HARVEST 2020 MID-YEAR REPORT
Establishing self-sustaining Samaritan Strategy teams in new areas
Elly Oliveira
Harvest Global Field Coordinator
In loving memory of Harvest Associate and Pastor Atilio Quintanilla Acosta,
called to be with the Lord on July 6, 2020
A word to our donors
Thank you for your faithful and sacrificial support to Harvest. You have made significant impact in 27 countries where Harvest has served in 2020, bringing God’s healing to a broken world in many ways. When compared to 2019, we had a reduction of 46% in our trainings as a result of the restrictions during the pandemic. At the same time, the Lord opened new opportunities through social media, enabling us to reach people and places where we have never been before. By God’s grace, the work is moving on and Harvest has honored the commitment to equip the church around the world to serve as Jesus did. In November we will share the plans for 2021, including new training projects that combine in-person and on-line sessions. Meanwhile, we invite you to read this mid-year report and pray for Harvest. Your generous contributions are reflected here, showing a work done for God’s glory. We are deeply grateful.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12.12
Joyful in Hope
With increased demand for our services in the 27 countries where we trained, the restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic required immediate adjustments in our operations. As we responded to the demand and found encouragement in the Scripture, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”, Romans 12.12, the words of Harvest President and founder, Bob Moffitt, encouraged the global team, when he said, “the global crisis is critical, but it also brings opportunities, and we shall respond with obedience, since God’s calling to Harvest remains the same even during the pandemic”.
Therefore, we continue our Samaritan Strategy Program (SamS) with focus on the discipleship of church leaders to demonstrate and proclaim Christ’s love in their communities using local resources. In April we adapted our in-person trainings to be done through 95 on-line sessions in 12 languages. The sessions were held by telephone or internet, enabling the team to continue the work. In May, our field workers did 202 on-line sessions, showing a 112% increase in one month, which was very encouraging and showed positive results not only in terms of numbers, but in terms of new learning experiences, ah!ah! moments discovering biblical truth, and new relationships. During the pandemic, it became evident that local churches were able to impact communities and change reality around them, working as the administrators of God’s grand agenda and carrying out God’s will on earth as in heaven.
Here are examples of Harvest’s ministry from some of our fields in Africa:
Gueckedou, Guinea Conakry
In Gueckedou-Guinea, Frederick met Eugene Dieudonné Kolno, a 25 year-old man, in a hopeless situation because of mental disorientation. Frederick brought Eugene to his home, took care of him, and prayed for his deliverance. Today, Eugene is doing well and works in a tapestry company.
Musanze, Rwanda
COVID-19 reached Musanze in Rwanda, where poor people in need to work day-to-day to earn for food went through a strict lockdown. Many went hungry. Pastor Juvenal Habyarimana and his family of nine people fasted from lunch to serve their neighbors. They did this for four weeks until the strict lockdown finished. Today the people from his community witness the love of God’s shown by His people.
Bondo, Kenya
After the SamS training in Bondo, coordinated by Ruth Orlale, the youth of local churches did several seed projects, including supporting a child headed household. Regardless their denominations, the youth came together, donated materials, labor, skills, and time to build a house for the orphans. Today that child-led family has their own place to live and to enjoy.
Patient in Affliction
We grieve the loss of Harvest Associate, Atilio Quintanilla, and are deeply sad because he is no longer with us. But we celebrate Atilio’s life, a life of dedicated service that honored the Lord. We pray for his wife, Anita, for their children, and express our sympathy to all who were affected by the Coronavirus infection and the families who lost their dear ones.
Even in the midst of affliction, God continued to call churches and individuals to represent Him, and to minister to hurting people so the light of Christ would shine through the world. Although we deeply regret that we could not meet in-person for each phase of our SamS projects, the trainings continued to be done on-line.
The table below shows the combined numbers of our in-person and on-line activities, followed by examples of Harvest’s ministry from some of our fields in India.
In India, using the zoom platform, Prakash Nemade led a family/children party where Bob Moffitt spoke to the participants. They all enjoyed the event and had fun. As part of their lesson on Discipline of Love, every day Prakash shared a verse from Proverbs, asking the participants to meditate on the proverb and share it with others. As a result, now the children started to memorize the Scriptures.
After days of lockdown, Julias & Anita Khristy offered counseling and guidance, helping people who were depressed, contemplating suicide, having lost a dear one, or after receiving the positive result of a covid-19 test. Using internet tools, both reached thousands of people through more than 450 churches from the Church of North India network.
Kerala, India
In Kerala, Abraham Daniel and other pastors helped elderly people, those who lost their jobs due to Covid-19, and the local police. The team collected funds, bought food and essential items, visited the needy, contacted the police, and showed their appreciation to them. In times of natural disasters like floods or the Covid-19 pandemic, God opened doors for them to demonstrate His love to the people not only with food, but also with encouragement, socialization and prayers.
