All of our 50th Anniversary special guests appear on today’s program, including Ann Wring, Becky Lewis, Marty and Tami Herron, and Dan and Chris Pelletier.
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Episode Transcript
Chris Harper: We wanna welcome you to a very special edition of Harvest Time this week. Our host, as always, is Pastor Gary Walton. Today, he’ll be speaking with some very important people in the history of Harvest Baptist Church and Harvest Ministries on the occasion of our fiftieth anniversary. This weekend, you can join us for a service that commemorates this anniversary at 10AM in the Family Life Center at Harvest. I’ll tell you more about that at the end of the program.
Let’s waste no time. Here’s Pastor Walton to introduce today’s guests.
Gary Walton: Well, welcome to a very special edition of Harvest Time. We’ve been recording these, recordings of the ministry and the life of Harvest Baptist Church for many years now. This one is especially important, and we’re glad that you’re tuning in and listening to it. In our studio, Chris just said that we might have more people on mics than we’ve ever had, and we’ve got a special gathering together. We’re getting ready to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Harvest Baptist Church and Harvest Ministries.
And in God’s goodness, he’s allowed a very special group of people to be back for this celebration. And we thought if we could get everybody together in one room and just talk about what God has done over the years, it might be a very special thing. So, let me introduce the people that are around the table and on the mics, and, and then we’re just gonna talk about Harvest and God’s goodness over the years as he’s, as he’s blessed our ministry. The the people that are here are the pastors and the pastor’s wives that have served Harvest Baptist Church for fifty years and have witnessed God’s blessing and invested their lives in a place that God has really used over the years. And so we’re very grateful to have each of you here today.
I’m sitting right next to, Mrs. Wring, Mrs. Anne Wring, and, her husband Bruce was the original founding pastor of Harvest Baptist Church back in 1975. And, she’s here along with her son and daughter-in-law. And Mrs. Wring, thank you for being here with us.
Anne Wring: Thank you for having me.
Gary Walton: Right next to her is Mrs. Lewis. And Mrs. Lewis and her husband John were early on, within four or five years of the start of the church, and then served, ministered together for seventeen years. And Mrs.
Lewis is back, along with her daughter and grandson. So welcome back, Mrs. Lewis.
Mrs. Lewis: Thank you so much. It’s good to be here.
Gary Walton: Yeah, so glad that you’re here. Next to them is Pastor Marty Herron and Tammy Herron, and served in the 2000s for seventeen years, ministered faithfully, well known on Harvest Time over these years. Pastor Herron, thank you for being here. Mrs. Herron, glad Thank that you’re back.
Marty Herron: very much. Thank you.
Gary Walton: And then next to them is Pastor Dan Pelletier and his wife, Chris. Also served for a number of years in the ’80s and ’90s. And so thankful that you’re back as well, Pastor Dan and Chris. Thank you for being here.
Dan Pelletier: Thank you for inviting us.
Gary Walton: And we thought we’d just get together and talk about what God’s done, talk about His goodness. And we’ve got some questions, but who knows where this conversation bring us, but we’re looking forward to it. Fifty years is a long time. When you hear Harvest Baptist Church and fifty years, what feelings come to mind? Pastor Herron, maybe you can get us started.
Marty Herron: Okay, sure. Well, first of all, thank you, Tammy and I, for the opportunity to be here. It’s a rare opportunity. And so, my opinion, I use the word rare because, as I mentioned to you, Gary, looking up how many Baptist churches get to 50 mark, and it’s only 9%. And then you say, well, why is it only 9%?
And the primary core rationale is, and reason is, because the churches that don’t get there don’t have stable pastoral leadership. And I think sitting here today with the Wrings, who were here at the birth and childhood, and the Lewis’ and the Pelletiers were here during their adolescence and teen years, and for Tammy and I being here, if you would, for the 20s and 30s of ministry growth, and then of course for you here in the 40s, that’s not very many people because of the stability that each one of us wanted to provide. And so, to me, this is a major component why for us we’re able to celebrate today.
Gary Walton: Pastor Dan, Chris, you guys were here in the early years. You wanna pastor Dan, why you go ahead and tell us a little bit about what fifty years means to hear that.
