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From The Pastor
I Am Blessed!
I have realized the blessings of God on numerous occasions, but it was a powerful reminder this week as so many of you took time to brave getting rained on to attend my "Birthday Parade!" It was so good to see some faces that have been hidden for the last six months!! The cards, gifts, and encouragement I have received this week has truly refreshed my soul, and for that I am so thankful! May God continue to bless our oneness in Him as a church family as we continue to serve and love one another! As always, I will love and pray for all of you!
Pastor Russ
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Connect with Harvester
To see additional Harvester Information click on this link http://www.harvesterumc.com/
For Online Giving click the Harvester link above and look for online giving in the upper right-hand corner
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From Pastor Gary
I am sitting in front of the TV this morning and wondering what 2020 has left for us this year. I have seen the wildfires of the west and northwest and then wondered if there was any way to get the water being left by Hurricane Sally to the west coast states. In between these disasters being highlighted, every commercial seems to be about the elections. Pastor Russ reminded us on Sunday that no matter what side of the fence we are on in the election, God is still in charge.
One of the stories this morning was a little boy getting hearing devices and hearing his mother's voice for the very first time. His smile was contagious. It made me wonder what it would have been like when the Christian church was just getting established and people were hearing about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ for the first time. Don't you think their smiles would have been contagious, too? In this year of 2020, wouldn't it be special to see those smiles on the faces of those who haven't heard the stories of Jesus? I know you can't go sit and tell them the stories these days, but you can hand them the book that has all the stories in it. Let's help our friends, family and neighbors hear these stories for the first time and then watch the smiles as they tell you about the new book they are reading.
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Children's Ministry
Don't forget our TGIF video this Friday for a fun message.
Check out our YouTube channel Harvester Kids for our video message and worship!! Don't forget devotionals and tons of resources on your Parent Cue App.
We're here for you and we are covering your families in prayer.
God Bless, Kristina
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"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."
1 Timothy 4:12
Sunday, September 20
Activate! Youth Group
5:30-7:00 PM
Harvester's Youth Group meets in person on Sunday evenings from 5:30-7pm in the Youth Room. It is open to all Middle School and High School Students. Come join the fun and weekly activities and don't forget to bring your face mask! For more information, contact Pastor Russ at [email protected].
Youth & Parents: Join our Instagram @harvesterstudents to keep in touch, and up to date on Activate Youth Group happenings!
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Pumpkins Arrive
Friday, October 9th
4:00 PM
If you are willing and able to help us offload the pumpkins, we would appreciate the help!!
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Help Sell Pumpkins!
Volunteers are needed to help sell pumpkins from October 9th to October 31st. Each shift is two hours and children & youth must be accompanied by an adult. Each Youth needs to sign up two times. The proceeds will help offset the cost of the Youth Summer Conferences.
The sign up sheets are on the rolling board in the church hallway. You can also call the church office to sign up and see what dates & times are available. Just call 813-948-2311.
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We are getting ready to order our
2021 Offering Envelopes
Many in our congregation are giving online but if you would still like to receive a box of 2021 Offering Envelopes, we will gladly order you a box. Please email us at [email protected] if you would like us to add you to our order.
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Samaritan's Purse
Operation Christmas Child
Shoe Boxes
Great news! We have a date for our packing party -- Sunday, November 1 at 4:30 pm. This is going to be a busy day with the 9:00 service, Annual Charge Conference at 1:30, packing party at 4:30, and Activate! Youth at 5:30. The plan is to still hold the party outside for social distancing, but we might have to move indoors depending on the weather. I'll keep you posted if anything major changes.
Our Youth are going to fold up the boxes on September 20, so there will be more than 100 available for individual packers to pick up during the week or at Sunday service. Each box will have the suggested items list, info about "Follow Your Box," other info from Samaritan's Purse, and two elastic bands to close up the box. Remember, each box will need the $9.00 processing fee to help get the box on its way to a child.
If you want to see where your box goes, you can "Follow Your Box" by paying the $9.00 fee online. You'll get a special label with a unique QR code that will be scanned at the processing center. Shortly thereafter, you can check online to see where your box went and then we can mark that on our tracking map.
