May 2019 Volume 5, Issue 3

Inside this issue:

Celebration Savvy by

Tom Herbert

1

Welcome, New

Members

2-3

Reflections from the

2019 Pastors Summit

4-5

Savvy Through the

Minefield of

Relationships by

Tammy Melton

6

HNI Polos and Na-

tional Assembly

T-Shirts

6

Savvy Love by Dale

Sisam 7

Battle Savvy by Kevin

Brown 7-8

2019 Pre-Conference

Intensive 8

HNI 2019-2020

Events Calendar 9

2019 National

Assembly Speakers 10

2019 National

Assembly Workshop

Speakers

11

Notable News! 12

2419 US Hwy 42 N

Delaware, OH 43015

(651) 438-2596

office@harvestnetworkintl.org

www.harvestnetworkintl.org

A few years

ago, Tim

H u g h e s

wrote a

w o r s h i p

song that

became an instant clas-sic. “Oh, Happy Day”

was written as a cele-

bration of the greatest

day in the history of the

world—Easter Sun-

day. As followers of

Jesus, we truly have

something to celebrate

every Easter!

The Apostle Paul

wrote, “So now we can

rejoice in our wonder-

ful new relationship

with God, because our

Lord Jesus Christ has

made us friends of

God.” (Romans 5:11)

I love how Eugene Pe-

terson paraphrased

Ephes i an s , “How

blessed is God! And

what a blessing He

is! He’s the Father of

our Master, Jesus

Christ, and takes us

to the high places of

blessing in Him.

Long before He laid

down earth’s founda-

tions, He had us in

mind, had settled on us

as the focus of His love,

to be made whole and

holy by His love. Long,

long ago He decided to adopt us into His family

through Jesus Christ.

(What pleasure He

took in planning this!)

He wanted us to enter

into the celebration of

His lavish gift-giving

by the hand of His

beloved Son.”

The theme of this year’s

National Assembly is,

“Savvy: Discovering Minis-

try Strategies to Advance

God’s Kingdom.” While it

may not seem like the

most important priority, I

believe we need to attain

Celebration Savvy in our

ministries! Is there anoth-

er organization in the

world that can say they

own the greatest day in

history as their landmark

holiday? We are the

church of Jesus Christ.

We exist to celebrate

Jesus, and Easter Sunday

is the greatest day

of celebration!

In a recent spontaneous moment, I asked several

Harvest Network church-

es to forward pictures

of their weekend celebra-

tions from this past East-

er. We have created an

online photo album with

pictures from the Easter

celebrations across Har-

vest Network for your

enjoyment. Harvest Net-

work is a growing family

of like-minded churches

and ministries that exists

to tell the wonderful sto-

ry of the love of God

for a fallen world. You

will be blessed as you

view photo’s of your ex-

tended family celebrating

the greatest dayin history!

Photo Slide Show: www.harvestnetworkintl.org/

resources.html#easter

Watch the National Assembly promotional

video at www.vimeo.com/317681797 and

register today at www.harvestnetworkintl.org.

CELEBRATION SAVVY By Tom Herbert, Pastor of Freedom Community Church in Shrewsbury, PA

Page 2 HARVEST NETWORK - May 2019

WELCOME, NEW MEMBERS

Terri Warner

Legacy Ministries

Newnan GA

(General License)

Teresa, who goes by “Terri”, danced ballet and

taught dance for 25 years. It is still one of her

passions. She is part of a church worship dance

group called “Tri-Grace.”

Terri and her husband, Brett, of 33 years, have

three wonderful adult children and live on a lake

lot. She loves being in the water, going to the

beach and enjoying nature. They both especially

enjoy visiting Hawaii.

Terri founded and leads a small group Bible

study at Legacy Ministries in Christ, Inc. in

Peachtree, GA, called “Whole Life Today” which

is based on the scripture verse Hebrews 3:13,

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is

called ‘Today.’”