Dan Pelletier: Well, we’re just amazed that the church has grown as it has, and we look back at the number of people who’ve come to Christ here and the desire to keep God’s word at the core of it all the whole time, I think that’s really what’s contributed to make it, what it is. As doctor Herron said, you know, not many make it this far, but I think because we share that belief in the in the sufficiency of scripture and the and the goodness of God that we can be really rejoicing today.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Mrs. Yeah. Wring, I know we’ve talked about you just considering all that’s transpired, no idea of all of this that God was gonna do. What would you say as you think about fifty years?
Anne Wring: In the very beginning, I mean, we arrived and there was nothing here. And God led us and the things that have happened. I know God was in it all, and he’s led each pastor to follow. And through that, you know, it’s a great blessing to come back and just to see what a little seed that old brown building we started out of how it’s grown. And it’s to me, it’s like so many people get involved in ministry and start one, but they never see fifty years later what happened.
Marty Herron: Yeah.
Anne Wring: And to me, it’s just my heart is so full of what God has blessed this island with Mhmm. And for each one that is in here that has had a part in it.
Marty Herron: Yeah.
Anne Wring: And I’m just so thankful.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Well, we’re thankful for your husband’s vision, your support, your family coming. It’s remarkable what God has done with that little seed Right. That was planted. Right.
Mrs. Lewis, you and your husband, Pastor Lewis, were here in some very important years in the formation of Harvest Baptist Church.
Mrs. Lewis: My husband and I came in January of ’76, which the church was six months old, and we saw that old brown building, and I thought, oh, Lord, please help him not to like this church. I just don’t know if I can worship here. But when we came in, we realized this was the place. And we stayed three and a half years before he became the pastor. And a lot of stories that go with that, a lot of funny stories that go with that.
And then he became the pastor, and it was a summer or starting the summer, end of school year, and a lot of people that we had military, and a lot of people had transferred back to The States, and we were we had 28 adults, and we had 51 left in the school. And I thought, you know, what what are we doing here? You know? But the Lord always always was honored, and we knew that we didn’t have it in us to do anything, and only he could make this ministry grow and or even exist. Mhmm.
But, God blessed, and he’s he’s still blessing, and it’s such a wonderful thought that although we were here nineteen years and sometimes the going got rough, but the Lord kept us going and and for his honor and glory, and and I just it’s just wonderful the way God has preserved this ministry.
Marty Herron: Amen.
Gary Walton: Mrs. Herron, maybe we can start a new direction of if you can answer for your family. What what first brought you to Harvest and what was the initial impressions of island and people?
Tammy Herron: Well, I think what first brought us here, there was always a desire in my heart, even from early on after I got saved, being on a mission field. And then when we got married and after college, the Lord took us to Northland where we had a camp and involved in the college there. We had mission conferences. A lot of missionaries would come through. That never died in my heart and that grew in Marty’s heart.
And we always thought when the Lord was finished with us, our kids are grown, then the Lord would take us to the field. Had no idea it was going to be kind of like right in the middle. Miles was only third grade, Micah was seventh grade, Misty a sophomore, Megan was a junior. And we didn’t want to upset their world. So that was, you know, Lord, is this really you?
And we were willing to go, but we wanted to make sure it was him really sending us. We were very we loved Northland, loved the camp, loved the college, and just loved ministry, and ministry is people. But the Lord kept bringing people along and talking to my husband. So we ended up coming out here for a Spirit Week, just filling in for someone at Northland. And they were, candidateing a man, because they didn’t have a pastor at that time, and so we were leaving that after Spirit Week and the plane wouldn’t leave, or you know, it was grounded, and so we had the whole day here, and I think it was till the next morning.
So we came back and just sat in the hall because they were finishing church this man was candidating. And then people started asking him if he’d be willing to come or interested he’s like, well, this man is candidating and I think you got your pastor, you know. So, that was kind of the beginnings of it and the Lord just working and my heart just, I just wanted to be where the Lord wanted. It was a tearing away of the heart of all people you loved in that ministry, because ministry really is people. A life touching a life. You point your heart and life into other people.
And so then the Lord said yes. He sought counsel from several people. And so the Lord brought us here and we loved the island when we came out here and, you know, thought, well, you know, maybe this would be something like this someday, thinking it would be later. But it came sooner than later. So that’s kind of the beginnings.
