JEFF BUTALA
Eastern Pennsylvania
Education
Lancaster Bible College,
BA in Bible and Pastoral Ministries
Background
Jeff became very involved in ministry while attending college. Upon completion he felt called to return to his home to pursue ministry. He joined another pastor and a small group of people in starting a new church. Jeff came to HBF through listening to WITW and has good friends at Harvest Indy West. Aſter attending The Elephant Room in 2010, Jeff became deeply pursuaded to join HBF. He has actively pursued the opportunity to replant his the church he founded in 1988. Jeff’s church already has many Harvest distinctives and believe that by partnering with HBF, it will accelerate discipleship and their influence in Eastern Pennsylvania. We are excited to have Jeff join the Fellowship of churches.
Family
Married to Sue
Ministry Experience
1988-Present Founding and Senior Pastor of Conyngham Valley Bible Church
WILL LOHNES
Greensville, SC
Humanities; BS
Bob Jones University, MA, MDiv,
Grace Theological Seminary, DMin
Will grew up in a ministry-oriented family and had a desire to go into pastoral ministry at a young age. He continued to pursue that goal and has faithfully served in pastoral ministry since 1985. Will and his family have planted two churches prior to coming to Harvest. Will came to know Harvest through friends at Harvest Indy West and has attended Harvest University. Will deeply algins with Harvest distincives, doctine and DNA. The Lohnes will be relocating back to South Carolina where they are from and have roots. A core group is waiting for their return to plant Harvest Greensville.
Married to Maria
Father to five children
2005-Present Pastor/teacher at The Fountain of Grace Church, Ohio
1997-2005 Pastor at Shepherds Grace Church, Ohio
1990-1997 Pastor at Anahola Baptist Church, Hawaii
1985-1990 Youth Pastor atHeritage Bible Church, South Carolina
PHILIP VAN LAL LIAN
Yangon, Myanmar
Biblical School of Theology
Bharat Bible College
Philip came to a personal relationship with Christ through reading the Scriptures, specifically Revelation 3:19-20. As a result of his salvation he committed his life to serving God as a church planter and missionary. His life’s passion and purpose is to preach the Word of God. Myanmar is experiecing reform, but still considered a closed country to-date; 95% Buddhist. Philip became familiar with Harvest through the teaching of Harvest on-line and researched Harvest Bible Fellowship. In 2010, Philip contact Harvest and began a journey of learning and building a relationship. In November 2011, HBF made a trip to Myanmar to examine the work, assess the elders
and pastors and inspect the life of the church. In December, HBF made an offical invitation to join the Training Center.
Our goal is to transition the existing church in Yangon and the school of 42 bible students to become Harvest
Bible Chapel and a center for church planting in Myanmar. This will be the 1st Harvest in Myanmar.
Married to Dante
Father to three small children and 10 adopted children
Pastor and founding director of Yangon Grace Bible School
PETER NGUGI
Nairobi, Kenya
2003-06 Graduate studies; MA in Christian Ministry and Theological Studies,
Bethel College, IN, USA
2005 Certificate in Bible Land Geography and History,
Jerusalem University College, Israel
1981-1985 Higher Dip in Theology, Scott Theological College,
Machakos, Kenya
Peter came to Christ as a teenager and quickly sensed God calling him to full time ministry. Upon graduation he joined Africa Inland Church as a full time pastor in different local churches throughout Kenya. In 2003 he came to the States to attend Bethel College and began several ministries in Indiana. During his time in the U.S., he founded a ministry called New Beginnings and Bob Hogarth of Harvest Granger served on his board. Aſter his graduate studies, Peter returned to Kenya. Peter was referred to HBF by Harvest Granger in 2010 and entered a time of assessment and selection. Peter is excited to begin the 1st Harvest in Kenya.
Pastor with Africa Inland Church
Planted an inner city multicultural church in Indiana
Founded New Beginnings International Ministries
Founded Next Level Leadership Academy, Kenya
ADAM BAILIE
Open Assignment
Bob Jones University; BA 2002
The Master’s Seminary; MDiv, 2008
Adam was born into a Christian family, but lived in open rebellion during his early teen years. While at a summer camp his eyes were opened to his condition before a holy God. In college he began to desire to go into full time ministry and the elders of his church provided opportunities to serve and confirmed this desire. Adam came highly recommended by several Harvest pastors familiar with Adam at TMS. Adam and his family currently live in Northern California, attending Harvest Fresno. They are open to being assigned by HBF to an existing core group or replant opportunity. They also have strong connections in Columbia, SC; Cincinnati, OH and Texas.
