Harvest Notes

Harvesters,

I wanted to share a word about the earthquake in Haiti.

First, I know many of you are praying for the people of Haiti and for those who are affected by the earthquake there. Please continue to pray for the victims and their families. As you are praying, will you please also pray for wisdom for our Disaster Relief Missionaries as they assess and monitor the situation and as responses to this tragedy are initiated.

Second, many of you will be moved to give financially for relief efforts in Haiti. I would encourage you to do so through our International Mission Board Relief Fund. While there are many agencies that will be doing fine work for the people of Haiti, gifts given through our mission agencies will provide relief in the name of Christ and open many opportunities for gospel witness among the Haitian people and others doing disaster relief work. While at this time we won’t be taking up a special offering, if you would like to make a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund, you may do so by giving an additional designated gift in our regular church offering. (You may mark your gift on your offering envelope by writing “Haiti Relief” and the amount you wish to give, or make a check out to Harvest and in the memo write “Haiti Relief”)

Thank you for being a praying, giving, going church. Let us continue to glorify God and make His Son known throughout the world to this generation.

Blessings,
Pastor Todd

The following was my pastor’s article for the October newsletter. Given the importance of prayer, I wanted to post this again here and ask for your continued prayers for Chris and I…

As a pastor, one of the greatest encouragements is to hear the words “I’m praying for you.” Truly, one of the great blessings of being a pastor is knowing that prayers are being lifted up on your behalf. Often, people ask how they can be praying for me. While there are particular needs that I have from time to time, here are some prayers for your pastors that are always in season:

Pray that we stay vitally connected to the Lord in our personal devotion. Like everyone else, the tendency for people is to drift. Pray that we would maintain a constant fellowship with the Lord, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment.

Pray for the growth of your pastors. Pray that we will continue to grow spiritually, to grow in wisdom and maturity, to grow in knowledge of the things of God, and most of all to grow in Christ-likeness. Pray that we will never be satisfied where we are but continue to “press on toward the goal.”

Pray that we live and minister in total dependence on the Lord. It would be very easy to attempt to do the work to which God has called us in our own strength. Pray that we would rely on God to work through us as we are obedient to his call. Pray that we would minister in the strength God provides and not attempt to do things on our own.

Pray for godly wisdom as we lead. Pastors need the Lord’s wisdom as they lead in setting the direction of the church, prepare messages and teachings from God’s word, deal with conflict, minister to people in need, lead the church in evangelistic outreach, and serve as administrators of the church. Pastors need the wisdom that only God can provide. Pray that God would give us that wisdom.

Pray that we would be shielded from spiritual attack. Pastors are on the front lines of spiritual warfare. The devil has his eye on pastors to lead them into sin and disobedience to God, keep them discouraged and defeated, and keep them occupied with distractions. Pastors are often under spiritual attack. Pray that the Lord would protect us from the evil one.

Pray for their marriage and families. Ministry can be stressful not only to pastors, but also to their wives and families. Pray that your pastors will make their wife and children a priority as their first ministry. Pray that God will strengthen their marriage relationship and protect their families.

There are many ways you can pray for pastors. These are just a few. Please know that your prayers for us are important and used of God on our behalf. Please know also how much we appreciate knowing that you are praying for us. Thank you for continuing to lift up Chris and I and our families in prayer.

Blessings,

Pastor Todd

Christmas is coming (as if you didn’t know). There is a great deal of excitement that surrounds this yearly holiday. Christmas decorations appear in the stores sometime in late October and the anticipation continues to build up to the night when Santa Claus arrives. I remember as a child being so excited the night before, that I thought I would never fall asleep and when I finally did, my eagerness for Christmas woke me up at about 5am. As a grown-up, the anticipation comes with a “to-do” list that rivals Santa’s “naughty/nice” list. The parties, TV specials, shopping, Christmas cards, music, decorations, Christmas trees, parades, more shopping, and everything else adds to the excitement. Every year, my wife finds me the perfect gift about three days after Thanksgiving and is so excited about her purchases, she wants me to open them as soon as she wraps them. Every Christmas the anticipation builds. Every Christmas we attempt to out-do the last one. Every Christmas we pull out all the stops. It truly is an exciting time of year.

If you’ve made it this far, you are probably expecting the traditional preacher’s plea. This is where I’m supposed to remind you: “Don’t forget the ‘Christ’ in Christmas” and that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” Of course, these are valid statements that need to be heard. I do not think, however, that the majority of Christians have forgotten the meaning of Christmas. We’ve just lost our excitement about it. We’ve gotten so into the festive activities that surround the holiday, that the celebration of Christ’s birth becomes one more thing added to our list of things to do. We go to a special service, or read Luke 2 sometime during the day so we can get the religion part checked off the list. Rather than being excited about our faith, it just becomes another aspect of the holiday experience.

