We had a great weekend at Harvest-Davenport! The church plant pastors from the last two programs have told us that this is the most helpful aspect of training. They were not exaggerating! We spent a significant amount of time with their pastor, Rob Willey, and the elders. They told us their story and were exceptionally generous with advice and resources. Rob’s wife Becky blessed our wives by sharing with them valuable insights about marriage and raising kids in the midst of planting a church. She is a no-nonsense woman and hilarious! We all ate dinner at their home after their Saturday evening service. After dinner, we gathered in the living room and Rob and Becky talked with us all about the family side of being church plant pastors. Rob talked about his daily schedule with work and family and how the elders and staff are committed to protecting these things (i.e. weak marriage, weak ministry). Then we all prayed for about 30 minutes, closing the time on our knees. God answers prayer.
The weekend was very encouraging to me because Harvest-Davenport is simple, committed to the 4 Pillars, and happens to be the largest Harvest church plant with over 2,000 people and only four years old. Rob preaches the Word with boldness and they are VERY committed to prayer. Many lives have changed as the result of Harvest-Davenport and we pray God will do the same for Harvest-Raleigh!
Rob shared with us their joys and their disappointments. He said their core group prayed and worked tirelessly. God provided answers for their bold prayers such as being able to meet at a central high school which previously had been closed to anything Christian. They did an amazing job with assimilation and follow-up, children’s ministry, worship, and preaching (I’ll take care of the preaching!). These are the four components on which we will most heavily focus. We drove away pages of details that will be of immense help.
Mingling with the people, we found each of them to be hungry
for God’s Word and for life change in Quad Cities. We stayed with a great family, the Carrolls,
and laughed with them the entire time we were in their home! The hour before we left to return to
We noticed every home had Harvest Bible Chapel clear
stickers on their door windows. I
mentioned something to one of the couples and she said their neighbors asked if
they are on the publicity team for the church.
We laughed about how the whole church is the publicity team.
It was a great weekend. I'll post some pictures from the weekend when I get a chance.
We are now at Harvest-North Indy and I'm working with Brian White and his team for the week! (I typed this yesterday in the car, so don't think I'm being lazy)! It's been great so far!
mike