our story
YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A TOWN BUILT ON A HILL CANNOT BE HIDDEN.
MATTHEW 5:14
Renewing Management was born in 2003 when founder Ethan Fernhaber took out a $20,000 home equity line of credit to purchase a double-wide in one of the poorest counties in Indiana and turned it into a rental property. From double-wide to single-family, duplex, 4-plex, 9-plex, and soon he acquired his first multi-family apartment community. Ethan eventually accomplished his worldly goals for asset accumulation only to find it a deceptive mirage. Thankfully, God changed his heart and his priorities and gave him freedom through surrender. These days, Ethan sees his businesses as an opportunity to restore hope in hearts and lives. Renewing Management now focuses not just on the operation of its 4,000+ apartment units, but on bringing physical, vocational, emotional and spiritual health to both residents and employees.
Desiring more transformational impact, in 2019 the nonprofit Renewing Communities was started. Renewing Communities focuses on bringing hope to Renewing Management residents, employees and neighbors by helping people cultivate relationships, activate their gifts and abilities and celebrate the differences and beauty in each person.
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Key to Ethan's personal transformation (and the mission of his businesses) was his family's involvement in a local church that boldly proclaimed itself to be "a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints." Believing that no one was beyond the reach of real-life transformation, Josh Husmann, Justin Davis, and Ethan created Multiply Indiana - a church planting network - in 2017. Multiply has helped start 20+ churches in the state of Indiana with more new churches planted each year. Multiply equips churches who share this vision for state-wide unity and hope through a relationship with Jesus and created the March for a Million movement that brings thousands together for worship and prayer annually. Together, Multiply Indiana churches aim to impact 1,000,000 people in the state of Indiana with the life-changing love of Jesus by the year 2050.
In 2019 Ethan and several other leaders in the real estate sector began dreaming about how to create housing for those in working households who could not afford the generational stability that home ownership affords. They imagined tradespeople completing multiple construction processes simultaneously inside a factory to accelerate the time-table of construction, thus making home ownership attainable to average people. Along with this vision came the desire to impact people lacking hope, and including those coming out of incarceration in the workforce. In 2021 Volumod was born, and with the acquisition of a large factory on the Far Eastside of Indianapolis, Indiana, Renewing Management and Renewing Communities moved their headquarters to the remodeled building.
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However, the square footage of the property was greater than needed. Ethan and other Far Eastside business and community leaders began to consider ways that the extra space could be used to benefit the community. Scarce resources, neglect, and a lack of viable economical opportunities had left gaping holes in what once was a thriving neighborhood on the Far Eastside. The residents, mostly Black and Brown people, over generations, lost hope, which led to widespread despair, frustration, violence and crime. Working to address these issues, the extra space became P30 - a coworking and office space, event space, and community center - and launched in 2022.
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Also in 2022, Sentinel Communities - a private security company - was founded, believing that physical security is key to emotional and spiritual transformation. Operated by a detective and staffed with off-duty officers, Sentinel has reduced crime and improved safety in Renewing Management communities around the state.
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With this rapidly expanding portfolio of distinct business and nonprofit endeavors, the leaders of these organizations sought to streamline the management processes and cohesively equip this family of organizations that individually and together provided hope for so many in Indiana and beyond. The idea for an executive-level management group who would Equip, Lead and Impact these organizations and retain the distinct DNA of hope and transformation led to the founding of Helix33 in 2023.
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Helix's principals all passionately embrace the model of transforming hope and blend unique and counterbalancing gifting to the Helix leadership team. Together they provide high-level and practical oversight to the organizations and safeguard the specific impact-based cultures into the future.