Shepherd Community Incorporates HFI’s Mission

Changes are happening at Hope for Indianapolis. The leadership of Shepherd Community Center, a well established ministry serving inner-city Indianapolis and a supporter of HFI since its inception, has recently approached the HFI board seeking to enhance their work by incorporating the staff and mission of HFI into their organization.  Shepherd was particularly interested in adding Phil Edwards to their senior leadership team as director of church relations and volunteer programs.  This position would essentially duplicate Phil’s work with HFI, charging him with undertaking outreach to churches to recruit and train volunteers for both Shepherd and for other urban ministries.

After prayerful consideration, Phil and the board have agreed that our mission can be better accomplished under the umbrella of Shepherd, an organization whose resources and structure will free Phil to do the ministry work that the Lord has uniquely gifted him to undertake. We are excited about the opportunity to expand the work that Phil has been doing by recruiting and training more volunteers, and connecting them to more ministries serving the poor in the name of Christ.

Jay Height, Shepherd’s Executive Director told us, “We have seen the importance of the work Phil Edwards has done with Hope for Indianapolis over the past two years and are excited to incorporate his initiative into our mission. The relationships Phil has formed and his many gifts will enable us to use the resources God has given us to make an even greater impact in the city of Indianapolis.”

With Shepherd carrying this mission forward, Hope for Indianapolis’ board of directors believes that the ministry has served its purpose and is no longer needed as a separate entity. Therefore, we will begin the process of dissolving the organization in an orderly fashion after Phil transitions to Shepherd in late June.

We are grateful for your interest and support over the past two years and pray you will continue to support Phil and this mission as Shepherd carries it forward.