Harvest Barrie

Haiti

The earthquake of last January was devastating to the island nation of Haiti. Yet it is really just the latest blow to a country that has faced perpetual instability and poverty.  Since the earthquake, a hurricane, a cholera outbreak and post-election political tension have added to the misery and hardship.

Yet God is at work and there are many of his people in Haiti who are seeking day by day to continue to live for him amidst the nationwide struggle.

After the earthquake, a wave of relief efforts swung into action. As a fellowship of churches, we partnered with the Acts29 Network churches, raising $1.6 million for an effort that would be known as “Churches Helping Churches”. The idea is that while NGO’s, governments, and the U.N. will help rebuild streets, sewers, hospitals and such, there would be no one helping rebuild the churches that were destroyed.

And we, as the church, wanted to be involved in rebuilding churches as well as helping pastors lead those churches in the wake of the disaster.

When we announced the project, you responded in an amazing way, giving close to $20,000 to help churches in Haiti. A portion of that offering was given to two orphanages founded by Dave Lock, a Toronto businessman and member of Harvest Bible Chapel York Region.

On Sunday, December 5, Dave MacDonald and I will have the privilege of travelling to Haiti for five days to survey the work of Churches Helping Churches and the Freedom House orphan homes. In addition, Pastor Paul Whittingstall from HBC York Region, who will also be travelling in the group, and I will be preaching at the “Churches Helping Pastors” conference on Ile de la Gonave off the coast of Haiti on Thursday, December 9.

We are looking forward to serving the people of Haiti in Jesus’ name and on your behalf. Pray for us as we travel, observe, minister, preach and encourage the faithful servants of Christ who are persevering for him in Haiti.

Dave and I look forward to reporting back to the church here in Barrie on Sunday, December 12.

Food Bank

When we moved into our new offices we each were assigned an office with built in desks and cupboards in various kitchen styles.   Mike’s is so retro!  Mine is just classy, without being ostentatious!  We had some stuff lying around from moving and I found a paper bag that was left over from our last collection for the food bank.  I thought it quite entertaining to put it up on my wall as “art” since we didn’t have much at that moment.  It read, “Our cupboards are bare but you can help fill them.”  I would leave my office cupboard doors open so everyone could see how empty they were.  Ha,Ha!

I have taken it down because now we have stuff on the shelves, (and it never was very funny).  We don’t have bare shelves here that should be holding food.  But I know two kinds of places that do.  The Barrie Food Bank’s shelves are bare.  And that means some of the people who depend on them have empty shelves also. 

We are handing out empty paper bags so in November we can change that.  By filling them we can fill the shelves at the Food Bank and in turn the shelves of those who need the food.  We are the ones that can help fill the shelves.  We can bring our filled bags back here each Sunday, drop them off at our office (112 Caplan Avenue) or deliver them directly to the Food Bank.  Perhaps you would consider volunteering there.

The Food Bank was so thankful that we helped out in the middle of the summer.  That can be a hard time for them.  But now they are heading into an even busier season.  Now is the time to make a difference.  Fill up the bag!  Fill up the cupboards!

Roger

Children of Promise Ministries

CHIPROM, in Ibadan, Nigeria, provides ongoing short and long term relief, advocacy and rescue services to children who, in many cases, are struggling just to hold on to each hour and each day.

At the Ibadan Children Transition Home, the average number of children at any particular time is twenty.  Their ages ranges from a day old to fourteen.  The children can be referred by a community leader, pastor or from the Social Welfare departments.  Sometimes, we receive a child through referral by neighbours or the juvenile court system.  The good thing about the composition of the children and our services is that we encourage the high rate of turnover which occurs through adoption or reunification with nucleus family.  To each child that comes into our home there is a different story and history.  Since the challenges that brought these children together differs, we often respond and treat each child differently attending to the most important emotional and physical hurts of each child.

All the children of school age attend school from nursery to high school.  Most of the older children have a routine within the house and they assist the caregivers from time to time.

When invited to churches, the children participate in the service by presenting rhymes, songs and choruses to the congregation.
In all, CHIPROM works hard to find a permanent home for each child within a reasonable time frame.  More children need to be rescued on a daily basis.

To learn more about Children of Promise Ministries, supported by Harvest and led by Harvest members, Dayo and Tinu Idowu, please go to their website and read the latest newsletter online.