“I had an interest in receiving a General License,

because I want to be obedient in anything and

everything the Lord Jesus wills for my life. I have

had involvement with Legacy Ministries in Christ,

Inc. for the last seven years. I immersed myself

in almost every area of ministry possible

in hopes of gleaning multiple ways to serve

the body of Christ. Now I am in my second

year as one of the board members for

Legacy Ministries.”

Terri is excited about growing closer to God.

She continues reaching out for more opportuni-

ties to learn and serve.

Bill and Lisa share a love for the outdoors. Bill

goes camping, kayaking, hiking, and he makes a

yearly trip with his adult son, Andrew, to camp

and/or kayak. Bill also enjoys grilling. Lisa likes to

spend time gardening and taking their adored

rescue dog, a Pit-Boxer mix named “Mr. Colt”,

on walks. They love playing with their four

grandkids ages 6, 5, 4 and 2. A true coffee en-

thusiast, Bill roasts his own coffee beans and

spoils Lisa with it.

Last year Bill and Lisa adopted Emma, a girl with

special needs. Despite trauma, she’s very joyful

and aspires to run a dog rescue program.

Bill and Lisa recently began “Crossing Jordan”

together. It is a healing prayer ministry where

they counsel a variety of people from those who

have been through early childhood abuse and

trauma to those who are looking for spiritual

direction and restoration. They are currently

working with a lot of married couples. Bill says

their passion is counseling and helping people to

be set free and having “Ah ha!” moments. They

also counsel teen girls at House of Hope and

teach a parenting class.

Bill recommends His Needs, Her Needs by

Willard Harley, and Lisa encourages people to

read Grace Walk by Steve McVey.

Bill and Lisa Fizer

Crossing Jordan Ministries

York, PA

(Ordination)

Page 3 Volume 5, Issue 3

WELCOME, NEW MEMBERS (Continued)

Johnny Hodges

Menifee, CA

(Ordination)

Johnny Hodges has been an ordained minister

for the last 20 years and still has a passion

for the lost. He is excited to see people come

to Christ. You only have to talk to him briefly

to see that he is a man of integrity and

character who doesn’t quit. His desire is to

reach people with the Gospel and meet their

needs as a pastor.

Johnny likes every genre of music and most

sports. He enjoys riding motorcycles, working

out and watching movies. Johnny has been

married to his wife, Patti, for 33 years, and they

have three adult children: Joshua (29), Abby

(22) and Bree (18). Patti is a special-needs

school teacher, and she and Johnny share

an affinity for reading and going on walks. Johnny

loves how devoted Patti is to God. He said

she always has devotions and coffee in

the morning. They both love their family, and

love to be outside.

Johnny recommends Lead Like Jesus by Ken

Blanchard and Phil Hodges which teaches how

to lead with the heart, head, hands and habits of

a servant leader. He also enjoys the book Love

Does by Bob Goff which encourages you

to “Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an

Ordinary World.”

Linsey Martin

Alpha Home

Abundant Life Church

San Antonio, Texas

(General License)

Linsey Martin has three kids and is busy plan-

ning her upcoming marriage to Chad Ripley!

Her oldest child, Ty, is 13 and plays the tuba in

his school band, Brennon is 11 and loves Legos

and she has an artistic and athletic 9 year old

named Ayda. Linsey is an exceptional baker and

enjoys painting tremendously. She also likes to

bike, hike, explore and just relax.

After being in real estate for 12 years, Linsey

decided to switch fields and go to school for

counseling. God opened doors and now she is

a Recovery Support Coach at a women’s resi-

dential recovery program where she helps

mostly single mothers who struggle with addic-

tion, lack of identity, faith and finances. As a for-

mer alcoholic, Linsey can relate to and identify

with these women. She uses her recovery story

to connect with women and encourage them.