Married to Renee
Father to two daughters and one son
2007-2011 Senior Pastor, Grace Church of the Valley; Kingsburg, CA
2006-2007 Family Pastor, Countryside Bible Church; Southlake, TX
2003-2006 Pastoral Assistant, Grace Community Church; Sun Valley, CA
After talking with Harvest’s Mexico City Senior Pastor Antonio Munoz, you’ll begin to see the significance of God’s perfect timing. Years before Harvest Mexico City was even a thought in anyone’s mind, God was laying a foundation for Antonio’s family as well as a trust in the Lord’s amazing timing. In 1989, Antonio was planning on becoming a Catholic priest, but just before he could start seminary, his brother invited him to a men's Bible study, and Antonio was saved.
Years later, Antonio’s wife, Becky, was the only Spanish-speaking volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center in Dallas. In the summer of 2003, a young Hispanic woman came in who had saved just enough money to have an abortion. Becky explained that their center was not an abortion clinic and gave her encouragement and information on adoption, and then offered for the woman to have a sonogram. The young woman discovered that her baby was already 13 weeks along, and the type of abortion required at 13 weeks was more costly than what she had saved. She left with Becky’s information on adoption. Antonio and Becky prayed for several months that she would choose life and were surprised to hear from her again in January. With much praise to the Lord, Becky learned that this woman had not had an abortion! However, she also had not contacted an adoption agency, and her due date was less than two weeks away. Becky recalls, “At that moment, she asked a question that my heart will never forget, ‘Will you and your husband adopt my baby?”
Approval for adoption in Texas often takes three to five months, yet God's perfect timing and almighty hand was evident. “What usually takes months, took ten days,” Becky recalls, “And when our birth mom went into labor on February 4, 2004, I got to be in the delivery room, and we brought our sweet Jessica home two days later. Jessica means ‘God beholds.’ And we know God saw Jessica in the womb and knew our great desire to have a baby and set us apart for each other.”
After the adoption, the Lord drew Antonio and Becky’s hearts back to their hometown of Mexico City—thus beginning their path to Harvest. They moved back to Mexico to pastor a church that had recently endured a church split. After shepherding that church for six years, the group of people that had originally split from the church came to Antonio demanding the building back. While the courts could have settled it legally, Antonio and his church felt the high road was to give back the property and walk away. “We felt like the Lord was saying, ‘If someone asks for your tunic, give them your robe also,’” Antonio says. “We had invested a lot of money in that building, but we felt like God was saying, ‘Do not worry, I will take care of you, this is my church.’”
During that time, they were praying about establishing a church that looked like Harvest. Antonio was familiar with Harvest from his days at Moody Bible Institute, and Becky’s brother was on staff at Harvest. Unbeknownst to them, Becky’s brother had talked to Kirk Vanmaanen in the Fellowship about his brother-in-law’s situation, and Kirk asked if there would be any interest in them becoming a Harvest. Antonio was thrilled with the offer and again, in the Lord’s timing, just weeks after the decision was made, he left for Illinois to be a part of the training center.
After a few months of training, Antonio, Kirk, and John Cochran, an elder at Harvest Davenport (a HBF sending-base church that directly supports HBC Mexico City), went to Mexico to find a place for Antonio’s church to meet. There was an unattractive, old storefront that they were considering because the options and finances were limited, but in God’s perfect timing, that very week another church vacated it’s building and offered to rent their property. “It has two levels for ministry,” says Antonio, “and another level for parking, which is a miracle in Mexico City!”
Launching their church on September 4, 2011, Antonio had the privilege of baptizing 31 people three months later! They average 200 attendees on a given weekend. Regarding the challenge of planting the first Harvest in Latin America in one of the largest cities in the world, Antonio jokes, “There is a saying in Mexico, ‘Too much gravy for such a little turkey.’ I feel like that little turkey! But we look forward to seeing what the Lord will accomplish through us at Harvest Mexico City!”
After leaving in their twenties, it wasn’t a place where they hoped to return. Given a taste of California life for seminary and Chicago life at the Harvest Training Center, Jason Fevig and his wife, Gethel, thought Miami was a part of their past, not their future. “Miami has access to idols that other places just don’t have so readily,” Jason says. “There are drugs whenever you want them, prositution, a sex-slave industry, opulence and prosperity like you’ve never seen. It’s like being in a grocery store with 10,000 choices of cereal—there are just too many choices of sin, and it’s all way too accessible.”
