Passionate, driven, and humorous are three words that describe the preaching style of Center of Hope’s senior pastor, Geremy Dixon.
He has effectively utilized the gifts that God has given him to dissect and deliver the word to his congregation in a creative way, thus making him one of the most sought-after speakers for churches, conferences, and conventions.
The history of Center of Hope, formerly known as First Church of God, dates back to 1892.
The church grew under the leadership of Pastor Benjamin F. Reid. In 1996, after 25 years of service, Reid retired as senior pastor. Dr. Gregory L. Dixon, then executive pastor, was elevated to senior pastor and in June of 2002, he was consecrated as bishop.
For 16 years, Dr. Dixon served as senior pastor until his passing in April of 2012. After his death, the congregation voted his son, Geremy, as the new senior pastor.
Recently, The Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper caught up with Pastor Geremy to discuss his vision for the church and building upon his heritage.
Center of Hope has thrived in the city of Inglewood, thanks to Dr. Dixon and all of the people who groomed and prepared Pastor Geremy to serve his congregation, making him a true testament to his father’s legacy.
“My father struggled, he labored hard in his ministry. I watched him. It was hard for him, but he did with grace, poise, love and diplomacy,” said Pastor Geremy.
“I believe the little bit of progress and blessing that we are seeing now is because I am able to harvest what my father has sown. So, I am happy about where our church is and where it is going.”
As an Inglewood native, Pastor Geremy believes in reaping the bounty that his father had sown into the ministry and community. The congregation does that through presentation, generosity, care and community involvement by sharing their time and finances.
The church has also partnered with local organizations such as Claris Health, Teen Challenge, Habitat for Humanity, Forgotten Children Inc., and parts of South Africa to fulfill its motto, “Closer to people, closer to God.”
“I believe if we get close to people, if we really do possess what we say we possess, it’s going to get on them,” he said.
As a husband to First Lady Adrienne Dixon, and a father of four children, Kennedy, Micah, Roman, and Jordyn, Pastor Geremy understands the importance of family and investing in youth.
With this in mind, the church has partnered with Azusa Pacific University to award selected students who reside in Inglewood an opportunity to attend the university on a full scholarship. The church also offers other scholarships of various amounts.
In addition, the church holds annual community events throughout the year to provide a safe place for families.
Since being officially installed in October 2012, Pastor Geremy has made many changes to build on the church’s 100 years of great heritage.
First, the church transitioned from choirs and to a worship team. Next, they tackled the traditional method of giving tithes and offerings. Instead of having the ushers traverse the sanctuary to collect donation, the church uses the mobile app, “Push Pay” and installed boxes on the wall for members to insert their offering during or after service.
Lastly, Center of Hope shortened and changed the order of its service, went from pews to chairs, and began live streaming its church services online.
“The church was giving, people were attending, and the church was growing,” said Pastor Geremy.
“Younger families and younger singles, different nationalities… we just started to see the fruit of the labor.”
The church also has a larger contingency of laypeople joining the ministerial staff to conduct visitations, care calls, and checking in on congregants.
By far, the most fulfilling parts about his job is seeing the word of God impacting the unbelievers who come into the church and watching them come to the faith. Equally, the most fulfilling part of his job is working with the congregation and ministry team to help shape the faith of children and watching that faith develop.
Although Pastor Geremy recently celebrated his pastoral anniversary, the work he and his team are doing is just the beginning.
Visit www.go2hope.com for information on church events, church services, and all of the exciting things that are in store for the church in 2018!