Linsey and her co-worker pass out Bibles and

pray for the women they counsel. Linsey shares

how God changed her life, and how He wants to

help them get back on their feet, too. She says,

“Eventually they come around and tell me how

they see God moving in their situations.”

Through God, Linsey broke the generational

curse of dysfunction and addiction in her family

for her children, and she has a passion to help

other women do the same by being part of their

recovery support team.

Page 4 HARVEST NETWORK - May 2019

REFLECTIONS FROM THE 2019 PASTORS SUMMIT

PROPHETIC WORDS

“Don’t be afraid. It is I. I come to you, and I do

the things that cannot be done. I come to you. I

gave to you footprints upon the water.” (Lord, if

it’s you, bid us come. Let Your bride come and walk with You. Let Your bride come and stand

upon stormy waters.) “Come with Me. I bid

you, come.”

“Will you say, ‘I come’? Will you say, ‘Yes’? Will

you say, ‘Yes, I come’? Will you say, ‘Yes, sign

me up’? When you say, ‘Yes’, it’s not too late.

Don’t say, ‘Look at the old days’. Don’t say,

‘Look at yesterday’.” (We say, ‘Yes, for tomor-

row’. We say, ‘Yes, for today’. We say, ‘Yes,

Jesus’.)

“For have you not seen and have you not

heard?” I ask you again, “Have you not seen and have you not heard? For that which I have done

in the past, the Lord says to you, I will do greater

things among you. Have you not seen and have

you not heard?”

I keep hearing the Lord say, “More. I want to do

more in your lives.” (He wants us to be more in

His presence.) “I want to do more in you.” He

says to us, “More…more…more.”

Page 5 Volume 5, Issue 3

REFLECTIONS FROM THE 2019 PASTORS SUMMIT (Continued)

“The Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in everything you put your hand to.”

Deuteronomy 15:10

FELLOWSHIP

AND MINISTRY

Page 6 HARVEST NETWORK - May 2019

SAVVY THROUGH THE MINEFIELD OF RELATIONSHIPS

By Tammy Melton, Director of Legacy Ministries for Christ, Inc. in Peachtree, GA

God created us in His image as relational beings, and He uses relationships to reach people. As ministers of the Gospel, we have been chosen to partner with God to help refine relationships, the most

important of which is one’s relationship with God. The Bible says that we have “the ministry of reconciliation”:

Now all things are of God, who has rec-onciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of rec-onciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NKJV)

While God wants to heal relationships, the enemy is trying everything He can to de-stroy them. When the disciples asked Jesus what would be the signs of His coming, Je-sus said, “...many will be offended, will be-tray one another, and will hate one anoth-er.” (Matthew 24:10 NKJV) These are the conditions from which we find ourselves

trying to rescue people. Sometimes it seems as though we are navigating through a minefield when it comes to connecting with people. We need savvy to help us locate and detonate mines the enemy has placed for destruction. Many of these mines are the same for anyone. However, some mines have been strategically placed with the intention of targeting ministers. As we allow God to refine our own relation-ships, we will be protected from these ERW’s (Explosive Remnants of War), and we will be prepared to help others escape relationship landmines and be ready for Jesus’ soon return. The Bible has much to say about the signs of the times in such passages as Matthew 24 and 2 Timothy 3. So many of these signs have to do with relationships. When we as ministers of reconciliation partner with God to help others, we are helping to usher in the return of Christ. “And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14 NIV) Let’s all seek God for a mighty relationship revival and be ready for the glorious wedding day when we as the Bride of Christ are united with Him forever!

Harvest Network Polo—$20 or $22

(2XL or larger)

HNI POLOS AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY T-SHIRTS

Place orders for the polo and/or t-shirt when registering for the National Assembly. Or call or

text Kellie Fellenger at (651-438-2596) and mention your t-shirt size, color (black or red), and

logo (Image #1 or #2). During the assembly, stop by the Harvest Network resource table to pick

up your order.

