ABOUT HOPE61

HOPE61 mobilizes the church around the world to stop all forms of human trafficking. Our trainers help churches worldwide use the talents, abilities, and resources they already have to prevent human trafficking by addressing vulnerabilities that lead to trafficking. The local church has a unique opportunity and responsibility to address vulnerability in its community. HOPE61 offers two levels of training for local churches, ENGAGE and MULTIPLY. At its core, HOPE61 is an evangelism and discipleship catalyst aimed directly at those who are vulnerable to becoming involved in human trafficking.

Darren Sweeney serves as the global director for HOPE61. In this role, he provides executive level oversight, strategic direction, and vision casting for the worldwide ministry. He is passionate about people finding freedom in Christ and the eradication of the evil that is human trafficking. Darren and his wife, Sherilyn, were accepted as One Mission Society missionaries in 2015. After serving in Mozambique for a year with their three daughters, the family returned to the United States, and Darren joined the HOPE61 team as the global training manager, a position in which he served for two years. He and his family are based in Sequim, Washington.

Tonya Overton serves as the associate director of HOPE61. She oversees the worldwide operations for HOPE61, including the development and translation of all HOPE61 curriculum and communication materials. After Tonya met the founder of HOPE61, Joyce Oden, in 2011, she knew right away that she had to do something to impact the issue of human trafficking. She was accepted, along with her husband Tom, as a missionary with One Mission Society in January 2012. Tonya resides in Greenwood, Indiana, with her family.

Tresor was born in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, where he grew up through wars and instability. In 2004, he moved to the U. S. to attend Evangel University and earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership. Tresor is the founder and president of Mwangaza International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the vulnerable people of the DRC. Tresor became a HOPE61 trainer in 2015. He has written two books, “Journey to the Heart of Darkness: Remembering Congo’s Forgotten” and “A Handful of Rice.” He lives in Kinshasa, DRC.

E.C. conducts HOPE61 trainings across northern Haiti.

*Name omitted for security.

E.D. conducts HOPE61 trainings across northern Haiti.

*Name omitted for security.

E.P. conducts HOPE61 trainings across central and southern Haiti.

*Name omitted for security.

Debbie educates and raises awareness to prevent human trafficking as a training supervisor to Haiti for HOPE61. Debbie coaches, disciples, supports, and invests in the lives of the national trainers in Haiti to reduce the vulnerabilities within their communities that lead to human trafficking. Prior to working with HOPE61, Debbie worked with Men for Missions, also a ministry of One Mission Society, leading short-term mission trips to Haiti to help with the Homes for Haiti project after the devastating 2010 earthquake there. She is a gifted artist, and she enjoys spending time with her family, including her five grandchildren; laughter; hiking; and fishing.

Imogen serves as a HOPE61 trainer in New Zealand, where human trafficking is usually unheard of. In this role, she is raising awareness and facilitate HOPE61 ENGAGE trainings. She is a strong believer in God’s children living in freedom and wants to do her part in preventing human trafficking. Her primary job is media director for One Mission Society New Zealand. In 2014, she earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood teaching, which grew her passion to help children and families out of the darkness.

Katie and her family serve as One Mission Society missionaries in the South Pacific. She is a wife, mom of three, teacher, and HOPE61 trainer. In 2018, Katie attended HOPE61’s MULTIPLY training, as her heart was breaking for those impacted by human trafficking. She strives to point others to Jesus and shed his light in the prevention of human trafficking through the ministry of HOPE61. Katie holds a degree in elementary education with an endorsement in art K-12, as well as a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in integrating arts in the curriculum.

*Names omitted/changed for security.

Suzannah is a HOPE61 trainer in the South Pacific. She and her family moved there in 2015. Suzannah also volunteers at the TCK (third-culture kid) school. Suzannah grew up as an OMS missionary kid in Ecuador and Mexico. She graduated from Asbury University in 2006, where she studied English literature and theatre and cinema performance. She and her husband have three children.

*Names omitted/changed for security.

