I’ve been having a really hard time recently figuring out how 10 years have already passed.
I was 17 when this church launched- but for me, the story of Harvest Pittsburgh North goes even further back. It started in the spring of 2010, when Pastor Jeff announced to me and the congregation of North Street Christian Church that he was following the Lord’s call and joining the Harvest Bible Fellowship church planting effort.
And before that, when Pastor Jeff was my youth leader. And before that, when He was my Pioneer Club teacher starting in 3rd grade. And before that, when he led VBS (he threw me off of a boat at very young age, but we don’t have to discuss that!) And before that, when I was a baby and he did ministry with my grandmother at the local old folks home!
Here’s the thing: I’ve known Pastor Jeff my entire life. He and Erin were alway part of my life, and Owen and Cade were some of the first kids I ever babysat! Over the years he went from Pastor, to like-family, to personal mentor. So, when he told us he was moving to Chicago- I was pretty upset!
But, when we learned that he was assigned to come back to plant the church in Pittsburgh- I knew I had to be part of it! It wasn’t a question of “if”, but of “how.”
Please enjoy this photo of us from 2009. While I am positive there are older photos of us in existence, this one was the most readily available. If you’ve seen the TV show “Psych”, you might get the reference.
When they moved back to Pennsylvania in the beginning of 2011, I was 16. Still in high school, didn’t have a license or a car, and zero idea what was ahead. I just knew I wanted to be involved. I attended the first informational meeting about the church, held at the 4 Points Sheraton in Cranberry. You could call that “Day Zero of HBCPN.”
I wasn’t there every step of the way pre-launch. (Hey- give me a break. I didn’t even have a car!) But as launch approached, my dad and I was were ready to jump in and serve wherever we could! In the early years- that usually meant everyone serving everywhere, every week!
We would roll up to Marshall Middle School with the truck and trailer at 8am to begin set up. I can’t tell you how many trips the facilities team made on and off the trailer, up and down those halls with our giant blue bins. 2 for Hospitality and Harvest Kids, and 5 for AV. If we were into counting steps in those days, our trackers would have been through the roof!
I would work with the stage crew. We would set the sound system, assemble the drums, and build the projector screen. My dreams are still haunted by the smell of the vinyl screen we would have to stretch out every week! And don’t get me started on the very precise button pattern for the skirt that hung under the screen! I would with help wiring the instruments, and sit in for worship rehearsal to make sure the lyric slides were correct. Then I would run the computer during service. I used to have to sit behind the screen, backstage by myself because we didn’t have a cable long enough to move the computer out closer the the sound board. Eventually we got a longer cable, and I got to sit with whoever was running sound that day (usually Dan Thompson).
There was a solid 2 years where I was the only person who knew how to run ProPresenter, so I ran it every week. But that was the case for most of the volunteers in those “lean years”. We all had a specific skill set, and we were all needed every week! The “lean years” were vital. The few of us who were here really became family. We felt the weight of the weekly kingdom responsibilities on our shoulders, and worked tirelessly to make it happen every week.
First Group-International Mission Trip: Romania, 2015. Also: my very first mission trip. A construction-based trip and I was the last qualified person in this group to be there.
The “lean years” were followed by (what I would call) the “turbulent years”. We had multiple summers where we had to relocate because of school renovations. We launch some new ministries. And we had a season of growth, but we also lost some founding families. Plural. Multiple families who felt integral at the time, left the church for various reason.
See, that’s the thing that I never expected with church planting: the amount of people who would come and go! At the first Harvest University event I attended, the speaker stressed that “Building Strong Leaders Requires Enduring Commitment.” So I would be disappointed any time someone dropped off. “Where’s your enduring commitment?” I would think.
Now, with the luxury of hindsight, I can see that regardless of how long they were with us, every person that served here helped us get a little further down the road. And I’m so thankful for every person that God brought through Harvest, for whatever amount of time we were able to serve with them. God used them all in a mighty way, and they were faithful to answer the call!
The “turbulent years” continued as we moved into 12330 Perry Highway. The chaos of moving in and turning it to be a church lead to the chaos of needing to renovate and expand. Twice!
“The Next 3”
“The Next 3 Expansion”
“The Next 5”
2020 Arrow Missions Trip. Many, many sleepless hours have been spent at this Retreat Center in Saxonburg. Good times, I’ll tell you what!
For me personally, a lot changed leading up to the relocation as well. I was in college, so I wasn’t as involved. We had more help, and I started feeling less of a strain to serve. I got to serve in a rotation on AV, instead of being in charge of it. Dan tricked my into helping with Arrow, and I got involved with that leadership team. I interned at Northway one summer, and starting thinking about ways to use my production degree at Harvest as well.
As we settled in our new location, I found things to do to stay involved, but knew I really didn’t have to! “This is good,” I thought. “Now, if I take a production job that takes me away from Pittsburgh, they won’t miss me.”
No sooner after that thought crossed my mind, does Pastor Jeff bring me in and offer me the Administrator position. Really, God?!
At this point I was one month away from college graduation and beginning job searches. I thought and prayed about it for a couple days, but really believed that this was absolutely God calling me to stay involved. So- I accepted the position, and right after graduation I started my new job as Administrative Assistant to Pastor Jeff and HBCPN.
Now, our personal relationship had evolved once again: From Pastor, to like-family, to personal mentor, to Boss!
Being on this side of the ministry has been an eye opener for me! There is so much more that happens “behind the curtain” that the general congregation will never know. And not only just the time spent planning services and special events- but the intentionality with which Pastor Jeff leads this church. Do you know how much he thinks and prays for you? How much time he devotes to studying the scriptures every week? How he bends over backwards to make sure he can take every phone call and meeting that people request? How much his family sacrifices for all these things to happen? It’s absolutely inspiring, and makes me want to do more, serve more, and care more just by his example.
So, it’s appropriate that our 10th Anniversary fell in October- which is also Pastor Appreciation Month. Because these last three years that I’ve gotten to work directly with him, I have gained a whole new appreciation for him that I didn’t think was previously possible.
I told him on October 3rd, when we celebrated our 10 year anniversary, that I wouldn’t rather have spent the last 10 years serving with anyone else!
I don’t know how much time we have left before the Lord returns, or what is next for me in my life. But I am confident, that every year we as Harvest have left will be spent doing exactly what we have been doing faithfully for the last 10 years.