Skip to main content
Church NewsMinistry Highlights

Neighbor 2 Neighbor Event Focuses on Missions

By December 1, 2018No Comments

OSWEGO, Ill.—For the second year, Harvest New Beginnings hosted a Missions Global Impact Celebration. This weeklong event was born out of the church’s desire both to encourage missionaries and mission organizations and to challenge the church family to support missionaries through giving funds, praying, and volunteering.

This year’s event, titled Neighbor 2 Neighbor, focused on 10 local and regional ministry partners, including Baptist Children’s Home, Child Evangelism Fellowship, and Shepherds College. Representatives of the 10 organizations set up display tables in the church’s foyer and visited the church’s small groups and Bible classes throughout the week, giving the Harvest family multiple opportunities to learn more about each organization.

Further highlighting these ministry partners, the church held a banquet honoring these organizations and the church members who serve with them. Keeping with the Neighbor 2 Neighbor title of the event, the banquet featured a fun Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood theme.

On Sunday morning, the last day of the event, GARBC National Representative Mike Hess spoke during the worship service. Speaking about the parable of the Good Samaritan, he encouraged the congregation to understand who God says our neighbor is and to actively reach out with love to serve people around us. That night he spoke to the congregation about how to know if you’ve been called into ministry and then joined a panel discussion with four other current and former Harvest members who have followed the Lord into ministry: Eric and Nerry Graefen, who serve with Family Life, and Tabor and Katie Troutman, who are just beginning their journey into ministry. Hess himself is a former member of Harvest New Beginnings.

The church says the Missions Global Impact Celebration “was a wonderful, exciting week for the Harvest family as they celebrated and supported those who are reaching out and serving some of the most vulnerable among us with the love of Jesus.”