Allann is Brazilian and went to Spain to play soccer. After many closed doors, he attended a missions school, where he felt God calling him to become a missionary and use soccer to bring men closer to Jesus. Stephy is a missionary kid born and raised in Spain, who never wanted to become a missionary. They are YWAM missionaries in the north of Spain, and they partner with HOPE61 to train churches in human trafficking prevention in Europe and Brazil. They have two children, and their mission as a family is to fight injustice through holistic Christian ministry.

Charles is a trainer with HOPE61, and he also works with the UMC. His passion and goal is to help prevent human trafficking in Uganda by training churches how to reach out to the vulnerable in their communities. Charles lives in Majanji, Uganda.

Emmanuel is the HOPE61 training supervisor for Uganda. He also continues to facilitate ENGAGE trainings with HOPE61, teaching the church how to prevent human trafficking and, at the same time, to share the love of Christ with those who don’t know him.

As a trainer with HOPE61, Jackie works in Kampala, Uganda, as well as other areas of Uganda. She raises awareness about human trafficking and trains churches how to prevent it in their own communities.

Julius lives in Jinja, Uganda, where he pastors Trinity United Methodist Church and works in 12 districts of Uganda. He also serves as a trainer with HOPE61, helping prevent human trafficking in those areas and creating awareness about it among the people of the communities.

God had given Ronald a vision to stop human trafficking before he attended a HOPE61 training. At that training, he saw the similar vision, and he answered God’s call to serve, preserve, and build up the body of Christ and to win souls for the Lord.

Wilberforce became a HOPE61 trainer because he saw the rampant growth of human trafficking in Uganda and the surrounding regions. As a trainer, he raises awareness and teaches churches how they can help prevent this growing evil. Wilberforce lives in Lumino, Uganda.

Lori has been with One Mission Society since 1999 and joined HOPE61 as a trainer in 2018. Her focus is with churches in the United States, providing training to help them develop a plan to use the talents, abilities, and resources God has given them to reach out to those in their own communities who are vulnerable to trafficking. In addition to her role as a HOPE61 trainer, Lori is also a wife, a mom, and a grandmother.

Paul and Sylvia served in Spain with One Mission Society for 31 years. Since their return to the U.S. in 2015, they have shared about missions and HOPE61 in churches in Arkansas, where they live, and across the U.S., raising awareness about human trafficking and how the local church can help prevent this scourge around the world and in our own backyards.

Rob is a husband, father, entrepreneur, ultra-endurance athlete, and HOPE61 trainer. He attended HOPE61’s MULTIPLY Training in 2018 and hosted trainings in India in January 2020. One of his greatest passions is raising awareness and building community around important issues. To date, Rob has raised more than $750,000 to support causes, including a 31-mile swim from the U.S. to Canada across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In October 2020, Rob competed in Uberman, known as “the World’s Toughest Ultra Triathlon,” with the goal of raising $50,000 to fight human trafficking. Rob lives in Washington with his wife Kristin and children, Hudson and Kalea.

Tom Overton assumed leadership of HOPE61, a ministry of One Mission Society (OMS), from the ministry’s founder, Joyce Oden, in 2012 and served as the global director until early 2021. He currently serves OMS as the chief operating officer of OMS USA. He holds a master of arts degree in theological studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, and he is a doctoral candidate at Wesley Biblical Seminary. Tom and his wife, Tonya, live with their family in Greenwood, Indiana.

Joyce Oden founded the ministry of HOPE61 in 2010. Joyce and her husband, Bill, pastored churches in the United States for 20 years before God called them to serve with One Mission Society as missionary church planters. Joyce and Bill served with OMS for more than 40 years in the Philippines and several other international and homeland assignments. During those years, Joyce saw instances of human trafficking around the world but never heard the issue discussed in the local church setting. As a lifelong church attender and leader, Joyce knew that the local church needed to have a voice in fighting against human trafficking and founded HOPE61 to accomplish just that. HOPE61 remains committed to equipping local churches all over the world to prevent human trafficking today. Today, the Odens are retired and living in North Carolina.