As we say goodbye to Ben and Pat, we thought we'd take a moment to remember how Harvester has changed during their 17 years here.
The Numbers
When Ben arrived at HCC, the staff consisted of 1 associate minister (Doyle Roth) and 1 part-time secretary (Terri Brown). Currently, we have 19 people on the ministerial staff and 23 support staff.
The offering was about $4,000 per week when Ben arrived and currently runs around $90,000 per week.
HCC's membership grew from 200 to 3400
Seven building programs were completed; additional property was purchased
The Missions program expanded. When Ben came, we were praying to support one full-time missionary; currently we support 15 missionaries full-time. Missions giving grew from $500 per week to $14,000 per week.
Multi-sites
We added South Campus (Dardenne, Mo) and Lifepointe (Troy, Mo)
We added new ministries
A Counseling Center
IMPACT Bible Study for women (and later a class for men)
The Step-Up Ministry for abused women
Stephen Ministry
Men's Fraternity Program
HCC's Benevolence program was expanded with more money distributed and the following additions:
The food pantry
The annual Christmas GiftAway program
Annual food collection drive (where we'd fill the stage with food)
Financial management classes
Individual financial counseling
We added additional services
A Saturday night service was added; extra services were added on Sundays
Paradox, a service for young adults
We began hosting Hispanic and Haitian services
And we added the following HCC events
Journey to Bethlehem
Daybreak Women's Conference
Harvester Goes Country
Ben's Wild Nights
A Halloween alternative - Hallelujah Carnival/later changed to Fall Festival
The Father's Day Car Show
"Fun" Annual Meetings -- from The 1950s to Dinner on the Nile
40 Days of Purpose/40 Days of Community
All Church Service program (including Salvation Army rehab)
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Concerts featuring popular Christian groups