Fountain Avenue Baptist Church (a.k.a. Hope International Bible Fellowship) - HOPE - opened its doors in 1928. At that time, Hollywood was an affluent neighborhood. Movie stars attended. However, the neighborhood changed and the church almost closed its doors in 1994. Pastor Ed Carey was brought in to help the floundering church. The church was down to 30 members and $280,000 in debt with a negative cash flow every month.
The time was right and Pastor Ed Carey was the right person. With his special gift for church renewals, a solid business background, and a strong compassion for the lost, HOPE was ready for a change. Today, Hope IBF is debt free and gives more than 10 percent of its income to local compassion ministries and global missions.
Hope IBF supports nine missionaries and church planters, (six from its own congregation), in California, New Mexico, India, China, Taiwan, Cambodia, the Philippines and Pakistan. This is no surprise when you consider that Hope's congregation is multi-ethnic. The church has hosted services and events in Armenian, Russian, Spanish, Korean, Thai and Filipino over the years.
Hope IBF is unique in that it looks inside the person and accepts you as you are. Everyone is welcome at Hope - the homeless - the affluent - the addicted - the lost - the seekers. At Hope IBF, everyone is family and Hope has enough love for everyone.
Monday night dinners are open to the congregation, neighborhood and the homeless. Dinner is followed by a Bible study focused on the Sunday sermon. Everyone gets a chance to ask questions about the sermon or the Bible.
The church also hosts large events. Nearly 1,950 children attended the Hope IBF annual East Hollywood Toy Giveaway at Christmas 2010. More than 20 nationalities were represented at the give-away. Translators in Spanish, Russian and Armenian helped the children make their choices. Every child went home with toys, clothes, books, sporting equipment and games.
Hope's plans for the future are to build a training center for junior and senior high students, college graduates and mission organizations. The church is also planning for a conference center to host coaching, leadership development, church health and church multiplication.