OUR VISION
Though some see overwhelming odds against this continent, we see a bright future for Africa. We are convinced that Africans are the ones who are going to change Africa!
Our mission : to adventurously empower emerging leaders through Christian discipleship to step into their destiny as children of God who will transform their communities and the world.
We seek to accomplish this by:
1. Creating and maintaining a space of prayer and beauty on the Wild Hope land for retreat, counseling, and training of emerging African and Western leaders to reach the lost.
2. Coming alongside our disciples to bring sustainable and transformational development to their communities.
OUR VALUES
At Wild Hope we are committed to living Christ-centered lives that honor God and serve others. To that end, we operate from five core values we’ve found in the Scriptures. It’s our desire that these values will shape all that we do.
Discipleship
We are passionate about being transformed by the love of God and truth of His Word. We love helping people experience well-being, grow in character and step into all that God created them to be. We are firmly convinced that being filled with God’s Holy Spirit is crucial to an effective life of joy and fruitfulness.
Prayer
Prayer is the foundation and forerunner of all we do. It is our belief that even great ideas can come to nothing without the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit so we seek His leading in our lives and work.
God’s Word
At the core of everything, we hold God’s Word, as expressed in the Bible, as our standard and guide. Believing the New Testament claim that all Scripture is God-breathed, we affirm that it is useful for teaching what is true, correcting mistakes, making our lives whole again and training us to do what is right, so that all God’s people are prepared and equipped for every good work.
Creation Care
Believing that the earth is a gift from God that will sustain us when we care for it, we endeavor to make choices that honor God’s creation. We seek to be good stewards of all He has entrusted to us and to enjoy his wonderful outdoors as much as we possibly can!
Empowerment
We believe that a “hand up” is better than a “hand out” and that Africans are the ones who will ultimately affect lasting change on their continent. For this reason, all of our initiatives are based on partnerships that give local people opportunity to become leaders, transforming their circumstances.
Community
We believe a prayerful, worshipping community that takes God’s Word seriously provides the best environment for transformation. Our desire is to nurture life-giving, loving relationships within the Wild Hope family, as well as in the greater community around us.
OUR STORY
Wild Hope was born in 2004 when a group of close friends encouraged Peter and Tammy Russell to follow their hearts back to Africa. Coming alongside them to form a board, this cadre of like-minded partners cheered them on as they started a brand new organization that would facilitate the dream of seeing Africans empowered to face challenges that have kept their continent bound for centuries. 2005 saw the Russell family moving Wild Hope’s base of operations to Arusha, Tanzania. Drawing on many preceding years in Africa, the Wild Hope team seeks to disciple the next generation of emerging leaders in Holy Spirit led Servant Leadership.
Wild Hope International is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3).
OUR TEAM
Peter and Tammy Russell followed the footsteps of Peter’s parents and grandparents in their love for Africa and her people. Their years among Kenya’s Maasai, as well as their experiences in biblical counseling and inner healing, have uniquely prepared them for this season in Tanzania. While Peter gives a lot of time to overseeing the work of Wild Hope, he especially enjoys training leaders and potential leaders in the life of radical faith. Tammy brings her gifting and passion to create the welcome on the Wild Hope Base that is so crucial to discipleship and transformation.
Solomon and Sarah Kipi have joined the Wild Hope team January 2021 as missionaries focusing on our outreach to discipleship of the unreached in Tanzania. The Kipis are such a blessing and encouragement to all they meet, with contagious enthusiasm to spread the love of the Father.
Philemon Mollel oversees much of the practical day to day running of Wild Hope in countless crucial ways. Philemon’s servant heart and Christ-like attitude are huge assets to our team, especially when seeking wisdom on how to handle frustrating situations. We are grateful for the mantel of leadership that Philemon walks in so faithfully.
Faith Moshi serves our team with her accounting and general office skills. Faith’s gifts extend beyond the office and she is often called upon to speak to gatherings of Tanzanian women, encouraging them to be all they can be in Christ. Faith’s gracious countenance is so appreciated in her key role with Wild Hope.
James Kukan was the Bishop of the Community Christian Church movement and a trustee of Wild Hope Tanzania. James is our main liaison for our programs and outreach among the Maasai. He has also served as an elected community leader with a passion to see his people equipped to overcome the spiritual and environmental challenges they face in these crucial days.