National Assembly T-Shirt—$10 or $11 (2XL or larger)

Page 7 Volume 5, Issue 3

SAVVY LOVE

By Dale Sisam, Pastor of Life Church in Eden Prairie, MN

Our greatest life-transforming event occurs when we have experienced God’s loving pres-ence in our lives through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is an act of love that, through the centuries, has melted the hardest of hearts, and transformed the vilest of

sinners into glorious saints of God. In a day when hearts have grown cold, we need the warmth of God’s love more than ever. People in both church and culture are equally hungry for deep, loving relationships. They are tired of hol-low buzzwords and empty clichés of community. They long for what is real. Not so surprisingly, we have attempted to ad-vance God’s Kingdom and reach the world using the latest strategies learned at a church growth conference or from some mastermind group. We’ve attempted to be laser focused on our mis-sion while missing the one thing that Jesus prom-ised would transform the human heart—love. At the very core of the Bible and our faith is love.

Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments with this new commandment: “You (are to) love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). Jesus said that love is the preeminent com-mandment and the ultimate witness of one’s identity in Christ. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one anoth-er” (John 13:35). When His love is on display in our daily lives, it becomes the greatest pro-nouncement of God’s glory to an unbelieving world. When one person was asked, “Are you a Christian?”, his reply said it all, “Go ask my neighbor.” Love is the most powerful tool in our Gospel arsenal. Does loving our neighbor really work? Recent stories of God working around the world reveal that the number one motivator moving Muslims to accept Christ is love. Love’s message and method has been effective for 2,000 years, just as Jesus said it would be. In advancing God’s Kingdom, let’s make it our mission to embody God’s loving, transforming presence in the world. Let’s get savvy with love.

BATTLE SAVVY

By Kevin Brown, Cornerstone Church in Americus, GA

In 2 Chronicles 20, the Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites launched an attack on Jehoshaphat . Upon learning of this attack, Jehosh-aphat was alarmed and became battle savvy with three key steps. We may not be in a battle against the Moabite,

Ammonite or Meunites, but we have three enemies we contend with on a daily basis…our flesh, the world and the devil, with the end goal of being pleasing to the Father and seeing His Kingdom advance. When in the battle we can learn from Jehoshaphat how to be Battle Savvy and position ourselves to see the deliverance of the Lord. First, he resolved to seek the Lord (vs. 3-

12). God’s people fasted, prayed and humbled themselves in order to seek help from the Lord. It is easy to get busy with ministry and fail to seek the Lord for direction in His work. And if that isn’t enough, at times we can become competent with our skills and begin trusting in our ability rather than seeking God and trusting in Him. But when we resolve to seek the Lord and keep our eyes focused on Him, we will receive the strength and direction we need for the battle. Second, he didn’t seek the Lord alone. He gath-ered all the men of Judah along with their wives and children and little ones and stood before the Lord (vs. 13). Jehoshaphat called for a na-tional fast, and they got serious about seeking the Lord together. In ministry we need to re-

(Continued on page 8)

Page 8 HARVEST NETWORK - May 2019

BATTLE SAVVY (Continued)

member we are not alone. HNI provides a wealth and depth of resources and wisdom. Just as Paul benefitted greatly from his ministry network, we can too. For example, In 2 Corinthians 7:6, Paul was downcast or depressed and writes that God comforted him by the coming of Titus. Some-times God supernaturally relieves us of depression through his Word or Spirit. But at other times God uses His people to encourage us and lift us up. In this case Paul’s depression was lifted by the coming of his fellow worker in Christ, Titus. Third, they relied on the Lord. After a time of prayer, the Spirit of God came on Jahaziel and he addressed the assembly. His message was one of comfort and encouragement. He told them the battle was not theirs but God’s. As part of their reliance upon the Lord on the day of the battle, Jehoshaphat and the singers led the way to the battle. I’m sure the singers inspired the people to stay focused on God, allowing Him to fight the

