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Our Stories
My family arrived at Harvest on the first Sunday in October, 2002. We haven’t left. Because of frequent moves during my husband’s career with the US Navy, Harvest is the 11th church we have worshiped at in our 18 years of marriage. We’ve seen churches! And we have always been blessed. But at Harvest, we have found a community of believers not like many others. Harvest Community Church is a unique place.
Sometimes, very rarely, I have the opportunity to walk into Harvest and no one else is around. It’s quiet. In those moments, I stop. I breathe deeply. It smells kind of churchy- maybe a little bit dusty, as if you can smell decades of hymn books and old wood and ladies who once came in perfumed and wearing hats. I look around. I can see the richness of the grain in the wood, and the colors and the patterns of the stained glass, and how the light falls in the most unique places. I listen carefully, and I can hear squeaks and creaks and distant murmurs of others somewhere in the building. But I can also, almost, hear the echoes of prayers and hymns and sermons that have gone before.
And then, I blink, and I get back to business, because Harvest is a place where we go about doing God’s business. We seek out the lost. We offer food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and hospitality to the stranger. We weep with those who weep, and cheerfully rejoice with those who rejoice.
I have experienced the joy of learning to serve at Harvest. Serving food- come to Wednesday night dinner, study and prayer, and have your body and your soul fed all in one night. Serving people- I have had the opportunity to drive and clean and paint, to teach and exhort and encourage. Serving the nations- I have been able to teach English to non-native speakers, and serve on short-term missions teams to expand His Kingdom. I have had the privilege of serving the Lord at Harvest.
My family has been well taught at Harvest. We are under Biblical pulpit teaching consistently, week after week. My children are in Sunday school classes that teach Scriptural and doctrinal truths, and emphasize practical application. Our worship is deepened by purposeful music, by hymns with a long history of Scriptural truth. We have become people of prayer at Harvest- both as part of the body in worship and in Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and as individuals, seeking Him out in confession, repentance, thanksgiving, petition, and supplication.
We are loved at Harvest. We all come in as sinners in need of grace. We don’t all look the same. We walk next to folks from all kinds of backgrounds. We are under leadership that cares for us deeply. We find fellowship that is sweet, and a lot of fun! We have friends that love us and hold us accountable. Very simply, the body at Harvest is family.
Harvest Community Church is a community of believers not like many others. Harvest Community Church is a unique place, and we are thankful to be part of it.