But I’m just so thankful that God let us have a part. Never dreamed, you know, always the desire, but just truly humbled. And so thankful to meet Mrs. Wring and her son and Merilee, because we didn’t know all those details. And what a blessing.
And then just know that we came in on the footsteps, Pastor Lewis. Those were big shoes to fill. And they were so gracious to us. He was always checking on us. And we knew we could call them.
So they played a big role in just security for us and to keep us going. And so just very thankful, grateful for both of you. And Gary, we’re just so thankful for you and Faith and see how God’s using you and we love you dearly. And so it’s just with much gratitude, thank you so much for having us.
Gary Walton: So glad that you’re back.
Marty Herron: You know, Pastor, the postscript to this is in that time period when we were trying to make decisions about coming, and I really believe any major decision, I think God’s Word is not just a textbook, it’s the voice box of God. So I’m praying and thinking about this. It was November ’99 and I was really willing to go, but, you know, I was actually speaking at a conference down in Carolina. Rarely, I’m going with somebody. I’m by myself.
I’m reading. And, Acts seven, when Abraham is called to another country, left his family and friends, and then Harvest is just right there in my mind. I’m like, literally out loud, Lord, if this is you, then you do something today so wide, so big, can drive a truck through this. Yeah. I showered, I got dressed, I went over to the conference, and here on my display table is a note from Dan Pelletier.
Hey, I didn’t know you were here, let’s do supper tonight, when we did, and Dan has been a friend previous to that, I knew Dan from college. And, you know, we sat and talked Harvest for a couple hours, and he was telling me it’s God’s will to for me to come. And but that was a significant reaffirmation that hearing you better look at this seriously. And I’m thankful for Dan and Chris, again, they they have, was a huge part, quite frankly, in all of this. Yeah.
Yeah.
Dan Pelletier: Yeah. Remember that meeting, and we were sitting there and I’m looking at him and I said, he’s the guy. And, I asked him, I said, have you ever thought about doing anything other than what you’re doing at Northland? And he looked at me and said, yes. I said, have you ever thought about pastoring a church?
He said, yes. Have you did you ever think about that church in Guam? He said, how did you know? I said, I don’t know. I just felt like you were the one that God was sending that way.
Gary Walton: Wow. Wow. Mrs. Peltier, Chris, let me ask you the same question. And by the way, those of you that are listening radio, you don’t see this, but there are a few Kleenexes going around this room, and we might have some more, but we’ll try to keep Pastor Heron and Pastor Pelletier from balling too much. Chris, what about you?
What were your first impressions of the island? Surprise. Geckos, humidity, you know, what was
Chris Pelletier: the Humidity. I remember getting off the plane. It was like 04:40AM in the morning, and I felt like someone had just taken my breath away. I remember that. So that was an adjustment.
And then the geckos. Cannot remember the word gecko. So I called them geeks. You know? And then I finally they’re geckos.
You know? And I thought they were cute, but they would scare you sometimes because they would drop from places right run right in front of you. But, you know, and I remember the church driving up to this building, and we had come from North Carolina, beautiful colonial style buildings. And, like like Becky, I’m thinking, oh my goodness. What have we done?
What have we gotten ourselves into? But it wasn’t long. You you went to the service and you met the people. Yeah. And, oh my goodness, my heart was here.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Chris Pelletier: And I’m so thankful for that. I just when I think of it, I think of it’s only by God’s grace. Mhmm. And I’m so thankful to be a part.
Marty Herron: Amen.
Gary Walton: Mrs. Lewis, you said a little bit about this, but tell us about what Harvest was like when you first arrived. People, facilities, maybe some of the challenges.
Mrs. Lewis: It was scary. I I saw the building. I I too was raised in a a large, beautiful church, and we had been to large, beautiful churches. And then we come to this building, and we just my husband it didn’t faze him. You know, if the Lord was here, he was coming in no matter what.
And I got saved a few years later under Pastor Wring. I was born and raised in a Christian home, but somehow I skipped it. He was
Gary Walton: And you said you were baptized as well?
Mrs. Lewis: I was baptized by Pastor Wring in the ocean.
Gary Walton: In the ocean, right. Yep. Yeah.
Mrs. Lewis: And it was my third time. My husband said, You just got wet, other two. You got baptized once.
