The mission of God—the Missio Dei—is all around us. It is a continual process of God reconciling, restoring, and renewing all of creation back unto God’s self.  Here at Highland Oaks we strive to join our creator in this great work.  We want to be a community that comes alongside what God is doing in the world, whether that be in  Singapore, Southeast Asia, our neighborhood here in Dallas, or in our very own hearts. Ultimately, we believe that mission is not something we simply do but it is who we are as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Below are a few ways we join God on mission. Along with these focused efforts, we are a church that understands discipleship as a life-long process of becoming more like Christ where the Missio Dei affects every aspect of our lives. We believe to be a disciple of Jesus is to be on mission with God through the work of the Spirit. 

Mark and Debbie Hooper 

Asia Initiative Director, Missions Resource Network (MRN)

Mark Hooper has been the Asia Initiative Director at Missions Resource Network in Bedford, TX since 2006. Mark and Debbie were missionaries in Bombay (now Mumbai), India in the mid-1980s. They then moved to Henderson, TN where Mark became the Director of Missions and Professor of Bible at Freed Hardeman University until joining MRN. Mark coaches numerous disciple-makers throughout Southeast Asia and with missionaries throughout the region to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to unreached people groups. Mark and Debbie are also a Shepherding Couple at Highland Oaks and we are blessed to partner with them in their ministry. 

Kyle, Rebecca, Emma, and Korban Hooper

Singapore

Kyle and Rebecca Hooper, along with their children Emma Skye and Korban, have been our mission partners since 2014. They spent the first seven and a half years of their time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where they encountered persons of peace who then in turn discipled others. In July 2022, the Hoopers set off to a new destination: Singapore. Highland Oaks and Pasir Panjang Church of Christ have partnered together in their shared vision for disciple-making throughout all Asia, and Kyle will be working directly with Pasir Panjang, mentoring and working with ministry staff, preaching and teaching, as well as helping oversee the numerous mission points Pasir Panjang has throughout Asia.

We are truly blessed to have partnered with the Hoopers for close to a decade. We look forward to our continued work together and a shared vision to see the gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout Asia.

Pilgrimage Experiences and Spiritual Formation Cohorts

Each year, a group of 7-10 Highland Oaks disciples go on pilgrimage in order to encounter God in a new place and through new people. While on pilgrimage, they focus on the work that God does on them while in a different context. Where traditional short-term mission trips are outward facing—what “we” do for “them”—pilgrimages ask disciples to submit to the work of the Spirit in their own soul, asking what can this place and the people we encounter teach us about ourselves and God? Pilgrimages go to Mexico City, Mexico, the DFW area, a U.S.-based location, and Singapore.