The Hope College, Inc. · Est. 2026
Formed to serve. Sent to lead.
From knowing Jesus to living like Him.
Our Story
Why The Hope College exists.
The local church is not where ministry graduates go to serve. It is where ministers are born. The Hope College, Inc. was founded on that conviction — and on the belief that the next generation of leaders deserves an institution built around it.
Most ministry training options ask students to leave their church, take on debt, and spend years in an academic environment disconnected from the people they are called to serve. The Hope College was built to be a different kind of institution. Formation happens in community. Ministry is practiced, not merely studied. And no Scholar should begin their calling already burdened by debt.
At The Hope College, knowledge is the beginning. Formation is the point. We are raising up love bearers — ministers formed in the likeness of Christ, equipped to defend the faith, and sent to serve the local church.
The Distinctive
From knowing Jesus to living like Him.
Brand Statement
At The Hope College, knowledge is the beginning — formation is the point.
Motto
Docere Illos Qui Alios Docere — “To teach those who teach others” — 2 Timothy 2:2
Tagline
A Farm Team for the Future of the Church.
Institutional Identity
Mission. Vision. Distinctive.
Mission
The Hope College, Inc. exists to form, equip, and deploy the next generation of leaders the local church needs.
Vision
We are raising up love bearers — ministers formed in the likeness of Christ, equipped to defend the faith, and sent to serve the local church.
The Distinctive
From knowing Jesus to living like Him.
Core Values
Five convictions. In the tradition of the Reformation.
Sola Scriptura
Scripture Alone
The Bible is the inspired, authoritative, and sufficient Word of God. Every course, every conversation, and every formation decision at The Hope College begins and ends here.
Sola Formatio
Formation Alone
We are not transferring information. We are building ministers. Formation is relational, accountable, and whole-person. What a Scholar becomes matters as much as what they know.
Sola Apologia
Apologia Alone
A minister who cannot defend what they believe will not hold the ground they are given. We train Scholars to think rigorously, engage honestly, and carry their faith with intellectual confidence in any room.
Sola Ecclesia
The Church Alone
The local church is not a ministry venue. It is God’s chosen instrument for the redemption of the world. Everything we teach, every Scholar we send, every partner we serve — it all goes back to the local church.
Sola Integritas
Integrity Alone
The New Testament qualifications for ministry are almost entirely about who a person is. Credentials matter. But a life that contradicts the doctrine it teaches is disqualified — and we hold that standard for our Scholars, our Faculty Fellows, and ourselves.
Governance
Board of Regents
The Hope College, Inc. is governed by a five-member Board of Regents. The board provides fiduciary oversight, governance authority, and institutional accountability. Faculty Fellows are appointed by the Chancellor and approved by the Board — but governance and academic roles are kept separate by design.
Trevón Gross, PhD
Chairman & Chancellor
Trevón Gross, PhD, is the founder and Chancellor of The Hope College, Inc. and the founding pastor of Hope Cathedral in Jackson, New Jersey. He brings more than 35 years of pastoral ministry experience and a sustained commitment to developing leaders for the local church.
Dr. Gross holds a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Regent University, with a concentration in Ecclesial Leadership, and a Master of Theological Studies from Duke University. His undergraduate formation in Religious Studies and Classics established the linguistic and textual foundation he carries into the classroom — including academic competency in Biblical Hebrew and Koiné Greek. His doctoral dissertation — *Examining Agape and its Leadership Implications: A Sociorhetorical Analysis of 1 Corinthians 13 and Philemon* — examined how love-based leadership transforms organizations and communities.
Since 2015, Dr. Gross has served as an adjunct professor at Pillar College, teaching Bible Survey, Psalms and Wisdom Literature, and Church History. He serves as the primary instructor for the Biblical Language Companion Track in The Hope College School of Ministry.
As founder of The Hope College, Dr. Gross designed the institution’s full curriculum architecture — 28 modules integrating theological formation, apologetics, and biblical languages across two credential tracks. His research interests include agape leadership, organizational behavior, and the intersection of theology and leadership.
Hope Cathedral, under his leadership, has grown into a thriving multicultural congregation with community outreach extending into addiction recovery, transitional housing, and family counseling.
Dr. Raymond Banks Sr.
Regent
Dr. Raymond Banks is the founding pastor of Open Door Church Ministries in Chicago, Illinois, where he has built a ministry rooted in theological integrity and servant leadership.
