Hope in Action - Steve Milazzo | Faithly Podcast

The one thing I didn't know is how God was gonna grow this I just I just heard the voice of God and said I want you to do this outreach. I want you to gather gather churches together I didn't know the year two was coming in year three and four and five and six I just wanted to be obedient to what God told me at that moment This is the faithfully podcast Welcome back to the faithfully podcast. My name is Alicia Lee. I'm your host today and I am joined by the great Pastor Steve Malazzo. Pastor Steve is the lead pastor of Bethlehem Assembly of God in Valley String, New York Not far from where I'm recording in New York City And he's also the president of Hope Day Network, which I am really excited to learn more about today Pastor Steve, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for having me So I want to start at the beginning How did Hope Day first come to life? What was like the moment or the burden that sparked this movement 15 years ago? Well, I think it started when I was 19 years old and the Lord told me go out into all the world and preach the gospel and And really just to use your influence your life to reach people for Christ and so from they want you know I've been always very passionate about people confronting the love of God in a very compassionate way And so all through the years we've always had outreach is in our church We're you know do a lot of outreach isn't but I felt like 15 years ago. I felt like you know the media the world They were looking at the church is being siloed divided In a lot of ways not partnering and not working together and so I wanted to change the I wanted to change a script I wanted to change the narrative Of what the world sees the church as being instead of being just Not working together and kind of irrelevant I wanted them to see that you know We do love people and we we have compassion and so I actually called the friend of mine who Is a part of an organization called convoy of hope and And I just said look I want to do a major outreach, but I wanted to have a real compassionate peace to it I don't want to just stand on the corner and tell people they're going out I want them to see the love of God because I believe the kindness of the Lord leads us to repentance and I think there's nothing more Appealing and there's nothing more attractive than a Christian who really genuinely loves people and that's what Christ did right and so So we got together we put our minds together and we talked about having what was called the convoy of hope outreach and convoy of hope came in and they trained us on how to have an outreach for maximum impact and so we did our first event Let me back up just a little bit what we did actually is we decided I first wanted to do it in valley stream where our main campus is And the Lord said no, I don't want you to do in a valley stream I don't want you to do it in your city. I want you to choose a city that really could Use the love of Christ in a very tangible way and so we prayed and we landed on hemstead union Dale and so Myself and just a few other leaders We began to develop relationships with pastors in those communities and every month we would gather to pray together To get to know each other and just share the vision of doing a corporate Event where we as the church can come together united and just really love on people in a very practical way And then give them the opportunity to be prayed for and hear the gospel And I also one of the things that was really powerful is I went to the board of my church And I said and and guys I just want you know this with the Lord told me to do and we're gonna flip the bell You know, we're gonna flip the bill. We're just gonna basically pay for it You know, and they were like pastor Steve if God told you to do this we're behind it and and so I thank God for their Heart their generosity and they're just coming behind us So we did our first event 15 years ago And we started about 5,500 people wow and it was just wonderful the lines lines of people that came and We had a a a huge children's zone for children to come and just have a really great time We actually had a barbecue for 5,500 people We gave away free shoes We actually washed people's feet and then we gave them the shoes That to me was the most sacred tent of all You could feel the presence of the Lord in that tent as as as volunteers just humbled themselves and washed people's feet And then gave them shoes and prayed for them. It was just beautiful We actually had a community service tent where we had Community we had people from the community businesses and organizations that partnered together to offer people Very practical help in things that they might need writing a resume all kinds of different things like that we had We had a prayer tent and or connections tent We had groceries where everyone would leave with bags of groceries and I know that You had asked a little bit about you know, what were those moments where it really touched your life And one moment that really touched my my heart Was that there was a little boy with his mom and they were leaving the event and and and on long Island I could not believe my what I was hearing But the little boy said today we get to eat mom today we get to eat and I thought to myself on long Island There's hunger, you know And there was a lot of other services a ton of different Different things that we had done just to love on people we actually had Portraits free portraits for families to come and get their portraits We had a beautification tent where we were cutting hair and and doing fingernail polishing for women and all kinds of wonderful things to just serve People in a very practical way Wow, that is so beautiful. And so all of that happened 15 years ago Um, how many churches were a part of that first hope day with you? Yeah, there was about 50 churches that were a part of the first wow And were they all in Long Island all around your area? No, they were they were actually in Long Island in in the boroughs Um, even a few of them from out of state Wow, okay, it's for a pastor or a ministry leader who's listening Walk us through what actually happens on a hope day today. How has that evolved from what you did on your first hope day to you know today 15 years later Yeah, well, I would say before we even get to the event um the reason why we we have a passion for Doing hope day is because we want to equip churches. We want to come alongside pastors We want to support pastors because we know pastors are