Harvest Bible Fellowship Fall Update

In the past two months, 12 new Harvest Bible Chapels have launched. This is an extraordinary thing to be able to report. The Lord has blessed our movement with what are now 62 Harvest locations where the Word is going forth, Christ is being lifted high, and lives are being changed for eternity.

We praise God for this season of abundant fruitfulness, and for the multiple opportunities for planting churches that he continues to open to us.

In North America, new core groups are developing in Baltimore, Maryland; Boise, Idaho; and Tennessee.

Internationally, we are qualifying potential future locations in London, England; Felnac and Ramnicu Valcea, Romania; leading a Harvest U-style training for Metanoia leaders in Oroshaza, Hungary; and overseeing the formal launch of Harvest Metanoia Vienna, Austria.

Launches this month included Harvest Columbus with Luke Ahrens, and Harvest Gianda under elder leadership. At the Columbus launch the Lord moved powerfully, bringing 315 in attendance.

Lastly, a great opportunity from Moody Theological Seminary: MTS is partnering with our Fellowship to offer a 25% discount on all graduate courses (on-site and online) to members of every Harvest Bible Chapel. More information is available by contacting Moody.

We are grateful for your partnership in the Gospel, and we covet your prayers in the decisions ahead. We continue to pray the Lord's abundant and sustaining grace upon you as well.

Harvest Bible Fellowship

HBF: New Developments in Vienna

"Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." John 4:35b

We are humbled and excited to share with you another new development taking place in Harvest Bible Fellowship.

In February 2010, a group of Romanian believers living in Vienna, Austria made a bold step of faith to plant a church. This core group of 14 people longed for something new. Committed to organizing youth conferences in Eastern Europe, this group had previously interacted with Pastor Cristian Barbosu of Arad, Romania. Knowing what God had called Pastor Cristian to in Arad, these families soon connected to explore possible next steps.

In May, the core group visited Harvest Metanoia Arad, Romania to learn about the model and approach of being a church committed to the distinctives of Harvest Bible Chapel. They left renewed in their vision to plant a life-giving, relevant church committed to the Word of God, testimony of Jesus Christ, and the making of disciples.

In June, 27 committed members and another 30 attenders began worshiping together, desiring to become a Harvest Metanoia church.

Since this development, the leaders of Harvest Metanoia churches in Romania have continued to teach, equip and empower this group of believers. Senior pastors from the five existing churches in Romania are preaching and instilling the commitment we share in upholding the pillars of God's Word, worship, prayer, and evangelism while making quality disciples. Materials, curricula, guides and department visions have been imparted.

Currently, the search is on for a senior pastor for this young church.

In October, Kirk VanMaanen, director of international church planting for Harvest Bible Fellowship, will meet in Vienna with the launch team. Our prayer is that this visit will galvanize the mission and initiate the launch of Harvest Metanoia Vienna.

This group of believers fully embrace Harvest Metanoia values and approach to discipleship. Their vision to grow into high-impact services that extend the gospel of grace to both Romanian immigrants in Vienna and native Austrians/Germans, is clear and in motion. We long for the day we are able to announce Vienna among the fellowship of churches called Metanoia.

Pray for:

• The provision of a senior pastor.
• Harvest Bible Fellowship's visit with the launch team in October.
• Unity, clarity and passion among leaders for implementing the core values, distinctive, and approach of Harvest Metanoia.
• The thousands of Romanian immigrants in Vienna to be reached with the good news of Jesus.
• The fulfillment of these believers' vision to transition to a high-impact, church-planting church to reach Austria for Christ.

Churches Helping Churches: Ministering in Leogane and Beyond

“It’s like they were waiting for us. It was a dry land, and we were pouring water on it.”

This was Jacques Louis’ comment to me as we evaluated our time in Léogâne, the city nearest to the epicenter of the earthquake.  From September 2 to 4, pastors and church leaders from a wide range of denominations showed up, and they were on-time everyday. (This does not happen all that often here.)

Our meeting site was dark and poorly vented. The STEP faculty, who took more ownership of the teaching this time around, and I were constantly making eye contact and shaking our heads at the unbearable conditions. And when Haitians say, “It’s hot,” it is indeed sweltering. Every shirt in that room was drenched.

Yet, none of the attendees complained. As we taught on crisis, the emphasis was on the personal healing of the pastor first, then to their congregation. These men and women quickly embraced this vision and were unusually hungry for God’s truth. They were unphased in their learning, frantically jotting down notes and asking to repeat key phrases. In our Q&A sessions, they were looking for coaching on current, hands-on struggles. As we equipped them with Biblical responses to shed light on their situation, they were so grateful for each answer. I felt terrible each time I had to end the session.

