Pastor Brandon & Kahla Wilbur
Pastor Brandon Wilbur currently serves as the lead pastor of the New Hope Church of God in Alliance, Ohio. He took over as the lead pastor in 2017 after working as the Associate Pastor and Worship Leader for New Hope since 2006.
“I believe in the message that Jesus taught us. The thing that Jesus called us to pray for. And that is the message of the ‘kingdom of heaven.’ Jesus said pray “that My kingdom would come, and My will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” New Hope’s mission statement is ‘His kingdom, is greater, than our culture.’ At New Hope we confront the culture of today with kingdom principles. And by teaching kingdom principles we are seeing the culture in our homes, schools and community changed by the power of Jesus. Today’s culture talks about, ‘living out your truth.’ At New Hope we teach ‘The Truth’ that is in Jesus Christ.”
Brandon and Kahla have been married since 2004. Kahla works as nurse but also serves as a Kidz Konnection teacher. Their oldest son, Anthoni, is an engineering student but also serves as the drummer on the worship team and the lead on the media team and their daughter, Allie, is a nursing student, and serves as a Kidz Konnection teacher.
Before coming to New Hope, Pastor Brandon served as a Youth Pastor and Worship Leader for the Massillon Church of God. Brandon is a credential minister with the Church of God based out of Cleveland, Tennessee. And serves as the local police chaplain.
Pastor Brandon currently resides in Massillon, OH with his wife Kahla.
If you are interested in having Pastor Brandon, come and minister. Please fill out this form and someone will get back to you.
Scott & Michelle Hurford
Scott and Michelle Hurford have been married since 1990 and have two amazing sons, Michael and Brad, and are the proud grandparents of Ethan and McKenzie. They both were born and raised in Alliance where they also raised their family.
Michelle has been the Secretary/ Treasurer for New Hope since 2017 and is the head the Women’s Ministry as well. They have both been involved in several ministries in their 17 years at New Hope including Kids Ministry, Outreach, Sound, Worship and Youth Ministry.
Stephen & Angela Kozma
Stephen and Angela were married in 1995. They have two children Autumn (Austyn) and Lucas. They moved to Lake Milton in 2002 and built their home where they raised their family.
Stephen serves as a Deacon and Usher for New Hope. Stephen is an Electrical Contractor; he started his business, Kozma Electric with his brother in 1997. Their son Lucas has joined the business after graduating high school. Angela works with our children’s ministry at New Hope. Angela began her banking career in 2004 and is now an Assistant Manager at the Rootstown location.
Both Stephen and Angela enjoy outdoor activities; boating, kayaking and motorcycling. Stephen loves working in his garage on his cars. Angela is an avid reader and loves being creative in her studio.
Carl & Carol Tkacs
Carl is a Deacon and an Usher while Carol is our Hope Food Pantry Director. They love people and work hard to feed the hungry and needy of our community and surrounding areas. Carl also helps with the upkeep of the grounds of the church building. He has a woodworking business making cutting boards, tables, lamps out of unique antiques and various other projects. Their heart is compassion ministry and outreach evangelism.
Eric Minich
Eric is our Worship Leader who loves music and has written several of his own praise and worship songs. His wife Judy plays keyboard and sings helping with worship part time. They have 3 kids, Andrew, Erica and Evan along with 3 grandchildren.
Pastors Jimmy & Krystal Massie
Pastors Jimmy and Krystal joined our team as Youth Pastors in August of 2025.
Jimmy and Krystal have been married since 2009. They have two boys, James and Elijah, who are very active in the youth group and LOVE soccer! Pastor Jimmy shares the same passion for soccer as he enjoys being a referee for soccer games/tournaments all over the Akron/Canton area and has also coached for many years. Krystal can always be seen cheering them all on and loves to play board games.
Before coming to New Hope, Jimmy and Krystal served as Lead Pastors at Tree of Life COG in East Liverpool since 2019. Assignments prior to that include serving as Youth Pastors at Green Family Worship Center from 2012 – 2015 and Young Adult Pastors at Arlington Avenue COG from 2016 – 2019. Jimmy and Krystal are both credentialed ministers in the Church of God based out of Cleveland, Tennessee and in addition, Jimmy currently serves on the Ohio Church of God State Youth Board.
Jimmy and Krystal currently reside in Canton.