so busy They've got a lot going on But they want to reach their community and so I believe partnership is so powerful exponentially we do more together than we can apart And so like organizations like convoy now hope day different organizations coming together to help equip the pastor to help support the pastor Train the pastor and just come alongside churches and say okay look you can build relationships with your community So actually before we ever get to the day of hope day itself that that day when we have all of these different events going on at one time In different states and with all kinds of volunteers We have what's called a hope day launch which you've been at and where we will actually do three different seminars The first seminar is how to Actually have an outreach from maximum impact and we help pastors and leaders think through what a real outreach could look like How do we do it where we gain a lot of visibility? How do we do it where we We have have the ability to reach people with inviting them to come through the event How do we follow up on those people after they come to the event What what are the things that we do to make sure that people are cared for They're respected. They're honored at the event And so kind of creating Really a great event for people say wow this was a really a world class excellent event that you've given us today And so that's that that's a seminar the next seminar is leading people from building a bridge from the event to the local church through follow-up assimilation and discipleship And then the third seminar is leadership training and helping churches then stay in their community Thinking through creatively. How do we take what we did at hope day and turn one day into every day? So so really from the beginning of February all the way to June We have trainings that are happening on zoom for churches where We help them think through plan through for the event then on the day of the event itself A a guest will that they've they've already been invited We actually try to do personal invitations more than anything else Um, and so they've already been invited when they get there They're they're actually going to go in one entrance because we have this big red carpet for people Because there are VIPs there are they're they're so important to us And when they walk in from the moment they walk in people are high-fiving them people are celebrating them People are letting them know that they are VIP and we're going to treat them with love respect and dignity And then when they come in If they have children they they could drop their children off at the children's zone And then they'll go through It's a four-hour event and they could stay as long as they want And they they'll come through there's a place where they can have lunch There's entertainment where they can hear a concert there's all kinds of things that we do to You know bring good solid Entertainment for them Then they can go to the beautification tent they can go to the shoe tent There's basketball tournaments for the teenagers And then there's community service where they can find things that they would need For us to come alongside of them and help them with And so there's a bunch of different areas of services. There's a medical tent where we actually have doctors and nurses ophthalmologists giving out free glasses and things like that and so there's and each Each and every event that we have or location might vary a little bit So one might have something that another one doesn't have but for the most part It's all based on meeting the needs of the community and so there are pastors that are very creative And they're saying like these are things that my community may need and they're gonna So it's all about figure out what are the resources, you know What are the partnerships where we can meet the needs of the people and and then And then there's a lot of things that they could do during the day to enjoy themselves And at the end there's only one way in and then there's one way out and at the end They have to go through the connections tent And when they go through the connection tent we want to connect with them and we offer them prayer We say would you like for us to pray for you And we have prayed for thousands and thousands of people people want prayer They really genuinely want to be prayed for And then we asked them, you know, did you enjoy the event? We have one more free gift that we'd like to offer to you and if they're open to it we offer them the gospel And we've we've seen thousands of people Receive Christ is their savior And then on the way out they receive their groceries and they receive more information about a follow-up event that each and every Different location has for those people at the event and them It's just been amazing to see how people respond so well to love and kindness and to the gospel Wow, that is so beautiful pastor Steve. It is really Christ's love and compassion in action. So you had 50 churches at that first hope day 15 years ago How many did you have at the last one um over a hundred over a hundred wow and We're what kind of geographies? Where were these churches located? Yeah, well, I'm so and from Texas Florida Those are the southern ones and we've actually made Somewhat of a shift in how we do it. So now it we have hope day North hope they south or a hope day June and hope they march So what we're doing now is we've made a shift in allowing churches down south to do it at a different time Because it's really hot And so people want to come out with that hot so we've actually got two different look Different times that we do it now And we like to do it on the same day at least and you know if it's going to be two different days We have all the southern churches and southern Organizations doing it and the same day because we love the Synergetic the exponential power of coming together with all these volunteers We have thousands of volunteers. They all have to share it's on they don't have their church search on it Just says hope day on it and it's red and bright, you know, and it's really wonderful to see the thousands of volunteers They do it, but on one day we just say look we really want to be praying together for that day We want to be working together. It shows a lot of unity when we do it You know on those days, right? And so and then we're all the way so we've we're in Seven states now So we're in New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut Down south like I said I'm not sure I got all the states, but we're in