But there was something here even then, you know, and I think it was the Wrings. We, of course, didn’t know anybody. We had just gotten back on the island, and pastor Wring was very gracious and Mrs. Wring, and we went up to their home. And Pastor Wring told a story to us that I never forgotten. He was he had come to Guam.
They lived up in Barrigada Heights, and he had a house that overlooked. So he said one night he was up on the roof praying, and he looked out, and there was just a beautiful sight for him to see with all the lights and everything. And he said he just raised up his hands to the Lord, and he said, Lord, give me this island.
Gary Walton: Amen.
Mrs. Lewis: And and he said he prayed, I want this island for you. And I remember that story, and he did. Mhmm. He gave it Yeah. Gave it to him.
Gary Walton: Well, God’s word has been powerfully used for fifty years, just echoing across every inch of this island. I mean, that’s absolutely true. There’s not a place, there’s not a village that Harvest hasn’t had it. God has not had an influence through the ministry of Harvest Baptist Church, and it’s really it’s really remarkable. Pastor Herron, Pastor Pelletier, maybe I can start with you, Dan.
Guam can be a unique place to do ministry. Any memories that kinda capture the the heart of island ministry for you? Like, we’re not in Kansas anymore. How did how did you find that out?
Dan Pelletier: Well, like Chris said, we walked into the church the first time, and it was like, what is this? And metal folding chairs and cheap paneling on the walls and kind of a tinny piano, and I’m going, what have we got ourselves into? But the cross cultural business was just amazing. You know, we came out, we were 24 years old I think.
Marty Herron: Mhmm.
Dan Pelletier: And we heard about it and six weeks later we were on our way. And I remember being very excited. We’d never been anywhere and so we flew to San Francisco or LA, I don’t remember which one, and that was exciting. Everybody was on their way to Hawaii and everybody looked like us and island shirts and and kind of a party atmosphere. And then we get to Honolulu and it was like, wow, this is really cool, you know.
And then then I said, we’ve got to be getting close. We have got to be getting close. This is a long flight. And then they said, oh, you’ve got seven and a half hours more to go. And
and and then we got on the plane and it was the first time in my life where we were two white people in a sea of brown. Mhmm. Little short people all talking Tagalog and whatever else and I don’t know what they were saying and they didn’t look real friendly at the time, and we were terrified. First time I’d ever been in a minority in my life. Wow.
And, and then we got here and fell in love with the place and got to go to some of the outer islands and saw the culture and and saw God just do some amazing things. He’s he’s using us to do this. This is how did this happen? And and then when we went back to The States, we’d go back and we’d go to a mall or a shopping center and it was like, what are all these white people doing here. Total reverse culture And so yeah, we just loved it and the variety.
It was just great to see Esther Wallace last night. Yeah. My goodness. What wonderful special people and and the other folks that we saw last night. It’s amazing.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Mrs. Lewis: I have a funny story about you guys. When you came in that morning, you were just horrified because you had just gotten in. You were asleep in the bed, and in walks Mr. Fish. They look up out of the bed, and here comes Mr. Fish walking across to go out the back door.
Dan Pelletier: He was working on the washing machine. We we didn’t open the door. He just came in.
Gary Walton: First day. Open door policy around here.
Dan Pelletier: Pastor Lewis, what’s going on here?
Mrs. Lewis: That has always cracked me up.
Gary Walton: Pastor Herron, Capture island ministry, the uniqueness.
Marty Herron: Well, let me tell you a couple of quick anecdotals here. So this was our first pastorite we had. Now, pastoral heart had been in us for a long, long time, but the pastoral office, and we’re now accepted a call, and we are now flying over that long flight that Dan just mentioned. It’s somewhere between Hawaii and here. We have four children, two girls, two boys.
The youngest, Miles, was seven or eight. And I said, You can get up and you can walk. It was a big 747, and he was gone for ten, fifteen minutes. Bad parenting on my end. I know.
I know.
Gary Walton: Can’t go anywhere, though. I mean, it’s pretty
Marty Herron: He cannot. He he don’t open the doors. Yeah. And so I’m like, he’s gotta be back here. So I go to the back of the plane, and he’s talking to this Hoale and talking surf stories.
