After talking with Harvest’s Mexico City Senior Pastor Antonio Munoz, you’ll begin to see the significance of God’s perfect timing. Years before Harvest Mexico City was even a thought in anyone’s mind, God was laying a foundation for Antonio’s family as well as a trust in the Lord’s amazing timing. In 1989, Antonio was planning on becoming a Catholic priest, but just before he could start seminary, his brother invited him to a men's Bible study, and Antonio was saved.
Years later, Antonio’s wife, Becky, was the only Spanish-speaking volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center in Dallas. In the summer of 2003, a young Hispanic woman came in who had saved just enough money to have an abortion. Becky explained that their center was not an abortion clinic and gave her encouragement and information on adoption, and then offered for the woman to have a sonogram. The young woman discovered that her baby was already 13 weeks along, and the type of abortion required at 13 weeks was more costly than what she had saved. She left with Becky’s information on adoption. Antonio and Becky prayed for several months that she would choose life and were surprised to hear from her again in January. With much praise to the Lord, Becky learned that this woman had not had an abortion! However, she also had not contacted an adoption agency, and her due date was less than two weeks away. Becky recalls, “At that moment, she asked a question that my heart will never forget, ‘Will you and your husband adopt my baby?”
Approval for adoption in Texas often takes three to five months, yet God's perfect timing and almighty hand was evident. “What usually takes months, took ten days,” Becky recalls, “And when our birth mom went into labor on February 4, 2004, I got to be in the delivery room, and we brought our sweet Jessica home two days later. Jessica means ‘God beholds.’ And we know God saw Jessica in the womb and knew our great desire to have a baby and set us apart for each other.”
After the adoption, the Lord drew Antonio and Becky’s hearts back to their hometown of Mexico City—thus beginning their path to Harvest. They moved back to Mexico to pastor a church that had recently endured a church split. After shepherding that church for six years, the group of people that had originally split from the church came to Antonio demanding the building back. While the courts could have settled it legally, Antonio and his church felt the high road was to give back the property and walk away. “We felt like the Lord was saying, ‘If someone asks for your tunic, give them your robe also,’” Antonio says. “We had invested a lot of money in that building, but we felt like God was saying, ‘Do not worry, I will take care of you, this is my church.’”
During that time, they were praying about establishing a church that looked like Harvest. Antonio was familiar with Harvest from his days at Moody Bible Institute, and Becky’s brother was on staff at Harvest. Unbeknownst to them, Becky’s brother had talked to Kirk Vanmaanen in the Fellowship about his brother-in-law’s situation, and Kirk asked if there would be any interest in them becoming a Harvest. Antonio was thrilled with the offer and again, in the Lord’s timing, just weeks after the decision was made, he left for Illinois to be a part of the training center.
After a few months of training, Antonio, Kirk, and John Cochran, an elder at Harvest Davenport (a HBF sending-base church that directly supports HBC Mexico City), went to Mexico to find a place for Antonio’s church to meet. There was an unattractive, old storefront that they were considering because the options and finances were limited, but in God’s perfect timing, that very week another church vacated it’s building and offered to rent their property. “It has two levels for ministry,” says Antonio, “and another level for parking, which is a miracle in Mexico City!”
Launching their church on September 4, 2011, Antonio had the privilege of baptizing 31 people three months later! They average 200 attendees on a given weekend. Regarding the challenge of planting the first Harvest in Latin America in one of the largest cities in the world, Antonio jokes, “There is a saying in Mexico, ‘Too much gravy for such a little turkey.’ I feel like that little turkey! But we look forward to seeing what the Lord will accomplish through us at Harvest Mexico City!”
After leaving in their twenties, it wasn’t a place where they hoped to return. Given a taste of California life for seminary and Chicago life at the Harvest Training Center, Jason Fevig and his wife, Gethel, thought Miami was a part of their past, not their future. “Miami has access to idols that other places just don’t have so readily,” Jason says. “There are drugs whenever you want them, prositution, a sex-slave industry, opulence and prosperity like you’ve never seen. It’s like being in a grocery store with 10,000 choices of cereal—there are just too many choices of sin, and it’s all way too accessible.”
But, Jason recalls, “The Lord put Miami in our hearts.” He and Grethel began recruiting old friends and listeners to Walk in the Word and their core group grew to over 75 when Jason launched the church in the fall of 2009. Over the past two years the church has witnessed God’s faithfulness and desire for light in such a dark area by growing the church to over 150 people. And the children’s ministry is booming as well, including the addition of Jason and Gretel’s 16-month-old son, Elijah, and 6-month-old daughter, Elisa. Jason explains, “Like most big cities, people in Miami choose not to have families, or they start them very late in life. When we first launched, we only had a few kids in our children's ministry. Now that Harvest has planted a life-giving church here, this trend is radically changing. Countless young couples are beginning families and families with children are making Harvest their home. In fact, last month we had seven babies dedicated to the Lord. God is beginning a legacy here that we pray will impact generations!”
But this doesn’t mean the Enemy isn’t at work. When looking for a place for HBC Miami to meet, Jason received 74 rejection notices from everything from high schools to movie theaters. “I guess there were a few acceptance letters in the 74,” says Jason, “but then they would let us know that rent was ‘only’ $25,000 a month!” Finally the Lord has blessed them with a place to worship alongside an Episcopalian church that has allowed HBC Miami to convert the fellowship hall into a permanent location for Harvest.
When asked how the Fellowship has been able to help Jason along the way he affirms, “I am the biggest advocate of the Fellowship! It has given me the structure to help apply what I have learned in seminary. The Fellowship gives you a tested model. Most people don’t have the creativity, or the time, or the ability, or the experience to create something from scratch. I’m so thankful I don’t have to use my time creating big new things. I would never get to the ministry if I had to create it all on my own. I would have killed the church half a dozen times by now if I hadn’t had the relationships I have in the Fellowship.”
Eternally changed by His grace and desiring to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission; Harvest churches in Nicaragua and Australia are set to launch in January. After many months of fervent prayer and preparation, doors are being opened and public services will be held announcing Harvest Bible Chapel. We are excited for the start of the second in Latin America and the first Harvest church plant in Australia. Join us in celebrating this work of God – it is marvelous in our eyes.
Pastor Jared Cox Managua, Nicaragua Launching January 15, 2012 www.harvestmanagua.org
Pastor Frans Alberts Perth, Australia Launching January 22, 2012 www.harvestperth.org