Harvest Christian Fellowship Blog

Harvest’s Street Witnessing Team had a fruitful outcome when they went to the downtown Riverside Bus Depot recently.

During the first part of the night, the group split into pairs and gave out tracts and shared the gospel with individuals. Two people became new believers in Christ!

Later that night, there was a family of nine taking snapshots, sipping sodas, and enjoying their visit before their departure. It was like a family party scene—quite different from the usual small clusters of quiet people waiting at the bus depot.

When it was time to leave, leader Ron inquired with the Street Witnessing Team, “Hey, did anyone talk to them?,” as he pointed to the family. Ron led the way and introduced himself to the oldest man there. He started a group conversation in the parking lot.

In his usual soft-spoken tone, Ron assured them with the confidence of the love Christ has for each one of them. He made them aware of the sin in their life that Jesus wants to forgive.

Fifteen minutes later, five people in that family were praying to receive Jesus into their lives for the first time. Praise God! After the prayer, Bibles were passed out, prayers requests were received, and information for follow up was taken.

Harvest Street Witnessing Team meets every Saturday at 5 P.M. in the Resource Center. You are welcome to join the team. If you’re new to this, you will be trained to learn how to witness in a team setting.

Come be blessed and help “get the Word out!”

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Last night, I told my life story at our Day 7 service at Harvest Christian Fellowship. To see that, click here.

It’s a story that will hopefully bring hope to those who feel the deck is stacked against them. I talked about how my mom was married and divorced seven times, and I, conceived in between marriages, was illegitimate. I did not find this out until much later in life.

It’s rather disconcerting to find out that you are illegitimate. You find yourself asking, “Was I ever meant to be? Was my life an accident?” I became an angry young man.

To read more of Pastor Greg’s blog entry, click here.

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In this second message about the secrets of the early church, Pastor Greg defines what it means to be a W.E.L.L. church. Remembering that the church is not a building it is people, this is really a prescription to stay healthy as individual believers.

For message notes, download the PDF document: Resonate

Archived Webcast: Watch now

Here are some photos from this past Sunday:

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A couple of weeks ago, Loren wrote a great article that many of you responded to about our dear Carl and Ruthie Johnson.  Ruthie passed away on Friday, April 18.  Please keep Carl and his family in your prayers.

RUTH ELIZABETH (LEEPER) JOHNSON August 10, 1931 ~ April 18, 2008 “She opens her mouth in skillful and Godly Wisdom and on her tongue is the Law of Kindness”. Proverbs 31:26 Known as “Ruthie” by her close friends and family, was a lifelong resident of Riverside and a graduate of Poly High School. Ruthie and her loving and blessed husband, Carl R. Johnson, worshipped the Lord at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside. She is survived by her husband, Carl R. Johnson; sister, Doris and Herbert Barrett; brother, Don and Donna Leeper. Each grandchild was most precious to Ruthie “Her Treasured Ones”, also her family; son Daniel James, Alice and granddaughter Amanda of San Francisco; son, David James, Joy and grandsons, William, Louis, Paul and Martin of Tehachapi. Beloved daughter, Cathleen Bice, Sam; grandchildren, Amy, Stacie and Kevin of Moreno Valley. Also son, Curtis Johnson, Renee; granddaughters, Nicole and Justina of Yorba Linda; son, Wesley Johnson; grandchildren, Janae and Christopher of Grand Terrace.

· A Viewing will be held at Acheson & Graham Garden of Prayer, 7944 Magnolia Ave. on Friday, 04/25/08 from 4:00pm to 8:00pm.
· A Celebration of her Life will be held on Saturday, 04/26/08 at Harvest Christian Fellowship at 9:30am, 6115 Arlington Ave.
· Followed by a Committal Service at Olivewood Memorial Park, 3300 Central Ave., Riverside.

In lieu of flowers Ruthie requested a donation to be made to: Gideons International, Riverside West Camp, P.O. Box 4626, Riverside, CA, 92514-4626

Acheson & Graham Garden Of Prayer Mortuary (951) 688-1221

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There is a new tool that is currently only available to those of you who read the blog!

