2011 Annual Celebration
Download this article to PDFHarvest Fellowship of Churches 9th Annual Celebration
As the congregations arrived at the rented facility in Bridgeport, CT, the sounds of the Faith Mountain worship team warming up came through the doors! Once seated, the special “Joint Choir” from Gospel Light and Good News congregations were at the front, warming up their voices for the meeting! And so began our Saturday afternoon at the 9th Celebration of the Harvest Fellowship of Churches, and we were thrilled to be there!
HFC congregations from NYC, ME, MA, and Eastern and Central PA were gathering for this marvelous occasion! 
Everyone arrived with an obvious sense of excitement, ready to celebrate Jesus and His had wonderful Presence among His Church. From fourteen HFC congregations the leaders and congregants met, worshipped and honoring the Lord Jesus!
From multiple testimonies of God’s grace and power, we heard examples of the Lord’s gracious work, including conversions and baptisms, congregational growth, and of the miraculous provisions for such ministries as VBS! Five Pastors and one Deacon shared of their congregation’s victories, goals and prayer requests.
Pastor Leonard Burkholder shared about the four Anabaptist Native Fellowship congregations –– 
located in AZ, NM and Canada –– and the exciting news of growth and outreach ministries taking place among them! And we also enjoyed the presence of about 20 members of the 
Koinonia Fellowship of Churches, led by Bishop Lawrence Chiles, who drove up from the Philadelphia area! What a joy it was to have these guests worship and celebrate with us and to hear words of encouragement from Bishop Chiles!
Bishop Henry also shared a very challenging message entitled, “Advancing God’s Kingdom: Wake Up, Watch & Pray.” 
Bishop Henry highlighted the deep sense that many Church leaders are echoing across the nations, which is the high degree of crises taking place across America (both natural and man-made), such that our awareness and sensitivity to Christ’s return must be increased and we intentionally and diligently “Wake up, Watch and Pray!” (Please see Rev. 3:1-2 and Matt. 24:12-13.)
Upon the conclusion of the meeting we all moved to the fellowship hall for a spectacular meal of delicious ethnic foods, topped off with a lovely Anniversary cake, all generously prepared and served by the four local CT congregations: Lighthouse Fellowship Church, Gospel Light Community Church, Beacon Of Light and Good News Christian Church. Delicious!
And as Bishop Henry so often declares, “To God be the glory!”
(Note: please see additional photos at the HFC 
website found at the “Photo Gallery” menu. The photos were taken by Mary Ann Lee, from the Boston Chinese Church of Saving Grace. Thank you so much, Mary Ann.)
By Pastor Darrell Minnich