Pastors Resignation: (September 24th 2008)

We have waited to report on this event until Pastor had chance to announce the news to the rest of the congregation on Sunday 28th September.
After delivering the message on Wednesday Pastor informed the members in attendance that he felt the Lord had called him away and released him from Harvestland. To check this out in Pastors own words go to the sermon page. Those pages will remain as is, we will not be uploading new sermons for the foreseeable future.

Pastor then informed the main body on Sunday, this message can also be found on the sermon page. Randall Bach spoke to the congregation to explain how we move forward and to introduce the search committee. The committee consists of the 4 elders along with Leigh Anne Kochan, Anne Kern & Larry Glassford. They will see proposed candidates and make a short list to bring to the church body to vote on. Biff may have Randall's discussion on tape but this is not available on the web site.

On-line Prayer Request: (August 2008)

After finishing a long list of to do items this has been validated and is working, huge apology to anybody who has tried to submit this way. We know there was a database related error and hoped the contact page would be the fall back. Well it is now full functional.

When you go down to the woods today...
(June 24th written in July)

For years now I have attended the men's fellowship events. This is just the wa of life, leave youth join men's, get old and then join seniors, right? Well it does not always have to be that way. I was lucky enough to be invited and welcomed to the Seniors (caleb) picnic. What an immense blessing this time of fellowship was. The seniors of our church are such a blessing and have so many stories of faith and miracles to tell that I would recommend a visit sometime. Of course not only were my wife and I blessed by fellowship but by the wonderful array of foods provided by our culinary creative seniors. I went home that night blessed, content and maybe a little tighter around the belt.

Ladies leader sneaks a peek into Seniors fellowship -
May 19th (written in July)

One of the things I like most about church is being able to fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. So, if there’s a pot luck dinner or a ladies meeting, I am there! I was recently invited to attend our Seniors Fellowship Meeting and attended their May meeting. This was their first meeting in our new building as they’ve been meeting at the Harned’s Clubhouse whilst our new church was being built. The first thing I felt, walking in that Tuesday evening, was an amazing outpouring of love. Our Seniors are so very close to one another and I could sense that they really cherished the time they spent together. I was made to feel so very welcome, they had a wonderful pot luck dinner and there was lots of laughter. There were over 18 of us there. Harley shared a wonderful message and we had a lovely prayer time together. One thing they do every month is celebrate the birthdays for that month. One of the ladies will bake a birthday cake, each birthday boy or girl receives a card signed by everyone there and they get to blow out birthday candles. This felt so special to know that everyone is honored in this way. I had an amazing time with our Seniors, so much so I made myself a “summertime member” and attended the picnic in June with my husband and children and will also be attending the ice cream social in August. I would urge anyone who is aged over 55, who hasn’t or doesn’t attend the monthly meetings to give them a try. These meetings are awesome and I know that you will be extremely blessed by them.

12th March: (Report from our own Brian Ellison)

Acquire the Fire - Let your voice be heard

Hi, my name is Brian Ellison. I am 13 years old and one of the youth members in the youth group at Harvestland Minisitries in Clarkston, Michigan.

I went to Acquire the Fire at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on March 7th 2008 at 7pm til 10pm & March 8th, 9am til 10pm. Acquire the Fire is where thousands of teenagers come together to worship Jesus, fellowship and listen to speakers and Christian bands. The two speakers were Ron Luce and Mike Guzzardo. There were four Christian bands and the Detroit Choir also came.

Friday night was all about worship. The second day when I arrived was again worship, a message, the bands and dinner. More worship followed and a play about Judgement Day. This was very good and stood out in my mind and made me think of how you should be more serious about being a better Christian by worshipping more and how you should leaner more about the bible and prayer.

This was a great experience for me and I know it touched a lot of people just by being able to talk to other teenager that were there.

I'm already talking to others about the next Acquire the Fire, in February 2009. This is a good message for any teenager.