seven states You're in a lot of states that this this love and compassion Has has spread and and and and you're doing it together. I'm really displaying the unity of Christ um So for the churches that are in your area the hope day event happens in June There is a launch day to help churches get involved To help them get trained up with seminars That launch day is coming up for our area right past receive. It's coming up very quickly On February 7th so for churches who maybe have not been involved in hope days in the past But want to get involved they should attend the February 7th launch date Absolutely and a few reasons why they Attend one is to find that more about hope day, but also we just want to pour into them um, so you know The launch is not just about churches that are gonna definitely do hope day But it's really about helping them to learn to think about how to get out of their four walls How to do outreach, you know So we're gonna pour into them with these seminars that we're doing leadership seminars and outreach seminars and follow Follow-up and discipleship seminars So everybody's welcome to come you know, and we'd love for them the partner with us and be a part of hope day but even if They choose not to do that. It's still okay for them to come Amazing um all right, so um here's a question that I bet pastors are wondering right now If they're interested, which is what does the hope day network supply to each site today? Um, and what does the host church need to raise or contribute themselves? It's a great questions So what hope day Helps to do is we supply training we supply encouragement we supply, you know, just every month being able to mentor Will walk you through the whole process for this whole thing We also it because of our great partnership with convoy of hope We provide groceries for all the churches that are going to be a part of it and One exciting thing is that convoy now is made a deeper commitment because we're actually not just doing Hope day in June and march now, but we've also started a Hope for Thanksgiving where we actually Convoys sending us resources again, and we give it out to all the churches free of charge And they're able to get their resources again And go out for Thanksgiving and just give it out. It's not a hope day It's not like a big event. It's more like hey, let's just keep on giving and keep on loving our community in very practical way So so we offer them mentoring we offer them teaching coaching Then obviously we offer them the groceries through convoy of hope And and um, you know, there are times when we even give scholarships from time to time We'll we'll say hey, you know, this church is really struggling. Let's see how we can get them some scholarship And not only that, but we really offer them a a network because it's it's not just about the day It's about Being a part of a network of churches who think the same we want to reach our community But we also want to build relationship and so I've built all these wonderful powerful relationships even with faithly as a result of you know, hope day So it's it goes well beyond the day. It's just the church Being the church together and so you know, I have some wonderful relationships and wonderful friends today Through the hope day network. It's not the only network. It's not the only denomination And by the way Hope they network is into denomination. Also, it's not just one denomination It's and and not denomination. So any church that wants to preach the gospel wants to love people or welcome to be a part of it Wow So you're telling me if if I'm a pastor in central Pennsylvania and I want to host a hope day that Hope day network and convoy of hope we'll find a way to get me groceries that I can bless my community with Yes, yes, I mean and that's on top of the training that's on top of the mentorship and the friendship and and and all of that Yeah, but they might have to come and pick it up, but yes, well I did for them You know, we have locations where they can come and get it. We have some Asians Well, that's amazing um, okay, so when you look back these past 15 years um What has remained the heartbeat of hope day and and what has changed has anything has anything changed in how you're thinking about Yeah, well, I think um what had changed um, we were doing it um um in the beginning uh for the first three years and we would just do these big Outreaches and it was one outreach or it you know it turned into three so but but they was still Large outreach is where we were asking churches to come into a community and help that community and that's great Now I mean, it's really wonderful when churches are willing to go to other communities, but on year three I felt like the Lord said to me. Okay, let's decentralize the whole thing and instead of having it in just one community work Just even three communities. Let's let's let's give all of the resources and let's give all the training And let's give all kind of the power back to the pastor to do it in their community, you know, and so After year three we began to multiply this by decentralizing and saying look we're here to just support you pastor We're here to see that you can reach your community and that's that's been pretty much the The mode of operation going forward and and we don't want that to change We we want the pastors to feel like this is for them It's not about them joining an organization to make the organization greater or more visible It's really about keeping it grassroots keeping it as as as as as lean as we can and we try to do that We really do we try to keep it lean. We try to keep it grassroots and everything we do so the so that we're always Able to do it in such a way where it's getting back to the local churches and benefiting them Um, do you have any churches who put on a hope day in their community on their own? Or do you really recommend that different churches come together to put on a hope day in their community? Yeah so I the The greatest way to do it is that Hope churches gather together in a community and they kind of say look This is our community together. So that's that's a great way of doing it But you also have churches that do it on their own Um, but we really recommend find some other churches that you can partner with in your community because that's that's the heartbeat of hope They is hey, we're better together Let's show our community what the church looks like when we come together and we work together You know assembly of God and Baptist and that one and now coming to you That's a