A major component of this retreat is the mutual ministry to one another. We give them a vision for small groups and coach them daily throughout the conference. During a morning huddle, one small group leader said, “We have never seen this (small groups) before. We ask a question, and it’s like a free ride! I will continue this in my ministry after the conference.” When I asked if any others were planning on implementing small groups in their churches as a follow-up, they responded in vehement agreement. (Special thanks to Pastor Mike Wilkerson of Mars Hill Church in Seattle for his instrumental leadership in small group architecture for this retreat.)

I've been overwhelmed with the gratitude for these retreats – gratitude for one another and most of all, gratitude to “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 2:4).

Churches Helping Churches

God's faithfulness to Harvest Bible Chapel Metanoia Arad

Metanoia Arad is a community of believers who fully experience God and want to live in a dynamic and genuine way to lift high the name of Jesus...

On a continent where hundreds of churches are closing each year due to the lack of believers, this church is growing by an average of 100 members annually. Every weekend 600 adults and 140 children worship at Metanoia Arad (with approximately 500 meeting in over 50 small groups). Three services every weekend are not enough to keep from overfilling their auditorium seating; lack of space has been a primary issue for the past few years.

Enter prayer and fasting... Metanoia believers were rotating through a fast every day for three years and seeking the Lord fervently because there were no visible options; nothing existed in Arad to meet their worship needs. Then in the fall of 2009, after looking at more than thirty properties, the Lord provided a two-acre piece of land adjacent to Arad's most traveled road and railway. By the spring of 2010, the church raised enough money to purchase the property.

The plan now is to build. Leaders and the Metanioa congregation are trusting God once again to provide as only he can to raise up a new home for the believers in Arad. Step one is to sell their current building, which will enable them to build a gymnasium on the property for a place to gather for services until the Lord provides the funds needed to build a worship center.

What can you do?

   1. Pray. This is our most important request! Pray with us that God will bless his people and for this work to be established by his hand, so that our only boast is in the Lord Jesus.
   2.  Share this with other believers and your network of friends/family to enlist their prayers.
   3. Help through a matching fund. The goal of the Harvest Bible Fellowship is to support this work financially and our hope is to tell the church in Arad we will match their giving dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000. While the weight of this capital campaign needs to be carried by the church in Arad, we would like to match their faithfulness if God enables us to do so.  (Contact krv@harvestbiblefellowship.org if the Lord leads you to give.)
   4. Keep praying! God has already used Metanoia Arad to plant five daughter churches, and we are trusting he will further his Kingdom through this church throughout Romania and Europe. Pray that the testimony of the Lord Jesus and the Word of God will continue to be proclaimed in this country and all of Europe with boldness.

Churches Helping Churches: Haiti and Pakistan

Last month, the Calvary Chapel Haiti Initiative, with the partnership of Churches Helping Churches, put on a pastors retreat in Jacmel, Haiti, with pastors and church leaders from all across the southeast region of Haiti in attendance. The following is an update from Jeff Kotrady, of CCHI:

With close to 200 pastors in attendance from around the Jacmel area, five pastors and two next-generation leaders had the privilege to edify the body of Christ through the Word of God. Our theme revolved around John 6:20, in that Christ can provide peace throughout the storm. Each day, we witnessed the Lord use the teaching, along with the Q&A time, to give pastors necessary spiritual tools to minister to them and their congregations during this time of crisis in Haiti. Pastors from all denominations were present and worshiping the Lord together.

With the support of Churches Helping Churches, the Calvary Chapel Haiti Initiative plans to help many of the local churches in construction and reconstruction efforts as well as by putting on further conferences to provide not only practical psychological relief but also to help meet the needs for spiritual investment and discipleship.

The pastors were blessed beyond measure. With those in attendance we took down their greatest needs–in particular, commentaries in Creole and study Bibles– and we are looking forward to help them rebuild their churches and their lives.

In the video below, Daniel Ulysse, a Haitian chaplain from Brooklyn, interviews a group of pastors who attended our Churches Helping Pastors retreat in May in Port-au-Prince. They talk about their churches, how the earthquake affected them and their communities, and their vision and prayers for the future.

