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THE HISTORY OF FREEDOM HOPE CHURCH

Freedom Hope Church is formerly known as New Covenant Community Church (N3C) and met for the first time in 1979, in Bellmawr, NJ. For several years, we had our Sunday morning worship service in various rented auditoriums. In 1986, after a time of prayer and patience, we were able to purchase our current church facility. As the church grew, we felt a need to affiliate with an organization larger than just our local body. In 1986, we joined with Elim Fellowship, with offices in Lima, NY. Elim is a non-denominational fellowship of churches and ministries.

John Megaw served as the first pastor, with a tenure of 17 years. Pastor Megaw laid a solid foundation upon which those who followed in his footsteps were able to  build upon.  From 1998 to 2004, Tony Martorana served as the senior pastor until Pastor Tom Brazell took the position in August 2004. He served until the fall of 2008, when he became Director of International Ministries at the Elim Fellowship headquarters. At that time, John Megaw returned as interim pastor until the position was filled by our current pastor, John Young, in February 2009.

 

Although Pastor John transitioned to N3C from Spring Hill, TN, he was born and raised in South Jersey and was already accustomed to the cultures and nuances of the area. Pastor John's strong background in missions, youth, young adult, and music ministries, made him the perfect candidate for leading N3C towards growth. Pastor John retired to North Carolina at the end of 2021. The church was privileged to have Pastor John serve as Lead Pastor for over 12 years. 

Pastor Anthony Palandro was officially installed as Lead Pastor on January 9, 2022, with Chris Ball, the President of Elim Fellowship, leading the service, and Pastor John Young also in attendance. There is no doubt that Pastor Anthony's passion & enthusiasm will lead the church into the next season reaching the younger generation and seeing the church grow.  

God has always been faithful to His Word and to His people throughout the years. The church's name was changed to Freedom Hope Church in 2022 and continues to be a body of believers committed to growing in  our relationship with the Lord as well as relationship with others. Freedom Hope Church  will always be a community church that not only proclaims the Gospel, but seeks to live as God's witnesses from Audubon to the uttermost parts of the world. 

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