And I don’t know who this guy is. Right? So I’m like, Introduced myself, Him, Miles, dad, and, okay, and, what are you doing? And, he was going over to Indonesia and he’s a surfer and he’s stopping, lives in Hawaii, stopped in Guam, on to Indonesia, but he’d been in Guam a lot. And so and then he says to me, well, what do you do?
What are you doing in Guam? Yeah. I said, well, his name was Buzz. Well, Buzz, I’m actually the pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. That’s where we’re going right now.
Yeah. It’s the first time that come off my lips. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Marty Herron: And he looks at me, gets this serious look, and, he has a Budweiser in his right hand. And we’re, like, intimate zone. Right? He gives me a big hug, splashing out all over me. And and God knows that island needs you, brother.
And he’s tearing up. I was like, oh, boy. And so then we land, and then here’s, you know, the church folks. At the time, you could see everybody. This was before it was all darkened out, and we’re standing there waiting for our luggage and looking at all these people.
I look over at Tammie, I said, what have we just done? So now we move forward. And secondly, the very thing that we were drawn to was it was a very multinational polyculture, which is what our draw was. You had Haoles and Asians and Islanders, and and, so we weren’t here more than a week, and we enjoyed that. We’re now down at Kmart, was very full.
We’re sitting here, and now you’re hearing all these languages, and we’re just trying to get a a broom, which is $82. I was like, what in the world? And then that’s when for for me, I was like, wow. We are not in Kansas no more total. Yeah.
And so it’s America about the first inch, and then it’s different. And for me, that was like, okay. And in time, you you embrace all of it. Right? But that was for us good explanations.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. It’s great. Mrs. Wring, when you think back on your your husband’s years at Harvest, you guys together, what do you remember most about his heart for this ministry, heart for these people here?
Anne Wring: For years, he had a vision. He was a pastor in The States for a few years, But then he felt a call to be a missionary. And he they said, well, when are you gonna go to be on the mission field? And he said, well, whenever God sends me or leads me to some English speaking people. So one man said, hey.
I know the exact spot, Guam, the American military. There’s a buildup there. It’s a great ministry. Needs to be started there. And he said, Guam, where in the world is that Right then, we knew we didn’t do well in geography.
So, anyway, he started looking it up, and he said, we’re going. So he went around on deutation and raised the money to come to Guam. And I too when we arrived in Guam, all we had was, I guess, two suitcases apiece, and then we had shipped some stuff over in a crate. And when they opened the door and we started out, it went, Guam air. And I’m going, oh, I’m gonna die here.
It’s so hot. Humid. And but, anyway, we had no greeting committee.
Gary Walton: Right.
Anne Wring: We were all alone.
Gary Walton: Yeah. You didn’t know anybody
Anne Wring: about anyone. Yeah. And God opened the door for us to stay in this professor’s home while he was in the Mainland for summer break. And we stayed there, and they had the lanai, and we started to we put folding chairs out on the lanai, and there was, like, five in my family. I had David was 10 at that time or 11, and then I had Jessica and Angela, and they were five and seven.
And so we had our congregation, but yet somehow, I don’t know where they come from, but we had some other people there. So we may had 15 people, maybe not. But I remember I’m going. We were out there singing, just no piano, no nothing, just screaming or singing, you know, gospel songs. Mhmm.
And I thought, what are these people gonna think about us out here screaming like this? You know? But from that, he somehow and I don’t know yet other I do know God led us to that old building. And, man, was it I mean Old. Old.
We had he had there was five of us that did the work, mainly on the outside. He said, we gotta change the color of this building, so we got paint, or he went and got paint. Of course, he always hunted bargains. And he found Congo Brown paint. And I still I had clothes that I had wore when we painted.
I remember being out there with a big roll of roll as high as I could on that building, and it was brown all over. But God blessed that, and his vision was to reach and teach others. And, I mean, we we met in one little old room, wasn’t probably any bigger than this room. And the thing I remember there was the mosquitoes. Oh, they were horrible.
Big mosquitoes. I mean, they were bigger than Texas mosquitoes, I believe. They we’d be attacked with that. They said, well, you put Vicksalve on, and that will warm well, we all could breathe real good because we had Vicksalve. But a lot of great memories, but and there were struggles.
Yeah. I mean, the devil’s gonna fight anytime you can try to do something for for God. But God was in it, and little is much if God is in it. Mhmm. He led us step by step.