Meshak Joseph oversees our Wild Hope Base and the general upkeep of our Retreat/Training Center. He is an eager learner in sustainable agriculture through his involvement with Wild Hope. Whether it’s deciding the best placement of trees and buildings or discussing staffing for the base, Meshak is a diligent and responsible supervisor and always an eager learner, and team-builder.
Lillian Ramson has been a part of the team since 2005. With a humble heart and a devotion to excellence, Lillian heads up our hospitality crew. Her mouthwatering dishes and sense of humor effect everyone who comes through Wild Hope’s Base.
Mark Harris, spent 8.5 years as a missionary in Russia and another year in England. Mark’s focus was on pastoral training and missiological research, earning his Doctor of Missiology degree in the process. Mark has been practicing accounting since 1977, and has been Wild Hope’s US based accountant since 2005.
OUR BOARD
Wild Hope is blessed with an incredible board that gives oversight, asks tough questions, listens well and prays hard. Each board member is encouraged to bring their spouse along to meetings, giving us the added benefit of more sage advice.
GREG GOULART began ministering overseas in 1986, serving first in Eastern Europe working with local churches and then church-planting in Central Asia. He currently works as an lT engineer in the Santa Barbara area while being involved in various ministries at his local church. Greg and his wife, Mira, have 3 children, and they have recently become grandparents. Greg’s passion to see the Gospel go forth and for disciples to be made of all nations is the heart behind his expertise of computer work as well as his technical ability to assist with communications between the church in the West and the workers overseas. He and Mira are seasoned in cross-cultural ministry and are like-minded in the work of God through Wild Hope.
JENNIFER MERRYMAN loves serving as CEO for Children in Christ, a ministry focused on weekly discipleship of children with God’s love and Word, with over 20,000 local indigenous pastors and volunteers ministering to over 250,000 children in 23 African countries as well as in lndia, including children from over 630 unreached people groups. Jennifer and her husband Adrian have 3 children, 24, 22 and 13 years old. As a family they have lived and served in Tanzania (where they met Peter and Tammy at a local church), Cambodia, England, Switzerland, and now on the East Coast of the U.S. Jen offers her expertise from working as a marketing and brand director, having her BA from Yale and her MBA from Harvard. She provides consulting services to various Christian ministries, and is a kindred-spirit with Wild Hope in offering the love and truth of the Father through deep-level discipleship to African leaders.
TIM ANDERSON has been involved with missions since attending a Keith Green concert in June,1982. He was ordained at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara in 1990. He and his wife, Laura, served overseas and raised their family of 5 during the 90’s in Eastern Europe following the collapse of communism. Tim served as director and teacher at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Austria, then as a missionary in Hungary, and as the pastor of an international church in the Czech Republic, before returning to Southern California to pastor Calvary Chapel Burbank in July, 2001. He and Laura have walked side-by-side Peter and Tammy since their initial launch to Africa and love investing in God’s “deep and far” reaching ministry of Wild Hope.
GLENN ORNEE is a retired building contractor in Santa Barbara, CA. In the past 40 years he’s been the lead contractor on many remodel projects and additions. Some of his favorite projects have been working with the Tanzanian crew on the Wild Hope land. He and his wife, Candy, have served on church mission sending teams for decades. They share God’s heart to have all people groups reached with the Gospel. Their passion is to build God’s church through prayer and by giving resources and encouragement to those raising up next-generation leaders, especially in East Africa. Glenn and Candy have enjoyed trips to the bush to visit the Maasai believers and have stayed on the Wild Hope land to see firsthand what God is doing through the ministry of Wild Hope.
PETER RUSSELL is the founding director of Wild Hope International. Peter holds a Master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in lnter-Cultural Studies and a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara in Cultural Anthropology. Peter and his wife Tammy initially served as church planters among the Maasai from 1991-2000 where their primary responsibilities were to establish culturally relevant churches and oversee appropriate development projects. Today there is a church movement of over 30 churches in Tanzania that have been birthed from one of their original church plants in 1998. Since then they have built and now oversee the Wild Hope Retreat/Training Center in Arusha, Tanzania as a tool for the spiritual formation of emerging leaders bringing life change to their communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter and Tammy have a passion to see Christian leaders raised up who have been transformed by the love of the Father and passionately carry that love to those not yet reached.