RICHMOND (VIRGINIA)
Richmond Magazine
July 8, 2019
By Grady Trexler
Sonny Hoge, the outreach pastor at Celebration Church and Outreach Ministry, stands in the lobby with a multicolored bouquet in hand. It’s the night before Mother’s Day, and he’s handing a carnation to each woman who walks into the gymnasium where the church holds worship services. He’s greeting attendees and asking how their week went.
Every Saturday at 6 p.m., hundreds gather in this former flea market off Midlothian Turnpike for music, Scriptures and prayer. The churchgoers — a racially diverse mix of families and children, young adults, and older people — sit on folding chairs looking up at a stage with a huge sign spelling out “Jesus” in capital letters suspended above. Suits and ties have no place here; most attendees are clad in T-shirts and jeans. A man in a motorcycle jacket weaves through the crowd, shaking hands with everyone he meets.
Hoge’s presence signals a rejuvenation in the life of the church, which had faltered after its charismatic founder’s fall from grace several years ago. Like others drawn in by former pastor Geronimo Aguilar’s compelling vision of a place for people in need of a fresh start to connect with God, Hoge attended a service in 2004 and soon found himself immersed in the church’s mission of reaching out to Richmond’s low-income communities.
“I went one Saturday night, and I was hooked.” —Sonny Hoge, Celebration Church outreach pastor
Nearly a decade later, Aguilar’s arrest on charges of sexual abuse involving 11- and 13-year-old girls in Texas threatened to tear down everything that members such as Hoge had worked so hard to build. Attendance languished, finances dwindled, and Hoge left, unsure that he’d ever return.
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