But, Jason recalls, “The Lord put Miami in our hearts.” He and Grethel began recruiting old friends and listeners to Walk in the Word and their core group grew to over 75 when Jason launched the church in the fall of 2009. Over the past two years the church has witnessed God’s faithfulness and desire for light in such a dark area by growing the church to over 150 people. And the children’s ministry is booming as well, including the addition of Jason and Gretel’s 16-month-old son, Elijah, and 6-month-old daughter, Elisa. Jason explains, “Like most big cities, people in Miami choose not to have families, or they start them very late in life. When we first launched, we only had a few kids in our children's ministry. Now that Harvest has planted a life-giving church here, this trend is radically changing. Countless young couples are beginning families and families with children are making Harvest their home. In fact, last month we had seven babies dedicated to the Lord. God is beginning a legacy here that we pray will impact generations!”
But this doesn’t mean the Enemy isn’t at work. When looking for a place for HBC Miami to meet, Jason received 74 rejection notices from everything from high schools to movie theaters. “I guess there were a few acceptance letters in the 74,” says Jason, “but then they would let us know that rent was ‘only’ $25,000 a month!” Finally the Lord has blessed them with a place to worship alongside an Episcopalian church that has allowed HBC Miami to convert the fellowship hall into a permanent location for Harvest.
When asked how the Fellowship has been able to help Jason along the way he affirms, “I am the biggest advocate of the Fellowship! It has given me the structure to help apply what I have learned in seminary. The Fellowship gives you a tested model. Most people don’t have the creativity, or the time, or the ability, or the experience to create something from scratch. I’m so thankful I don’t have to use my time creating big new things. I would never get to the ministry if I had to create it all on my own. I would have killed the church half a dozen times by now if I hadn’t had the relationships I have in the Fellowship.”
Eternally changed by His grace and desiring to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission; Harvest churches in Nicaragua and Australia are set to launch in January. After many months of fervent prayer and preparation, doors are being opened and public services will be held announcing Harvest Bible Chapel. We are excited for the start of the second in Latin America and the first Harvest church plant in Australia. Join us in celebrating this work of God – it is marvelous in our eyes.
Pastor Jared Cox Managua, Nicaragua Launching January 15, 2012 www.harvestmanagua.org
Pastor Frans Alberts Perth, Australia Launching January 22, 2012 www.harvestperth.org
Growing into adulthood with poor experiences in church after church, Jeff Schwarzentraub knew he didn’t want to pastor a church. But he had a deep desire to disciple men and grow them in leadership, so he thought he had found his niche as an itinerant preacher. His radio ministry, One Heartbeat, had a strong following and people were coming to Christ through his preaching. Yet frustration was growing in his heart as he saw many converts, yet never had a place to plug them in for consistent growth and discipleship over time.
Reaching out to a friend from Harvest Peoria, Jeff got connected with Harvest Bible Fellowship’s Executive Director, Kent Shaw. Kent asked Jeff if he had ever considered church planting. “Sure I have,” Jeff responded, “and let me tell you why I never will.” And after listing all his reasons, the Lord began to work in Jeff’s heart. After a long conversation, Jeff got off the phone, and through tears, told his wife, Kimberly, “We’re going to plant a Harvest Bible Chapel.”
Recalling how God moved, Jeff says, “I saw the church as a stale, dead, boring place where people weren’t accomplishing anything, and I didn’t want to be a part of that. But God was showing me, It’s not the church you’re frustrated with, I died for the church. You’re frustrated that people in the church aren’t taking my glory seriously enough, and I’ve given you a burden to lead a church the way I want it to be led.”
God took Jeff’s frustration and turned it into fuel for a new church that looked like God wanted it to look. Jeff recalls, “I realized it was time to spend my life investing in seeing Christ’s church magnified the way God wants it to be. God gave me a new compassion for churches that aren’t serious about His Word or making disciples. It’s one thing to sit on the sidelines and complain about what the church is doing wrong--it’s another thing to get in the game and do something about it.”
So in March 2010, after spending time at the Fellowship’s training center, Jeff and Kimberly got in the game and ended his traveling preaching circuit to find a permanent home at Harvest Denver with a core group of about 20. And through Jeff’s faithful preaching and discipleship as well as influence from his still-active radio ministry, the church grew from those 20 faithful people to 125 in just 13 weeks. “I recruited a good friend of mine of 30 years to join our core group,” Jeff says, “And he got saved at our very first service. What a privilege it was to baptize him this year!”
As the church grew, Jeff’s heart to disciple men to be leaders grew even stronger. “It was rare that I would walk into a church where men had stepped up to lead. So from the very beginning of Harvest Denver, we were going to call the men to lead. We don’t want people to come into our church and ask where the men’s ministry is; we want them to think where is it not? There are men in children’s ministry, set up ministry, small group ministry. It’s the men who need to lead the church. Our vision at Harvest Denver is to impact the nations of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ by making disciples right here in the greater Denver area. And I think God is just getting started!”
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