It all started with a prayer. Alone in the 4KIDS office the week after Christmas, Joel Ceballos looked at the words Hope, Homes, and Healing written on the wall and asked God, “How can we bring hope to kids who have experienced trauma?” 

The next morning, God gave him a global vision to help families find real and lasting hope through God’s Word and to equip them to address the trauma their children have experienced.  

A month later, God confirmed this vision by quickening the heart of Kevin Enders, former President of 4KIDS. After praying at the staff retreat, Kevin confirmed with Joel the need to get the Word of God into the hearts of our kids in crisis. 

Knowing that this vision could only be accomplished by partnering with others, we reached out to OneHope—co-creators of the Bible App for Kids on YouVersion. OneHope generously offered its ministry design process. Mat John, 4KIDS’ COO, and Shelley Baker, VP of Growth, joined Joel in strategy sessions at OneHope.  

Quickly after we forged a strategic alliance with Buckner, FaithBridge, and Olive Crest—leading foster care and family ministries—to join us in this mission. With insights from 4 years of focus groups with parents served by these ministries, we began developing a set of short, fun-filled activities called Everyday Moments™. Parents from Maui, Hawaii to Bangor, Maine spoke into and tested these trauma-informed, intentional moments. 

HopeConnect now also partners with CAFO, Focus on the Family, and OneHope to expand the reach to parents across the US, and all Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.   

Since 2022, HopeConnect™ has provided Everyday Moments™ and free training to over 200,000 families. We are excited to offer Thrive™—a weekly parenting blog and other resources created by parenting experts from the 4KIDS EPIC Clinical Services team. These cost-free tools help parents bring healing and hope to their kids.  

And now under the leadership of Andrew Holmes, 4KIDS President, the vision is expanding to more continents. Partner with us today: info@hopeconnect.org