We are going to need more items for our packing party, as right now I'm afraid we'll be short on a few items. I'll take inventory and let you know what we might be in need of. The offer still stands if you'd like me to shop for you. Please contact me via email at [email protected] or text me at 813-598-1783 and we can work out the details.
For those of you that are venturing out to the stores, Wal-Mart has started marking down their school supplies by 90%. They also have backpacks for as low as $3.00 which actually fit nicely in a box if they're rolled up tight. I've also seen that Walgreen's is doing the same thing, with backpacks as low as $1.00. I've seen the sale at Wal-Mart but haven't seen anything at our SR54/Collier Walgreen's.
Please remember that our target group this year is 10-14 with the hope that we can pack 25 for each gender. Traditionally this is the most under-served age group so every box helps!
The Virtual Project Leader workshop that I attended on Saturday night had a few technical difficulties so I didn't get nearly what I had hoped to out of it. The few of us that attended had a great conversation about our personal experiences and how we do things from parties to packing to encouraging participation. What I did get, however, was a dozen of the OCC printed plastic boxes for us to fill at our party! These are a little smaller than the cardboard boxes, but the child can continue to use the box for a number of things.
If anyone is interested in assembling fishing kits for boys or sewing kits for girls, these are a great item to include. I can provide instructions for either kit, so please let me know if you'd like to help out with this.
Thanks again for your continued support!
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Christian Social Services /
Harvester Helpers
Christian Social Services will open their store and food pantry for the time being, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. Harvester Helpers can resume volunteering the last Saturday of each month from 10am to 12pm (unless things change again.) As always CSS is closed the last Saturday of November and December. They are currently able to accept food donations only. No other donations are being accepted at this time.
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Ushers & Greeters Needed
Volunteers are needed at the 9am in person church service on Sunday mornings. If you are interested in serving, contact coordinators Lloyd and Claire Evans at 813-991-4523 or email them at [email protected] or nunclaire@yahoo.
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Join the Ground Hogs!
Our mowing team is in need of two more volunteers interested in mowing our church grounds. We currently have two teams that rotate mowing weeks. If we add two more people then we would have three mowing teams and could rotate the teams every third week! Anyone interested in helping can contact Simon FitzPatrick at 203-554-4010 or contact the church office at 813-948-2311
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Room Availability At Harvester
Any Ministry Team, Bible Study Group or anyone needing to reserve a room, multiple rooms or the church property, please contact Sheila in the church office to confirm availability and to schedule your meeting and/or event at [email protected] or (813) 948-2311
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Watch our Sermon's Live on Sunday mornings
You can watch even WITHOUT your own facebook account!
No Facebook account? No problem! Click the link below and watch our Sermon's live on Harvester's Facebook page at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings or tune in later to watch the video.
Just click the link the link above and it will take you directly to the Harvester facebook page. To the left of the screen, click on "Videos". Then it will take you to our most recent sermon's. When you click on the most recent video, in the bottom right corner on the video screen, there is another volume button. Make sure it is all the way up.
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Virtual Attendance Pad
Now on the Harvester Web Site!
Help us to still keep track of our attendance at the 9am live streaming service.
Just click the link and it will take you to the Harvester web site
Scroll down a little bit and click on the purple tab that say "Let Us Know You Were There"
Then type in your name and information then hit "Send" ! It's just that easy!
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Thank you for your faithful giving! Attendance, Tithes and Offerings
Online Views Sunday, September 13....................402 Operating Received Sunday, September 13.........$8,873.00 Operating Received Year to Date.......................$300,494.67 Operating Year to Date Budget..........................$313,005.57
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Prayer for Harvester
We will be meeting through Zoom
Contact Pastor Gary if you would like to join
Pastor Gary is leading a prayer group in praying for Harvester every Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. Everyone is welcome. Please join us.
Meeting ID: 614 144 8568
Password: 164573
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Thank you to Joanie Einemann and Eloisa Garcia for packing up the SIT bags that go to the children in need at Marlow Elementary. We appreciate your time and effort!