This phenomenon is not unique to Christmas, I’m afraid. Too often our Christianity becomes just a “part” of our lives. Religious activities seem like a burdensome and routine obligation, rather than a vibrant part of our faith. When is the last time you got excited about being a Christian? If you have received Christ, you have received salvation and eternal life. That life starts now! As we put Christ as the center of our lives, and build a relationship with Him, our faith will become exciting and alive! We will experience the abundant life Jesus promised. Not a life without trouble; but a life filled with the peace and joy that only come from a relationship with Jesus Christ. This Christmas, get excited about your faith. Make Christ the center of your life. Experience the true joy of Christmas – a relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ!

I. Pray for Harvest Ministries

• Thanksgiving – we’ve had several new families in recent weeks; we have two persons awaiting baptism
• Pray for our Wednesday night visitation efforts – pray for those making visits as we follow up on remaining contacts from the picnic and with visitors to Harvest.
• Wisdom for our building team as we negotiate the possible sale of land and as we plan ahead toward having our own church facility
• Wisdom as we make decisions as a church concerning facilities, outreach ministries, church planting, multi-ethnic ministry, member care, etc.
• Pray for those who do not know Christ in our circles of influence and our community. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel and for many to come to Christ.
• Pray for our pastors that they would stay vitally connected to Christ, lead in His wisdom, and in total dependence on Him.

II. Pray for the Apologetics Conference

• Safe travel for the team
• For all the details of the conference to come together and the event to go off smoothly
• For God to use the conference to strengthen believers in their faith, provide tools for outreach, and answer the questions/objections of those who are seeking

It was great to see several youth in our prayer meeting this week. Hearing young people pray fervently is very encouraging. Praying that our prayer group will continue to grow on Sunday nights. Here are the prayer items for our weekly prayer focus at Harvest.

I. Pray for our outreach/assimilation efforts

• Pray for our Wednesday night visitation efforts – pray for those making visits as we follow up on remaining contacts from the picnic and with visitors to Harvest.
• Pray for the families that have been coming in recent weeks – that they would feel welcome and that we make extra efforts to include them in our fellowship
• Pray for our AWANA kids, new and old, who have not yet come to faith in Christ
• Pray for our pastors as they lead in evangelistic work

II. Prayer for our missionaries:

• Thanksgiving: Thus far, the Christmas in August offering has resulted in 25 wait-listed missionaries to be appointed

• Pray for IMB trustees as they form a search committee to find a new president for the mission board

• The Doyles – TEAM missionaries to Zimbabwe

– Pray that their visas will be renewed without incident
– Pray for them to get needed licenses for driving
– Pray for Ethan and issues related to his hemophelia

• The B***** Family – IMB missionaries to SE Asia
– Pray for Susan as she teaches English to Thai people and shares the gospel with them. Pray that these young adults would come to faith in Christ.
– Pray for “Miss Boom”, a young Christian seeking to share the gospel to fellow Chinese and open her home for a church to be started in her home
– Pray for Tom as he does cultural research to engage the 365 unreached people groups (representing 250 million people) in his region

On Sunday nights at 5 pm, we will be meeting for prayer in room 124. Each week, Pastor Chris and I will bring a specific prayer focus that pertains to things going on at Harvest, missions, or other specific prayer concerns. Here is our prayer focus for this week:

I. Pray for our outreach efforts

• Thanksgiving ­– in the past two weeks seen over 40 people visit harvest, nearly half are unchurched
• Pray for many to be saved as God brings a harvest among those whom we are in contact but are not yet believers
• Pray for those who are going out each week on visitation – that God would empower them and give them boldness and opportunity to share the gospel
• Pray for pastors Todd and Chris as they seek the Lord for wisdom in leading Harvest to reach out to the community with the gospel
• Pray for more laborers in the Harvest to be involved in outreach efforts, to help with AWANA and other ministries as they expand, to be personally involved in evangelism to those around them

2. Pray for our assimilation efforts

• Pray for wisdom for all as we reach out to newcomers
• Pray for willingness to “step out of our comfort zones” and build friendships with outsiders
• Pray that people would feel welcome at Harvest and become a part of our Fellowship

3. Prayer for your personal commitment to evangelism

• Lord, give me a BURDEN for those who do not know Christ. Give me Your heart for lost people.
• Lord, give me OPPORTUNITY to share a gospel witness with those who do not know you
• Lord, give me BOLDNESS when the opportunity comes so that I may share the gospel without fear or hesitation

Please continue to lift these items to the Lord in prayer as we seek to be used of God in His harvest work.

Blessings,

Pastor Todd