Tags: Alabama, Casual, Contemporary Worship, Large, Small Group
In June of 1996, after fourteen years of youth ministry, I was appointed to begin a new church in Dothan, Alabama – a town of about 65,000 people. Today Harvest Church United Methodist is one of the one hundred largest churches in the denomination, averaging over 1,600 in weekly Sunday morning worship services. Less than 20% of those who attend have previous experience in the United Methodist Church. Many accept Christ after coming to Harvest, which indicates that real growth is taking place rather than just “taking” people from other churches.
Our primary keys to the growth of Harvest are the conviction that God called us to start the church and the determination to follow Him completely. Our goal is to bring people to Christ and to equip them to be able to make disciples for the rest of their lives.
At Harvest, we put strong emphasis on personal conversion and growing in relationship with God. We want people to know the freedom and purpose and wonder of really knowing God and living for Him. We believe this is the deepest desire and need of every person, so we try to remove the barriers and present Him in a winsome, non-threatening way.
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The Foundation for Evangelism partners with Annual Conferences to present The Harry Denman Evangelism Awards in recognition of clergy, laity and youth who faithfully practice the Great Commission by carrying out the mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ”. We welcome the opportunity to share some of their personal faith journeys with our readers.
“This young lady – did I mention that she’s only 89 years old? – embodies Matthew 28:19: ‘Go therefore and make disciples’……her greatest evangelistic witness has been the life she has lived day by day.” The presenter of The Harry Denman Evangelism Laity Award during the 2010 Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference was speaking of Mrs. Frances Snell.
In the 1960’s Mrs. Snell had the privilege of meeting Dr. Harry Denman and Dr. Helen Kim while attending the International Prayer Fellowship at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. She and her husband were part of a sharing group that included Dr. Denman.
We want to share Mrs. Snell’s faith journey in her own words:
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The Catapult Conference was held at Christ United Methodist Church in Mobile, AL, September 26-28. It is an initiative launched by the Mobile District of the Alabama-West Florida Conference and has become a significant missional catalyst for the larger region. The conference is part of a broad effort to help our congregations better reach their communities in the name of Jesus Christ. We believe that “missional” properly understood is “evangelism” properly done. Three years into this emphasis, many congregations are increasingly in ministry “out there” with people who would never have darkened the doors of our churches. This year’s Catapult Conference was challenging, inspiring, and deeply nourishing. It is already being used of God to increase our faithfulness in the mission fields that surround us.
Alan Hirsch
Our work in the Mobile area is affiliated with the Forge organization – a missional training network originating in Australia. We were pleased to have the founders of Forge as keynote speakers: Alan Hirsch, Debra Hirsch, and Michael Frost. Other speakers included Dave Gibbons (NewSong), Mark Beeson (Granger Community Church), John Edgar (Church for All People), and Elaine Heath (Southern Methodist University and Perkins School of Theology). Breakout sessions were offered for a wide range of interests and were designed to help participants become missional in their own unique contexts.
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Dr. Ed Robb, founding pastor of The Woodlands United Methodist Church (UMC) at The Woodlands, Texas, has been named the 2011 Distinguished Evangelist of The United Methodist Church by The Foundation for Evangelism. Hailed as a leader with great vision, faith, and humility, Robb has pastored The Woodlands UMC since its beginning in 1978, starting [...]
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