Thank you to our Ground Hogs, Simon FitzPatrick, Tom Herrin, Denny Johnson, Randy Ayers, Bruce Kitchen, Ron Ford and Keith Swan for keeping our grounds mowed and looking terrific! We appreciate all of you!
Thank you to Denny Johnson, George Alexander and Lloyd Evans for helping with various work projects around the church and grounds. We appreciate all of you! |
Church Office Hours
Office hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 am to 3:30 pm. Contact Sheila at 813-948-2311 or email [email protected] with any questions, concerns or needs. As you all know I mostly work from home but do keep some office hours at church. If you should need to get into the church for any reason, feel free to contact me and I can get there quickly.
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Harvester's 25th Anniversary begins December 2020! We will celebrate next year when we get a vaccine and it is safe to all be back together!
Our Daring Faith Team is working on special events and needs your help. We would like to collect pictures and "memories" from our church members from their time with Harvester - please think about any special, funny, touching moments you have had at Harvester or because of Harvester and share them by emailing to [email protected]. We would also like to do some short video member interviews where members can talk about an experience with Harvester that can be compiled with others.
Please email [email protected] if you are willing to participate. We would love a variety of content - Harvester helping you come to Christ (anyone take Pastor Gary's Evangelism class or Class 401?), memories of getting married/baptized, funny memories, memories of meeting lifetime friends, etc.
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The Prayer Group will NOT be meeting on Friday mornings until further notice. With the rise of Covid cases, we are trying to keep everyone safe.
Contact Larry Young and the prayer chain at 813-846-4342 if you have a prayer concern. We can all stay connected and pray for each other.
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Women of Faith
(Cancelled until further notice)
Women of Faith meet on the first Monday of each month from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the adult Sunday School Rooms 117 & 118.
Come for fellowship, prayer and devotional. This is not a Bible study, so there will be no homework. For more information, please contact Eloisa Garcia at [email protected], or Delaine Holsopple at [email protected].
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Congregational Care For Our Harvester Family
Our Congregational Care Team leaders are Deborah Alexander (813-994-2538) and co-chair Sandi Newby (813-996-2825). If it is an emergency and you need someone immediately, call or text Pastor Gary at 813-727-5556. Please feel free to call the church 813-948-2311 anytime day or night for things that don't need immediate attention. As soon as someone is in the office, they will return your call or forward your message to the appropriate person. The church office hours are 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Monday through Thursday.
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Like us on Facebook!! Harvester has several new groups on Facebook, so check them out!
Harvester Women - Sisters in Spirit
Harvester Youth - Activate
Harvester Kids - Children's Ministry ***this is a closed group - meaning that only members will be able to see the information in it for the safety of our children -- but all you have to do to be a part of it is request to join -- there are 3 questions (are you a member/regular attendee of Harvester?, What Harvester Children's activities have you/do you plan to attend? What ages are your children? Once the admin approves it, you will have access to the pages.
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Church Library
Our Church Library is available for everyone to use! Stop by and check out some materials and feel free to borrow what you like! We have a really nice collection.
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Harvester APP
You can now download the Harvester App through the App Store for either Apple or Google! Search: HarvesterUMC
With our App you can:
View previous sermons
See our church calendar
Find out more information about HUMC
Submit a prayer request
Make a donation
Read the Bible
Receive updates about Harvester
And so much more!
Be sure to turn your notifications on to receive messages from the church.
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Worship Times &
Sunday School
Sunday Mornings
9:00 a.m. On Campus
Worship &
Live Streaming
Nursery is not available
at this time.
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Upcoming Message
Sunday, September 20
In Person Church and
Live Streaming at 9am
Sermon Series:
"Refocusing On What
Matters Most"
Message:
"Thinking Like Jesus"
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:16
Pastor Russell O. McKee lll
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Youth Schedule
Sunday, September 20
Activate! Youth Group
5:30-7:00 PM
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Church Contact
Information
Office
(813) 948-2311
Web Site
Pastor
Russell O. McKee lll
Family Ministries Pastor
Gary Hallam
Worship & Creative Arts
Phillip Brown
Administrative Assistant
Sheila Fitzgerald
Nursery Coordinator
Christina Monette
Director of Children's Ministry
Kristina Nast
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