Greg Ralston

Senior Pastor

Pastor Greg Ralston came to Colorado Springs 11 years ago with a vision for a new church. That vision was to create a church that is welcoming of all people, is accepting of people who have a past, and would allow people who have had negative experiences with Christians to find healing and start over in their Christian faith.

Without knowing it, God had been preparing him for this type of ministry for some time. God called Greg to ministry when he was only 19 years old. While God did not speak to him in an audible voice, Greg knew beyond a doubt after an especially profound devotional time one evening that God wanted him to be a minister.

God began to place in Greg a love for seeing people who had been “playing church” vs. really getting right with God.

For over 9 years he served as the Associate Pastor at Northwest Covenant Church in Mt Prospect IL, ministering to teenagers and their families. It is the task and call of any youth minister to make sure that the young people who are in their church, many or most who have come there all their lives, come to a place of owning their faith in Christ as their very own; not riding on the faith of their parents, but really following Jesus because they want to.

Upon coming to Colorado Springs, God placed in Greg a vision for a church that takes people from their place of being distant from God, and calls people to come closer; maybe for the first time, maybe coming as their second or even third time to a place of renewed faith in Christ.

Several years ago Greg chose 2 Corinthians 5:17 as his life verse. It says “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.” This translated into the theme at Living Hope: “We are a great place to start or start over.”

Living Hope is a place where people can come and begin again. The strength of Living Hope is that its people are welcoming of people - no matter what their past. We encourage people to ask their questions regarding faith during our “sermon talk back” class. We allow people to vent about their past experiences with churches or with Christians who have soured them on the Christian faith.

Greg and his wife Patty have been married for 28 years. Together they have enjoyed their two daughters Suzanne and Angie, now grown and off to college.

Greg attended the Mid America Nazarene College in Olathe, KS where he received a BA in Sociology. He then attended Central Baptist Seminary before completing his Masters in Divinity from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago.