Spring 2022 Celebrations

All of the above are actual comments from recent first-time guests. Harvest Church, you should be proud of the way you are welcoming people. We celebrate your love!

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. – Jesus

Here are a few other items to cheer about.

Pastor Adam Barton

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Harvest Kids

On Easter, many kids attended and heard about the gospel. Harvest Kids has recently been incorporating a large-group worship setting on Sundays, followed by smaller age-appropriate groups. - Darian Armer, Director of Kids Ministry - Elementary

Orange Conference

The Harvest Kids team went to the Orange Conference in Atlanta to learn new strategies for customizing curriculums for our kids based on group size. One speaker reminded us that each volunteer gets to reflect the love of Jesus on kids and that they are changing lives and families one Sunday at a time." - Alan Skogan, Kids Ministry Coordinator

Serve Spotlight

Anna Mertes was baptized on Easter. She started attending Harvest, joined a small group and began serving in Harvest Kids. She is a beautiful person with a beautiful story. – Claire Herbert, Director of Kids Ministry – PreK

Anna Mertes says volunteering for kids brightens her day. "Serving in Kids Ministry has been very fulfilling. I have learned many Bible stories and lessons with the children. I've seen children's confidence grow not only from when they first arrive and depart that day, but throughout the year. And, I also get to be a kid again by singing, playing, and dancing with them." she said.

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Senior Luncheon

The seniors of the church are near and dear to my heart. After such a long time of not connecting due to COVID, it was important to create a time for them to get together. Everyone brought a favorite dish to share and had a warm time of reconnection. It was a special time we had together. – Joe Windham, Connections Pastor

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Harvest Students

The student worship band recently added three new musicians — Elijah Barton on guitar, Grace Scott on drums, and Keenan Morris on drums. The student worship band members are so good, they led Sunday worship on May 22! – Adam Barton, Associate Pastor

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Global Outreach

Perspectives, the spiritually-rich 15-week study, wrapped up May 17 and was highly attended. During the course, participants learned from numerous guest speakers about God's heart for the world, how he's moved throughout history, and how we can be part of what he's doing today. Attendees participate in immersive experiences such as "Muslim Night," in the photo above. – Lacey Maloney, Global Outreach Project Coordinator

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Dwell Women's Worship

We had more than 200 women worship together at each of our two Dwell events in April. It was so powerful to be reminded that He's dwelling with us and that we can dwell with Him. – Katrina Hickle, Small Groups Coordinator

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Oasis Spruce Up Day

Oasis had a fantastic spruce up day. Despite a windy and chilly day, several families and individuals from Harvest Church showed up and put in volunteer labor to get the aquatic center and surrounding neighborhood looking great and ready to open to the community on June 4. – Chuck Barthuly, Connections Director

👍 161 children were sponsored by Harvest families on Compassion Weekend. 

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👍 5th and 6th graders put together 75 care packages for the homeless.

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👍 Pastor Joe and his wife, Robin, hosted 14 people at the New Guest dinner in April.

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👍 44 Harvest Preschool students shared their memorized Bible verse, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.'"

Fluvial Geomorphology — Big Headwaters News!

Dear Harvest Church Family & Friends,

We will “address the mental health needs in Yellowstone County by pursuing the construction of a building for the Harvest Counseling Center.”

And with that one sentence, and a unanimous vote by the Church Council, Harvest Church is following the redirected flow of the river of blessing God is rushing to our region. You can watch/listen to the eight-minute "annual meeting," and the whole sermon HERE.

By way of brief summary: Headwaters is a two-year, one-fund generosity initiative designed to fund the daily operation of our church as well as a new worship center and repurposed building for children and youth. We concluded the two years in December, but money is still coming in. At the end of the day the total will be about $12 million. That leaves us roughly $4 million for a building that was originally going to cost $9 million. Days before signing papers with our lending agency, the pandemic turned the world, and the economy, upside down. The cost of our building went up $3 million almost overnight. Two years of rising inflation has now raised the cost to $16+ million — a number that is well out of reach for us.

Through many months of prayer, conversation, and debate, the Pastors and Church Council agreed God will be pleased if we acknowledge the new “fluvialgeomorphology” (it’s in the sermon) of the river and use the Headwaters money to address the mental health crisis in our region. God has changed our course and we are just going with the flow.

After nine months of due diligence, the Harvest Counseling Center officially opened in September 2021. We now have an experienced clinical director, three counselors, three offices, and we are planning on more. The architect is rolling, and we will provide more office and learning space as soon as possible.

For some of us, this news is bittersweet. We acknowledge the great need of Christ-centered, biblically-sound, clinically-informed, church-based mental health services, but are grieved that the worship center and kids/youth space we have been longing for and giving to for so long, are not going to be a reality in the near future. If you are mad or sad about that, me too! I get it. As a matter of fact, I will conclude our sermon series, “How To Get Through What You’re Going Through” on February 13 talking about loss and grieving. I’ll share some of my process of the “death of a dream,” and maybe it will be helpful as you grieve too.

If you’re like, “Wait, What?!” I understand, but this email is long enough. The best thing you can do to understand what we think God is doing is to listen to that sermon (FluvialGeomorphology Sermon). If you have comments or questions, you can reply to this email.

Hope to see you soon.

Shalom,