Our vision is to see lives changed, churches united and small communities revived through the Gospel. This nonprofit ministry was founded by Evangelist Austin Lynch and his wife Rebekah. God gave them a vision to partner with local churches to hold evangelistic outreach events in small communities throughout West Virginia. It is their prayer to see local ministers encouraged and empowered through
these evangelistic community outreach festivals, which are held in public spaces and feature music, preaching, and activities. Austin was raised in Summersville, WV. He didn’t regularly attend church as a child until he gave his life to Jesus at the age of 13. God called Austin to preach when he was just 14 years old, and he spent his teenage years preaching at various churches and youth events throughout West Virginia. He and Rebekah (who is a pastor’s daughter from Stonewood, WV) met at church camp when they were 15 and quickly became best friends. Austin joined the Army National Guard at the age of 17 and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom immediately after graduating high school. In 2008, Austin moved to Southwest Ohio to attend Cedarville University, where Rebekah was a student. Austin majored in Pastoral Studies with a minor in Missions and a minor in Bible. Rebekah majored in Comprehensive Bible with a minor in Church History and a minor in Creative Writing. Eventually, the best friends became a couple. Austin proposed at church camp at the foot of the cross, where they had met exactly five years earlier. They were married at the foot of the same cross in 2010. They moved back to West Virginia after college graduation in 2012 and have been pastoring within their home state ever since. They are the proud, adoptive parents of twin girls. Austin was ordained as an elder in the Free Methodist Church in 2015. He is currently completing his Master of Divinity degree through Regent University School of Divinity. Festival of Hope is run by a board of directors and is funded solely by donations, which are tax deductible when given through the Congregational Missionary Church in Stonewood, West Virginia, where Austin serves as associate pastor.
