with the majority of the money that I needed to go. Then my boss was like, ‘Hey, go make much of Jesus. Go and get out there. This job is going to be here when you get back. Don’t worry about it. You’re going to get your full pay.’”

With financial and career concerns reduced, Martinez committed to the trip, and he is thankful he made that commitment.

“When I got there and started to experience ministering to this nation, I was just completely flattened by everything over there spiritually, experientially, the unity that we had there — having the overwhelming revelation that in the United States, we’re just a little bleep on the radar of God’s kingdom in the broad spectrum of the whole world to see people’s hearts on fire for Christ,” Martinez said. “It was just a very humbling and very amazing experience.”

Jenny Henry knew she wanted to go to Samoa as soon as she learned about the mission trip.

“Pastor Tino announced it from the pulpit, and it was the first time I’d ever heard Chapel of Change open up a missions trip to the general congregation,” said Henry, who had previously participated in missions groups with other groups before wandering spiritually and then recommitting her life to Christ. “I was about 15 months clean off methamphetamine, 15 months out of a domestic violence situation. I was coming out of having a housing voucher, and I just really felt the Holy Spirit impressing upon me that I was going to have to be a participant in my healing, and that committing to this missions trip was trading out some of my desires and my future plans for what God has for me.”

Warth called Fresh Hope Samoa “an amazing missions trip” and explained, “We formed strong partnerships with the local leaders. They welcomed us with open arms. Many local leaders helped us one way or another. One lead pastor drove us around. … A top government official even welcomed us to the island via video.”

The Chapel of Change team split into groups to visit homes with leaders from a Samoan ministry, Every Home for Christ, who also served as interpreters.

The groups “went different ways to make sure we hit up as much territory as possible,” Tuiasosopo said. “We got to share the gospel. … We got to lay hands and pray for them. Some people were sick, and some people were just going through relational issues.”

After expecting resistance, Martinez said there instead “was so much welcoming” despite many Samoans lacking the financial resources that most people have in the United States. “For them to come with bananas and other food and to jump right into making us feel welcome, it was just so humbling. Surprisingly though, many of them did know a bit of English — definitely enough to receive the truth of the gospel. We saw hearts recommitted and saved, and families that were saved. We saw demons being cast out.”

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“God worked in a lot of different ways for a lot of us, and just stretched us and called us out.” – Art Martinez

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The missions team members were welcomed in both Catholic and Protestant communities where some churches don’t normally accept women in ministry. Martinez reflected, “To see all those walls get torn down by the love of Christ was just humbling and very exciting.”

In Samoa, Henry said she “saw God working to bless the team on multiple levels” with some team members stepping into ministry leadership roles for the first time in their lives. The trip included “one of the main interpreters for our deaf ministry, and the first church service that we went to at the Protestant church had a deaf community that we didn’t know about prior to arrival. She had tears coming down her face. She started signing and interacting with the deaf community at that church, and that was beautiful to witness.”

She added that “God worked in the schools by giving us the open door. He worked by getting us into the prison,” which normally does not allow missions groups. “God worked in a lot of different ways for a lot of us, and just stretched us and called us out. To see how He weaved it together to make it personal for each and every one of us in different areas was a real big blessing.”

While at the prison, Warth said, the Chapel of Change team members were able “to share the gospel, including our teens. Nathaniel, my son, and Elijah were the only teens that accompanied us. While we were in the prison, they opened in prayer. We had a powerful worship service, and several stood to indicate a decision for Christ.”

Warth said the team even “invaded a nightclub to share the gospel. The nightclub was full. Music was playing. People were drinking alcohol. We drove up to the nightclub in a van like a special forces unit. We had a plan. Some would stay in the parking lot to watch the van. Two would walk in ahead of us into the bar. Art and I would follow Apostle Cruise to the DJ booth. The DJ was his friend, and he was going to stop the music to allow us to testify. When we arrived, everyone rushed to the van with full focus. We walked pass the bouncers into the club. A couple minutes later, the DJ stopped the music and handed us the mic. I got to testify about the grace of Jesus available to all.”

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“We’re all called to share the gospel, whether it’s through using words or our actions.” – Jenny Henry

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Tuiasosopo credited Henry, one of three nurses on the trip, with taking the lead on preparing a first aid kit in case a team member needed it. Another nurse unexpectedly was able to use the kit right away to help someone.

“The first day, we went out to the jungle, and we went door to door,” said Tuiasosopo, who explained they split into groups, and one group ran into a young boy who was seriously injured. Hot water accidentally fell on him, and it burned him. It was so scarred and so infected.”

The family couldn’t afford medical treatment at the distant hospital, but a nurse in the group used the kit to clean and treat the wound. The incident confirmed to the nurse why God led her to go on the trip, and Tuiasosopo said it “became a really important, highlighted moment from the Lord for the entire team.”

Henry noted, “We’re all called to share the gospel, whether it’s through using words or our actions. This was a type of missions trip where we got to do both.”

Hope and Revival

The culminating event was Fresh Hope Sunday, which Westerlund organized for the team’s final night in Samoa.

“In partnership with the local leaders, we led a big open air revival service in front of the main government building in Apia, Samoa,” said Warth, who added that Westerlund “brought out many nice sports cars to attract unbelievers. He organized the agenda with dancers and singers. It felt like the whole city of Apia knew we were coming. I got to share my testimony with the gospel.”

Warth said “the Holy Spirit touched many people. A big crowd walked up toward the pulpit to surrender to Jesus or receive prayer. It was a powerful night.”

Reflecting on the overall experience, the former prisoner-turned-pastor added, “When I was 18 in prison, God gave me a prophecy: ‘If you serve me and don’t give up, eventually I will set you free from prison to impact the world with the gospel.’ Our Fresh Hope Samoa mission was prophetic fulfillment.”

Chapel of Change plans to send another team to Samoa in April 2026.

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