Kolkata, India
In the Kolkata region, Timothy Das and other pastors were heavily involved in distributing food and essential items to the daily wage laborers and the poor who lost their jobs due to Covid-9. By God’s grace, every day people were coming for help.
Faithful in Prayer
Prayer has given our team a deeper commitment to serve God, who called us to envision and equip the Church to reflect Jesus, the Chief Servant. We have prayed for opportunities to expand God’s Kingdom in any circumstance, and this has been the case during the pandemic, where our 343 trainers served along with people representing 815 churches.
The table below shows the details of our global activities, followed by examples of Harvest’s ministry from some of our fields in the Americas.
Brazil
In São Paulo, Pastor Sérgio Kaoru Ayoama from the Hosana Casa Verde Church, looked for alternatives to reach the children in their community. They created the “Hosana Radio – Luke 2.52” using WhatsApp to tell Bible stories for children. They were serving poor families who did not have iphones, but ordinary cell phones where they could only hear the voice without images. The project has been fruitful to share the gospel while encouraging imagination and creativity for the kids.
In Fracisco Morato, Pastor Edson Fiuza from the Baptist Church, started a SamS project during the pandemic and already did three seed projects. They cleaned the streets and a square next to the church, taught “muay thai” classes for the children, and did crafts with the women, bringing together church and community members in a unique way that fostered cordial relationships.
In Bahia, Associates Humberto and Eva Santos met with the leaders and pastors of four churches. As a lawyer, Humberto put his expertise at their service, explained strategies to do on-line events, health care, compliance with government regulations to prevent Covid infection, and the role of the local churches during the pandemic. The pastors were better equipped to lead their people and to serve in the expansion of the Kingdom of God in a time of crisis.
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Venezuela
In Costa Rica, Luis Selles delivered food for over 500 needy families in the Talamanca community.
In the Dominican Republic, Ricci Paulino had prayer meetings and coordinated volunteers who did street clean-ups, delivered food and did home repairs for needy people.
In Honduras, Ramiro Carbajal shared the plan of salvation in hospitals and distributed lemons and sandwiches for people on the streets. With the difficult situation of curfew and quarantine in the region, poverty increased and many families went hungry. Without jobs, the families who lived day-by-day were the most affected. If they did not work one day, they did not have food. Thanks to the generous contribution of God’s people, we were able to buy and distribute food for 75 families in Guatemala and 175 families in Honduras. They were much happy and thankful to God. We praise the Lord.
In Venezuela, Xiomara Suarez, Virgilio and Marielys Reyes, coordinated training sessions with over twenty people. They organized a WhatsApp group to share information and encouragement and described the experience as ”a very enriching time, we are sure that each lesson will involve each brother/sister in the goal of making an impact in our society.”
Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America
Linda Morris coordinates the work at First Pentecostal Church. Anthony and Shirley Minter, Harvest partners, conducted a Seed Project where the owners of a local restaurant, Proper Eats, PROPEREATS.COM were giving FREE breakfast and lunch every day from 9 am to 1 pm Monday through Friday. The Minters delivered meals to a woman who babysits her niece and nephew and shared the restaurant’s information with others who will patronize the restaurant when the pandemic conditions permit. The Minters continued to reach out to seniors who were isolated during the pandemic, purchasing and delivering groceries and other necessities.
The youth leadership did a seed project with limited in-person contact with elderly people because of the pandemic. The group decided to color drawings of floral arrangements and inscribe scriptures around the borders to remind senior residents unable to venture out that they were and are not alone. The name of the project is #NeverAlone. They will frame the pictures of the colored arrangements and share them with the residents of three different senior homes in three different areas of Phoenix and adjacent communities.
At Iglesia Agua Viva, Cleiton Oliveira encouraged church members to celebrate children’s week and mother’s week with contests, games, and messages that circulated online helping people interact and have fun, thus reducing the tension of the lockdown. The community of jiu-jitsu fighters is large in Phoenix, and Cleiton baptized the world champion Márcio Andre and his wife, Brenda Heller. As they have been discipled, their testimony is vibrant and strong, confessing Jesus as their Lord and Savior and giving Him all the glory.
Thank you
We are grateful to the Harvest global staff and to the participants in the SamS projects around the globe. Their servant spirit and collaboration blessed many people. We thank the donors who so generously contributed to this project, without their participation we would not be able to go that far. We praise the Lord for His provision, guidance, and protection, and pray that this experience may be multiplied in many places for His glory.
Invitation to collaborate
Harvest Associates are volunteers who sacrificially give of themselves to this ministry. We welcome your participation to help them financially. You can write a check to «Harvest» and mail it to P. O. Box 2670 – Phoenix, AZ – 85002, or click on the «Donate» button on this page for a credit card donation. You can designate your gift to any Harvest worker. Visit our website at www.harvestfoundation.org to learn more about their ministries.