16th Feb:

Over to Larry for a report:

Hello to everyone. This is Larry Glassford and I am the leader over the M.O.V.E group at Harvestland. I am happy to announce that we are able to meet in our new building now. Hallelujah! We meet every third Saturday at 9:00 a.m. We will let everyone know if we will be meeting at the church or at a resturaunt nearby. The month of February we had our annual Valentine's Banquet. We held a pot-luck dinner at the church on Saturday evening the 16th. It was a huge success. We had a great turnout and there was plenty of food and desserts to go around. Thank you to everyone who helped make this dinner such a success. My hat was off to whoever made the chicken, cheese & rice dish. My favorite. Rita (my wife) says it may have been Mary Munroe. Might have to bug Rita about making that one for me. The mood was set as the tables and chairs were set up and the dishes started to roll in. People were mingling and licking their lips in anticipation. After we thanked God for all his amazing blessings the forks were flying. The smiles and laughter were contagious. The only complaint I heard was that the plates were too small. Just made for more trips. We were pleased to announce the wedding anniversary of Bob and Berth James. After many years of wedded bliss this couple are truely an inspiration. We Love you Bob & Bertha. Then it was time to have some fun. We had three couples of various ages play the "Newlywed Game". It was a riot. Everyone was still married at the end and Pastor Bill didn't have any couciling sessions set up. Hats off to everyone that interacted in the fun. I am not going to mention who called their mother-in-law a "sourpuss". I hope everyone had as great a time as Rita & I did and we want to mention again, thank you to everyone who helped out setting up the event and coming out for the fun. Those that weren't able to make it we missed you and hope to see you at the next one. Talk to everyone next month. Your Brother in Christ. Larry

3rd Feb:

This week the service has been recorded both to tape and digitally to MP3 so will be available on the Sermon page. We hope to offer this each week all being well and in 2 file sizes to help those on dial up. Please give feedback to the Web and sound teams.

27th Jan:

The first service in the new building what a blessing to finally be "Home". We were also blessed with a lot of visitors who were eager to see us in our new building and check things out. The projector and sound were all in place, coffee was served after the service in the new coffee bar area. With our own building we finally have time for fellowship both before and after the service. As Pastor promised we were out long before 3 O Clock.

25th Jan:

The inspection was a success we WILL BE IN ON SUNDAY. Also parking lot lights are no in place, this is great news as it will allow evening services. Also the projector was installed today. We want to extend a huge thank you to Dave Harrison (sound tech at First Missionary) his company CTEC (Center Line Technologies) have been a blessing, and sent a technician free for a full day to run the cables, and install our projector. So lyrics and readings will be available from our first service on.

18th Jan (2008):

We did not pass inspection this week but it does allow time for some kinks to be worked out for the sound, the parking lot lights and a few other jobs. Service will be better for the wait. The Lord is control of all our timing, he knows the reason why.

12th Jan:

20th of January is the date we are hoping to be ready for. The inspectors will be in during the week so we need lots lots prayer. There are still small jobs that will be needed to be worked on in the coming weeks and months but hopefully no show stoppers

There are still several jobs to get finished so we are looking at the thirst few weeks of the new year. The workers are taking a well deserved break for Christmas.

The 16th will NOT be at the new building. We are now aiming for the 23rd.

December 15th

The chairs have been unpacked and put in place in the sanctuary. The carpet team continued work and the baptismal lid was completed so the stage can be carpeted. Initial network and video wall plates were completed. The snow came in think in the evening which would have prevented us getting in on the 16th as previously intended.

December 8th

One crew went to the storage unit to organize moving our things into the new building. Another crew continued work on laying final cables for the audio visual set up. The sanctuary is now carpeted really transforming the way it looks. The coffee bar cabinets are nearly complete. Installation of the baptistery continued.

December 3rd to 7th

Work took place this week running cables for the computer network and the audio/video lines. Additionally the cabinets, bathroom and sink units have been installed and more carpet laid.