beautiful illustration of the body of Christ. So we encourage that but there are churches that say you know what we're gonna do this We some churches might even say look we're gonna do it ourselves this year and as we get better at it Then we're gonna invite other churches to be a part of it, you know, so um, it's it's not either or it's both end But yes, we we love when churches partner together. That's that's the heartbeat of it Of course Um, you mentioned at the beginning of our conversation that some churches have gotten really creative about what hope day means for their community Because what's practical and compassionate in their community might be a little different than in valley stream What are what are one or two examples of where churches have done something a little different or creative Yeah, um, well when you go into a certain community and There's a certain religious restrictions that people have or really you know, whatever it maybe maybe it's Muslims or you know Jewish people whatever and so we've seen churches actually adapt to that in in their food In some of the presentations that they've had and that's been so wonderful to see how churches have adapted to that, you know And so so I think that's that's one way that they do that Um, I think also looking at needs um, I I saw a church or a hope day in far rock away and they were right in the middle of a housing Development and you know, they they just did this big rock climbing wall and they had all these different things where they had The police department come together and work alongside of them to help build um camaraderie and and help build some visibility for police officers and and people together working hand in hand So yeah kind of stuff like that was really wonderful to see how they're thinking about their community whether it's ethnically or whether it's religiously and some people have made some, you know They've adopted some of those things or kind of adapted to make those things happen in their community It's been wonderful to see that how they kind of come up with these creative ways to do But that's so cool. I love that um, okay, so after 15 years of doing this you must have heard some amazing stories amazing stories of transformation What what's maybe one that has really stuck with you? Yeah, one that um Helps me to To get up in the morning and do this is um There was a woman who um was at the end of herself completely at the end of herself a single mom had i believe five children And um didn't have the resources to take care of her children They had shut off her electricity. I believe at least shut off her water. I know that for sure and um She was actually sneaking over to her neighbor's yard to get some water and a neighbor's to art and a neighbor Just kind of put the hose out just to say hey you can come and do that That's how desperate this woman was and this woman She she had told us the story after and she said that she um yet tried to get help for her children She couldn't get help for her children for whatever reason and she decided that she was going to take her own life And she was going to take her own life in the the In the place where the the park where we were going to do a hope day And um she had planned out the day that she was going to do it She she thought to herself if I take my life then the government will have to take care of my children because I can't take care of At least somebody's going to do something And so she contemplated all that and um one day her daughter a little daughter Which she contemplated actually aborting her when she was uh when she was praying She found that she was pregnant and did not abort the little girl. Thank god She came home this little girl came home with a flyer that she had received in her backpack for a hope day and She she gave her to a mom and she said mom look at this event that they're having There's a kid zone and all this fun stuff the mom said I don't want to go And she's not really want to go and so she looked at the fly and the flyer said Free groceries how just Practical could this be free groceries and she said you know what I'm gonna go get the groceries and I'm gonna Gonna put them in the shelving, you know in the cupboards and um that at least I'll have some food whatever And then I'm gonna go kill myself and um so she came to hope day and The daughter had a blast during a hope day and at this particular hope day The next day they do church in the park and so when everybody's leaving Um, they get a card saying come back for church in the park. Well the they went home and um, the daughter woke up that Sunday morning and Went and woke up her mom and said we had to go we had to go to church in the park and the mom said I don't want to go to church and but she goes no mom We got to go church and the mother remembers more free groceries because we said you know you can get some more groceries So she actually came to the park To the service and she was she was way in the back And the speaker was speaking about a widow the widow of Zerefeth that was at her last Whits and and she was gonna have our last meal and she was gonna die The moment the preacher said that the woman broke down and the pastor gave an invitation for the woman For everyone to give their lives to Christ the woman came forward gave her life to the Lord and the woman is still alive today Her children is still alive. It's not that she doesn't have any problems in her life But um, we save the life that day we save the life that day she gave gave her life to the Lord Her children know the Lord and so that's what Helps me to always go on that God loves Individuals one individual at a time and we have been able to Actually serve over two hundred thousand individuals one person at a time And so for some people we sow seeds in their heart That they see for the first time they may see what Christians really look like like people coming from different faiths and they're like wow That's what Christians are like I heard Christians hate us. I heard Christians You know, they they don't want to have anything to do with us whatever you know stories books that they've read Those Christians look at the smiles on their face. Look at the way they're hugging people Look at the way they're watching people's feet look at the way that they're giving groceries out all in the name of their God or their Lord Jesus right and so for some people we're planting the strongest seed in their heart And by the way every single person gets a gospel presentation on the way out So everyone so it's