Resonate is a one-page summary of Pastor Greg’s main points and Scripture references from his message. It is a great tool to use for further study and reflection after hearing the message each Sunday morning!

There has got to be a hundred different ways you can use these to grow in your walk with Christ and also share the Lord with others. If you think of a creative way to use Resonate, please post a comment and share your idea with all of us!

Resonate will be posted with each of Pastor Greg’s sermon recaps on this blog. They will usually go up the day after the message was given. Here are links to the first two, so you can check them out!

Upside Down Living – The First Message to the Church

Upside Down Living – Secrets of the Early Church

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Some of you have asked me about the release date of my autobiography, Lost Boy. It will come out on June 15, 2008.

We are also releasing a documentary by the same title. It has been in production for more than two years and is near completion. It is being directed by a very talented filmmaker and personal friend of mine, Dwight Thompson Jr.

Dwight, along with his wife Gina, attend Harvest, and Dwight has poured himself into this project. We are preparing a trailer that I will show you as soon as it is available.

To read more of Pastor Greg’s blog entry, and to see an exclusive clip from the Lost Boy documentary, click here.

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That was the title of this month’s Come Let Us Reason class with Lenny Esposito. From all walks of life, our church community gathered in the Resource Center to learn how to engage members of the Mormon church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others in a dialogue straight from the Word of God.

Everyone’s had that uncomfortable moment when they’ve opened their front door and found some very eager church members hoping for the chance to interest you in their religion. Lenny provided intriguing background on these groups and gave us simple and powerful skills to counter their arguments.

Most importantly, he gave us a way to engage them – and to introduce them to the real Jesus Christ, His plan for salvation and their need for a loving and forgiving Savior.

Come Let Us Reason is understandable apologetics that will help firm your foundation in the faith and give you confidence as you learn to give a reason for the hope that lies within you. They meet on the second Monday of the month in the Resource Center.

Next month’s topic: How Christianity Changed the World.

For more information, visit the Come Reason Ministry Web site at www.comereason.org.

Here are some pictures from this week’s meeting.

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A Devotion from Pastor John Collins:

“Where no oxen are the crib is clean, but much increase comes by strength of the ox.”
Proverbs 14:4

The problem with cleaning my garage is that it never stays clean. My wife says the same thing about the house. If we just didn’t live in the house or make the garage a place of refuge for every item that has no permanent home, I’m sure they’d both stay clean.

The message of this proverb is similar. If no oxen are kept in a stable, the stable stays clean. My guess is oxen are not tidy animals. Nonetheless, if we were farmers dependent on the strength of the ox to help us produce crops, then the inconvenience of a dirty stable could be overlooked.

This is where we can draw some spiritual parallels. From what I’ve observed in my life, and the lives of other Christians, is that we are often unwilling to bring oxen into our stables. We love to build our spiritual barns, but then fail to use them. By that I mean that we avoid reaching out to someone for fear that our life might get a little messy.

Recently, my wife received a call from her brother whom she hasn’t seen in nearly 30 years. He’s been in and out of jail (mostly in) during that time. There have been some occasional phone calls but, for the most part, he was out of her life. Then the phone rang last week. He’s out of jail now, and working, and off drugs and in rehab. All great stuff, but a road he’s traveled before.

So she faces a dilemma. Does she let this ox back into our stable? He’s not asking to live in our home, just permission to be back in our lives. Just when the crib was clean, here comes an opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ! If we open that door, we know it’s going to get messy.

Nevertheless, if we’re to be hardworking farmers in the harvest fields, our spiritual growth is conditional on messy cribs. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our evangelical world, with our evangelical friends, where we go to evangelical events, shop at Christian stores and watch evangelical movies and listen to Christian bands. Our world can become all Christianity all the time, a sanitary bubble insulated from the world.

The end result of this type of life is stagnancy – a clean crib and an empty life! The antidote is simple – open the door. Let a few oxen in. The presence of the ox will produce a mess, for sure, but in the end, as spiritual farmers, we’ll bear spiritual fruit that we have been created for.

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