And I know his vision was to I mean, he’s missionary. And after we’d been here three years, he said, it’s time for me to move on. And I said, no. No. Just stay here.
I love it here.
Gary Walton: Wow.
Anne Wring: And he said, no. God’s called me to be a missionary, and I’m to start works. And I said, well, we can keep working here. You know? And the church had grown quite a bit, and we had a Christian school, and we had reached some locals through that school.
And, of course, I begged, but God was stronger than me. So his vision was to go start works. And he said, we had little churches back in The States that supported us. Some $15 a month, some $20.30, so on like that. But that’s how we got the support to start the work.
And then he said, it’s not right for me to take money from pastors and churches in The States that they can’t even pay a salary to their pastor, and this church can support a pastor. So that’s when he made the decision, and he felt the call to go to Germany. So we went to Germany, and a pastor was here. And John and Becky were still in the church. And I remember we were working to build to raise more money to go to Germany.
And one night, John called Bruce and was talking to him and said, Pastor Wring, what would you think about me being the pastor of Harvest? And I said, no. I wanna go back, please. And but he was determined, you know, that that was not his calling to stay in pastor. And I can see that now because the organization, John was so organized, and he could put things in place.
Yeah. And I can look back and see how God has took us step by step through all this Yeah. And where it is today. It’s just I mean, I stand amazed. Amen.
It’s I can’t explain how full my heart is for being back here and seeing what God has done. But through this ministry, there is many there were many that were saved, American military too Mhmm. That have gone on to be pastors. They’ve gone on to be chaplains. I mean, they serve in in the missionaries all over the country.
I mean, I get phone calls sometimes from some of them that have been saved and how are you, you know, miss Wring. And it’s just a blessing to know that your your fruits continue. And that’s the thing of a ministry. When you plant seed and it keeps multiplying.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Amen.
Anne Wring: And that’s the thing I see here, and I’m just so blessed to be back here. And in a lifetime, we don’t normally, we don’t get to see the fruits. Mhmm. And I’m just so thankful. That was 31 when we got here, and now fifty years later, so you can figure out my age now, It’s just a blessing.
Gary Walton: When you walked off Mrs. Ring, when you walked off the plane at the airport with tears in your eyes, that was a I’ll I’ll remember that picture. And I I don’t remember your exact words, but just I didn’t know that I’d be back Yeah. And to be able to see what God’s done is really
Anne Wring: And it was to God be the glory.
Gary Walton: Amen. Amen.
Mrs. Wring mentioned, her her kids, everybody around here. There’s kids that are part of this story. Maybe, Mrs. Herron, can I ask you just about this, raising the family in the ministry at Harvest on Guam, anything that you’d say about that?
Tammy Herron: We were just thankful our kids were willing to come. It was a little difficult for the second born and our youngest. And first born and the third one were they were a little more okay with it. But since it was our first pastorate, I was just trying to figure out what does a pastor’s wife do. I had loved ministering at Northland and I taught a few Bible classes for girls and home management classes.
But my main heart and focus was my kids. When they were young, I had help where others would take my classes. So coming here, that was my biggest concern and priority. I didn’t want to lose our family. We’d seen many who had, And I just wanted them to have a heart for God.
To me that was the most important thing. They love the Lord. Just trying to navigate learning, okay, what does a pastor’s wife do? What doesn’t she? And then just finally learning that I am who I am and God has given me what I have and I will use that for him however he wants.
And yet trying to be the wife, the support, the completer to him, and then just helping my kids because they were all in a very critical, growing time. But I think the longer they were here, they loved the HBBC kids and immersed themselves. They had all kinds of relationships and even in the school. I just remember the Lord was so gracious because so many of the people in the church, they were so they just loved on our kids. I think that helped a lot. And so it was a challenge, but the Lord kept teaching us all along the way and still is. And yeah, But
Gary Walton: Well, I was just thinking about the the fact that for each of these families, you know, our our the families were a full part of the ministry. It was all together. You know, we’ve had Mrs. Wring, your son David’s here with us. Aaron’s here with you, Mrs. Lewis.
It’s just good representation of the families together. Children were part of it with the challenges and the opportunities, you know, all together, and God used every piece of that. The church began growing from the beginning with Pastor Wring, Pastor Lewis. Maybe I could bring this back to Pastor Herron, Pastor Pelletier. What were some of the defining moments as you think about God’s blessing?