Dr. Banks holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, a Master of Arts in Theology from Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, and a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. At United, he was among the final class of Proctor Fellows, completing doctoral work under the direct mentorship of the late Dr. Samuel D. Proctor — one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished voices in homiletics and pastoral theology.
Ordained as an Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. Banks has served congregations across Maryland over more than three decades of vocational ministry. His formation as a leader spans both church and institution: he has served as an educator, athletic coach, labor relations director, and senior personnel officer in the public school systems of Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
Dr. Banks brings to The Hope College a rare combination of earned theological credentials, sustained pastoral experience, and institutional leadership at scale.
Thomas Bradley Sr.
Regent
Thomas Bradley Sr. serves as Campus Pastor of Hope Cathedral in Jackson, New Jersey, bringing 37 years of education leadership and pastoral service to the Board of Regents of The Hope College, Inc.
Mr. Bradley holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Glassboro State College and completed graduate studies in Educational Leadership at Jersey City University. He retired in 2025 after a 37-year career as a history teacher with the Jackson Township Board of Education, where he taught United States History and developed and taught Multicultural Studies — a curriculum emphasizing diverse cultural perspectives and global citizenship.
In ministry, Mr. Bradley has served Hope Cathedral for over a decade, beginning as a Minister in 2013, advancing to Senior Associate Pastor in 2021, and currently serving as Campus Pastor since 2025.
His decades of experience in curriculum development, instruction, and mentoring high school students bring a distinctive educator’s perspective to the governance and formation work of The Hope College.
Harold Woodland
Treasurer
Harold Woodland brings more than 30 years of executive leadership in technology, organizational management, and ministry governance to the Board of Regents of The Hope College, Inc.
Mr. Woodland holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Morgan State University. His professional career has spanned senior roles at Lucent Technologies, Avaya Inc., and General Dynamics Information Technology, where he led large-scale strategic initiatives, multidisciplinary teams, and complex technology implementations. He is a published author in the Bell Laboratories Technical Journal and holds a U.S. patent in communications technology.
As founder and principal consultant of Woodland Technologies, he has provided strategic planning, technology implementation, and organizational development services to small and medium-sized organizations. His work at Edgenics, Inc. as Vice President of Research and Development included directing the development of a distance-learning platform serving thousands of students — experience directly relevant to The Hope College’s formation model.
In ministry, Mr. Woodland serves as an Elder on the Hope Cathedral Board of Elders and as Church Management System Administrator. He was licensed as a Deacon in 2010 and as a Minister in 2021.
Clive Williams
Secretary
Clive Williams brings over 20 years of executive leadership in environmental compliance, operations management, and enterprise IT systems to the Board of Regents of The Hope College, Inc.
Mr. Williams holds an engineering background from the City University of New York and studied Chemistry and Biology at Kingsway Princeton College of London. He currently serves as Chief Technology Officer and Director of Operations and Health & Safety at Lewis Consulting Group, where he leads environmental consulting operations and IT infrastructure across major projects throughout New Jersey. He holds certifications including the USEPA AHERA Asbestos Building Inspector, Management Planner, and Project Designer credentials, along with NJDOH Lead Inspector/Risk Assessor and NJDEP Radon Measurement Technician licenses.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Williams served as Vice President of Systems and Communications at Wall Street Access in New York, where he designed disaster recovery systems and maintained business continuity for enterprise trading floor operations.
In ministry, Mr. Williams serves on the Board of Elders at Hope Cathedral and as a Board Member for Hope House for Our Families in Woodstown, New Jersey.
Institutional Facts
A legally incorporated institution with a clear mission.
The Hope College, Inc. is a nonprofit institution incorporated in the State of New Jersey, organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Legal Name
The Hope College, Inc.
EIN
42-2504500
Incorporated
May 12, 2026 — State of New Jersey
Address
46 Bennetts Mills Road, Jackson, NJ 08527
Website
thehopecollege.com
Tax Status
501(c)(3) application pending — IRS Form 1023 filed
Founding Program
School of Ministry — Launching September 2026
Founding Partner Church
Hope Cathedral — Jackson, New Jersey
Join the Fellowship
The founding cohort launches September 2026.
Applications are open for both tracks. Cohort size is limited. No debt. No barriers. Just the call.