battle. At the moment of encounter, God caused such confusion that the three enemy ar-mies turned on one another and destroyed each other. The victory was so great that it took the men of Judah three days to collect all the plun-der, and they called it the valley of Berakah or the valley of blessing. This story ends with not only blessing but God’s people thanking Him and praising Him (vs. 26-28). We should always thank Him for the good things He’s done in our lives, a time of remembering the victory that He has brought to our lives. Jehoshaphat didn’t always show this kind of savvy. In 2 Chronicles 18, he goes into battle with the King of Israel (Ahab) and barely es-capes with his life. Later, he joined with Ahab’s son Ahaziah, king of Israel, to build trade ships. Those ships never made it, the Lord de-stroyed them (2 Chronicles 20:37). So let’s be savvy and take up our positions; stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord.

Page 9 Volume 5, Issue 3

Page 10 HARVEST NETWORK - May 2019

Page 11 Volume 5, Issue 3

Page 12

HARVEST NETWORK

BOARD OF ELDERS

HARVEST NETWORK

ADMINISTRATION STAFF

How can we serve you?

Tell us your prayer

requests, praise reports

and notable news. Give us updates on your

ministry.

jherbert@harvestnetworkintl.org

MINISTRY UPDATES…

Dennis and Janet Lippmann, Pastors of New Life Christian Church Internation-al in Cleveland, OH, spoke at Freedom Community Church, pastored by Tom Herbert on Sunday, May 26.

John Josef, Pastor of Harvest Mission for Christ in India, spoke at the River Church in a Barn, pastored by Bob Swanger, on April 28.

Luis and Rose Maldonado, Pastors of The Touch of the Master in York, PA, hosted a dinner for local HNI pastors and leaders on May 25.

Dan Owings, Pastor of Hope Family Church in Marion, OH, Scott Ferguson, Pas-tor of Central Christian Church in Marion, OH, and Pat Street, Pastor of Re-deemer Church in Marion, OH, are organizing monthly regional gatherings for HNI members in central Ohio.

P. J. Murray with Xlr8TheWorld4Him Ministries in Schenectady, NY, traveled to Kenya from April 19-May 7 teaching and equipping pastors and leaders.

Kathy Lane, Pastor at LIFE Church in Jacksonville, IL, hosted “Beauty in the Val-ley” Women’s Conference on April 27.

PRAYER REQUESTS…

Please continue to pray for Gerald Ripley, Jr., Pastor of Abundant Life Church in San Antonio, TX, who is battling cancer.

Please keep Virginia Cosgrove, Director of Cross-Cultural Ministries, Inc., in your prayers as she has been diagnosed with pleuropericarditis and pleurisy.

Thank you for praying for Peter Nyongesa, Pastor of Christian Fellowship Evangelistic Ministries in Bungoma, Kenya, and his wife, Clare, who is now recovering from a near-death accident. Please continue praying for a full recovery.

Please pray for healing, restoration and peace for Bob Swanger, pastor of River Church in a Barn in Delaware, OH, and his family through the loss of their be-loved, Debbie.

Kristie Farmer Website & Database

Administrator kfarmer@ harvestnetworkintl.org

Kellie Fellenger HNI Administrator office@ harvestnetworkintl.org

Judy Herbert Communications

Coordinator jherbert@ harvestnetworkintl.org

Kevin Brown Cornerstone Church

Americus, GA kbrown@

harvestnetworkintl.org

Tom Herbert Freedom Community

Church

Shrewsbury, PA therbert@

harvestnetworkintl.org

Dale Sisam Life Church

Eden Prairie, MN dsisam@

harvestnetworkintl.org

Bob Swanger River Church in a

Barn Delaware, OH rswanger@

harvestnetworkintl.org

NOTABLE NEWS! “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for

all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading Good News about Christ from

the time you first hear it until now.” Philippians 1:3-5