Please pray as Churches Helping Churches weighs going into Pakistan. Thomas Kim, executive director, has been in contact with pastors from Pakistan, prayerfully considering involvement there in response to the extreme flooding.  The situation has deteriorated considerably: A UN spokesperson said recently that, although the death toll is lower, the number of people affected by the disaster–about 20 million people, currently–is now higher than those of the Haiti earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami. In Pakistan, where over 97% of the population is Muslim, and Christians are often neglected or cut out of aid, this isn’t just an opportunity for humanitarian aid, but to support and partner directly with the global church. Please pray for Pakistan, for the Christians there specifically, and for discernment for CHC.

As always you can continue to support the ongoing work of Churches Helping Churches at the website.

Harvest Bible Chapel, Metanoia Ghioroc

As a child, Marcel Opris was taught by example to love the Word of God. Both of his grandfathers were pastors, and he saw in them an authentic love and passion for God and his people. Though living as a "repenter" was not easy under communism, Marcel surrendered his heart to the Lord as a youth.

Marcel remembers, "I knew that there had to more to this life in Christ than just going to church and being persecuted for that. I knew in my heart that what God required from us was much greater than religiosity. He wanted my whole life, and I committed to worshiping and serving him with everything."

This commitment led Marcel to study at the Theological Baptist Institute, to marry his wife Neliana, and to raise a family that lives for the Lord. Today daughters Ligia and Larisa, 18 and 14, are growing in their relationships with Christ and actively involved in the church. Marcel and his family have been very involved in leadership at Harvest Metanoia Arad. They live in a village outside of Arad called Ghioroc. It has been their desire to see God raise up a worshiping body in Ghioroc that would be bold in proclaiming the Word of God and giving testimony to the Lord Jesus. Through their faithful and enduring commitment to this village and a small group of believers, God has blessed this body with growth and vitality.

Marcel served as a youth leader, Sunday school teacher, pastor assistant and missionary while professionally he worked as an engineer. In May 2010, he left his professional career and accepted the invitation to be full-time in vocational ministry as Senior Pastor of Harvest Metanoia Ghioroc.

Marcel says, "As we served at Harvest Metanoia Arad we saw the values, the context, the vision and passion which motivated me to start to a new work in Ghioroc. My family and I have decided to donate part of our home and land to the Lord with the help of Harvest Bible Chapel Indy West. We believe that the vision, the pillars and values of Harvest Bible Chapel will help us to be a relevant church for this generation."The desire of Harvest Metanoia Ghioroc is: "To be a testimony of Jesus Christ in the community. To preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that many people would be saved. To be a church that seeks to know Christ and make him known. To live our lives in a way that brings glory to God."

Pray with us for this new work, that as they seek first the kingdom of God and delight themselves in him, these desires would be fulfilled in abundance...

Harvest Bible Fellowship
Missions and International Church Planting

Churches Helping Churches

THE UNIQUE MINISTRY OF CHC

CHC is different from any other ministry or non-profit. We're not people giving money to other people, or Christians helping other Christians. We are church families helping other church families, as part of the global gospel fellowship. Tom recently did a video where he spells out the mission of CHC and the importance of its goals.

Know you're a part of something unique here. Your continued support has blessed those in affected communities, including this Haitian pastor, from Carrefour:

"Thanks! Thanks! Thanks CHC! I was so discouraged looking at my future and that of my family. Now, I have a better understanding of God and natural disasters. It is good to see there are people who love me... I need help for my family, they are suffering and I cannot help much. I was alone but now I see there are people who think of me... Thanks."
- a pastor from Carrefour

STEPPING UP

Up to this point, STEP has been our original partner in this mission and the institution through which we've been operating in Haiti. CHC is pleased to announce that we're now partnering with STEP financially by awarding the seminary a $100,000 recovery grant. These key improvements will enable STEP to resume classes at the Port-au-Prince campus and continue to train pastors this fall.

The funds will cover:

Demolition
Three classrooms rebuilt from ground up
Improved administrative offices
Chapel repairs
Equipment and supplies

Background: The Seminaire de Theologie Evangelique de Port-au-Prince, or Evangelical Theological Seminary of Port-au-Prince, was formed out of an original Bible school that opened in 1942. Over 1,200 students have gone through its programs since then. It offers two degrees: a diploma in theology and a license in theology. It currently enrolls 160 students a year, 80% of whom are actively serving as pastors. For more, visit STEP's website at www.stephaiti.org.

Churches Helping Churches website