New pictures have been added, taken this week by one of the crew's working the night shift this week. Take a look HERE.

December 1st

A big clean up day today, a crew vacuumed the sanctuary and cleared the rooms ready for carpet coming next week. The Audio snake has now been run from the stage t the sound booth and next week a few guys will continue cabling and prepping the equipment. Chris has spent an arduous week ensuring the asphalt is laid and as usual the Lord delivered just in time. The very last possible day, it could be done during a week when only one company had stayed open, truly amazing. Please remember Chris in your prayers I am sure he is beyond exhausted physically and mentally. Finally preparation planning for some of the last few projects took place. Everyday the building looks more complete, drop by and encourage those who are working long and hard to try to meet the 16th.

November 25th - The 16th?

The calendar today has services listed starting December 16th at the new time of 10:00am in the new building. It will take a lot of prayer and volunteers on work day's for this to happen. First job is for all the prayer warriors, we need the drive way completed, so pray that the weather holds out and the asphalt companies remain open. The sound team also need your prayers for the remaining items to be delivered soon for installation. If you have not been to the building lately take a look in, everyday now it looks different. The entrance will blow you away, painted, cross finished and the fans in place.

November:

Things at the building are progressing A few walls have the final color and coat done now, the drop ceiling has been completed giving a much more complete look to the rooms.The cross is fully framed and finished. The lights have been fully wired and all the power is on now. Curbing is in place and we pray that the asphalt companies remain open long enough to deliver in the final week of the month.

October 28th Service in the New Church:

First Missionary had their 100th year celebrations today so we held a small service at the new building. The service opened with worship and then Pastor gave a short message. The rest of the service was filled with prayer and the signing of the stage. Families wrote personal messages and praise reports, verses held dear to be forever sealed on the stage and in the kid's classrooms. Everybody was happy to find the furnaces fired up on a brisk fall day.

October:

The sewers have been completed and the walls are now fully primed ready for the all important final coat. The sound desk has been framed and dry walled (yes more drywalling..will it ever end) giving the sound team a great area to work in (a big change from present conditions). Drop ceiling frame work is installed and the ducting sealed.

September:

The men are back and the service was, well words cannot explain. The spirit moved in a way we have not seen or felt for a while and what a feeling. I think we all needed our spiritual batteries charging.

Read the Men's Fellowship report.

*UPDATE*

Well it seems this was a little premature, more dry walling requirements were discovered this week and as far as we know there a few more areas to finish off before we can check this job off as done. A start has been made on the drop ceiling and some of the wiring. We need painters and general labor to help with various jobs at this stage.

DRY WALL DONE!

The majority of dry walling project hit the finished date a few weeks ago, A crew of the regular workers got together Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and finished the bathrooms completing the major project. This last Saturday one last wall was finally patched in completing ALL the dry wall a momentous moment for the crew.

Painting

Painting started 2 weeks ago with Chris showing us all the ropes, we soon made short work of this part of the project and all the priming is now complete. The primer has been tinted with the finished color so 90% of the rooms reflect the color that will be used at finish.

Workers needed

As the Bible tells us, the work is great but the workers are few.

We need workers on Saturdays to help with the church building project. It doesn't matter what your age or capabilities may be, everyone's help is vital to the construction of our church family's new building. Young or older, male or female, we welcome all volunteers, either to work or to feed the hungry workers! Call Chris Kochan or the church office to find out how you can contribute!

Progress pictures added

Photographs of some of the early progression are now available here. More recent ones will be added very soon.

February 10th

Mystery Valentine dinner.

Our annual Valentine celebration this year took on the theme of a mystery dinner. The meal was provided by Macaroni Grill and the proceeds go to Ministry funds. We had a good turn out and the members who came were provided a 3 course meal and entertainment in the form of a dinner play. So who did dispose of St John Sedgewick-Smythe, well you will have to ask one of the attending church members.