not just them having fun But they're able to go home read this card with the gospel presentation on a clear precise gospel presentation I believe that the Bible says that the gospel has power If there's power in that gospel in that written word and I believe somebody reads that It's gonna it's gonna germinate in their heart and God's and his word doesn't return void And so we plant seeds one two We harvest because we've seen thousands of people actually come and give their lives to Christ And some of those people are in our churches today some of our leaders some of them are actually running Areas of service that are in the events themselves, right? And then we build Relationships with the village with the cities With the towns we have some actually some towns that actually have designated The first saturday in June as hope day for the whole city the town and everywhere around So the police department gets involved the fire department gets involved the mayor's come You know we fight politicians come because they they want to be a part of something like this because it's just so good And I don't know if anybody that can argue with love I think churches can argue with each other Theologically and and it's it's important, you know to get your theology right But I don't think churches and I don't even think the world can argue much with loving people Amen So Let me end it with this the vision was a very clear it was very specific and you've consistently carried forward for more than a decade It's about practical and compassionate Loved for your community. It's about churches coming together in unity And it's about you serving pastors as much as it is about you all serving the community as you look forward to the future Do you sense God saying keep doing this? Are there any is there anything else you're hearing that Will take you know will take you forward the next set of years Yeah, so I'm such a busy pastor past during a multi-campus church And we actually our church supports over a hundred missionaries and organizations around the world So I I only say that to say that I didn't I didn't even The one thing I didn't know is how God was gonna grow this I just I just heard the voice of God and said I want you to do this outreach I want you to gather gather churches together I didn't know the year two was coming in year three and four five and six. I just Wanted to be obedient to what God told me at that moment and and I continue to have that posture is God You know how busy I am you know how busy we are as a church and and Bethlehem really is kind of like It's so generous our church the people of our church the leaders of our church They believe so much in hope they that they allow their lead pastor to take a lot of time to do this and resources and whatnot And so I would say to answer your question is I do believe that the vision is set I believe that we need to be obedient simply obedient to the great commission Jesus said go reach the lost going to the highways and byways and compelling to come in he said To disciple people right so this is not just about reaching. It's about helping churches learn how to disciple We have a whole course on helping people the you know pastors learn how to disciple people And and Jesus's heart is that we would be one Father may they be one as we are one and so I think the vision is clear. It's set And I don't feel like Things are gonna change much. I feel like they're gonna grow Um and I'm allowing it to grow Anically, um, I'm not trying to force it People are coming to us people are saying hey, we want to we want to help you with this we want to do this So I really feel like I have to allow God To lead the way on this and not get ahead of God and if I don't get ahead of God then we could perhaps be in every state In the United States one day and and that may be exactly what God wants for hope day I can see it. I can feel it You know, um, but I'm just gonna trust God because he has to make the way That's a beautiful vision pastor Steve. Can I ask you actually one last question? Which is if there if there is a pastor or a church leader right now who is Really curious and really interested and wants to find out more but they can't Attempt the February 7th launch in Valley Stream, New York What other ways do they have to jump and get involved can they attend virtually Um get give me all the options here. Yeah. Well, I would say first go to the website right um, hope they network dot org and um, there's a lot of information on that they certainly Can um live stream or they can they can watch it during that day Um, and then if they can't come to the event But they want us to have a they want to have a conversation with us We would be glad to talk with them the information is on there how to contact our director Mike Who's actually the engine of this whole thing he's amazing and he will sit One of one of the things about Mike that's amazing is he's such a brilliant man But he will sit with every pastor and talk to them about how they can get involved what we can do to serve them So we would be glad to just have a conversation with them and if there's a network if they are a part of a pastors network Um, and they want us to come in and do a presentation for them on how we can serve them We would love to partner with other networks because we're better together Yeah, that's right. So this is not about getting plugged into a machine. This is really personal. It's really relational Um, for folks who want to get involved um, they'll be talking to Um, you pastor Steve. They'll be talking to Mike. They'll be talking to members of your team Um, and really building new relationships. Yeah All right, that's perfect. Well, thank you so much for your time pastor Steve I know it's a very busy time as you all You're up for the hope day launch day on February 7th and I for one and looking forward to seeing you and the entire team there Alicia, thank you so much for your support. It means the world to us You're a world shaker and and there's a seat of greatness on the inside of you and God has a plan for your life And it's bigger than you could ever imagine your eye has not seen your ears not heard nor is it entered into your heart What God is planning for you? So keep up the great work. I can't wait to see how God is going to use you in the future He's already using you But he's gonna use you in a mighty way and I'm honored that you took the time to uh spend with me today Thank you so much. Thank you. I received that pastor Steve. Thank you so much. Oh, bless. Bye-bye