Hope Carpenter is a pastor, author, wife, and mom. Along with her husband Ron, she pastors Redemption Church in Greenville, South Carolina and San Jose, California. She has also authored two books, The Little Pink Book, and most recently, The Most Beautiful Disaster. When Hope is not helping her husband lead Redemption or spending time with her grandchildren, she often travels to Pakistan, Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Mexico to do missions work under the umbrella of Hope for the Nations. Hope’s heart and passion is seeing people’s lives changed and transformed so that they can be everything God has created them to be.

In my time with Hope, we talk about the masks we wear as humans and how to work toward a different reality in the church and in our relationships. Hope also openly shares about her own story of infidelity and marital struggles, demonstrating what it looks like for leaders to “go first” in sharing their own vulnerabilities. I absolutely loved my conversation with Hope. Her words are so encouraging and filled with so much wisdom. She demonstrates the beauty of vulnerability, the beauty of rock bottom, and reminded me that the goal of following God is not perfection, but freedom.