Times maybe when faith was tested, but God came through. Anything that you’d think about that could be some of the defining moments of God’s blessing?
Dan Pelletier: Well I think of the time when we got the property where the church building is now and there was a fisherman there that had that property for a long time, and he just didn’t ever want to let it go. And, Pastor Lewis would randomly go over there and talk with him and speak with him and offer him money, and he found the right time of the month to go when he was out of money, and then he would go. And, he knew how to not just know what to offer, but when to offer it. Just amazing timing. And I remember him walking back and saying, we we got the property.
Wow. And then I said, okay. Now what? What are we gonna do with it? You know?
Gary Walton: The property where the auditorium is?
Dan Pelletier: Yes. Right? I’m looking at this house and I’m looking at this bamboo hole behind it, I’m thinking a water slide. I’m a youth pastor, you know. I’m like, we gotta put a water slide down there.
Gary Walton: Well, idea is still not done. You never know. Seems like it’s still the right place.
Dan Pelletier: Yeah. But, anyway, all kinds of ideas came to my mind and he started walking it off and then we called the contractor and I remember when we called the whole church together and said we got the property, let’s pray over it. And we prayed about it and it was it was just amazing time. And then to see, he brought the right architect along and then the right builder and I remember they they made the bid on the property on the building and the guy who bid bid on it, they got it was it was way cheaper than the others. And it was all closed in an envelope, he didn’t know how much the other were offering.
Once he finally found out what the others offered, he was like, oh man, I could have got more money. But we walked that building two or three times a day walking through there. I remember Dr. Bob Jones Jr. gave that stained glass window for the auditorium and we already had the building all designed. And we had to pay I think another $100,000 to redesign it to get that free gift put in the building.
Then when they were putting it in, one of the construction guys was back in there hanging the lights behind it and he leaned a ladder on that stained glass window and pastor Lewis and I went in there. Well that didn’t last long. And Mr. Bang went in there and he fixed that really quickly. And so yeah, those were defining moments. And and then finally when it was all finished, walking in there with the church choir and singing when there was nothing in the building, it was all concrete and everything, the way the voices echoed in there.
And we were always concerned because the old building, there was such a wonderful spirit in
Marty Herron: there. Yeah.
Dan Pelletier: And a closeness and a family atmosphere. And we were concerned that we would get too big for ourselves, you know, and get arrogant because of this fancy new building. But it was evident immediately that the spirit of the Lord was still with us when we stepped into the new building. Amen.
Marty Herron: Well, let me mention two comments. One is, when Dan talked about the property, I don’t know how many years we were here before the guy across the street came and said, Listen, if I’m gonna sell this property and I am gonna sell it, I wanna sell it to you because I had promised Pastor Lewis this. So I look back now and realize, you know, that was just the Lord. Right. And then that became eventually where the FLC was at, and I was hesitant to to do anything like that.
And actually, I called pastor Lewis and said, what’d you think about this? Because there’s no good time to borrow money and no good time to jump into that. But it was the right time, and if we hadn’t had that, I don’t think there would have been the growth we did have on a physical level. On a spiritual level, actually it was maybe less than a year into this when Dan had set up a meeting with an evangelist that was kind of island wide. Dan, you might remember it was going to be island wide, probably down at Paseo, I thought, was originally what you were talking about.
Dan Pelletier: I don’t remember.
Marty Herron: Was it Tom? Yeah.
Dan Pelletier: I just knew if we brought Tom in here, he was gonna blow things up wide open.
Marty Herron: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we moved it to the church, but many other churches came in, and by the end of the week we had hundreds and hundreds come to Christ. It was really a real movement of the Lord.
And it wasn’t just not only we saw folks that joined our church, including last night eating with Kin and Lisa Uson who got saved, and then their whole family through that, but a number of other churches that gained people that visited the island meeting, and there were a number of other times when we ended it saying, Let’s do summit meetings in the fall, and missions in the second semester, and those always became pinnacle moments of God really working the hearts and lives of people. And it influenced our own children. So you mentioned about our own children. Now I look back and all of them this time here, they all have a real love for swarthy skinned people. They’re always drawn to those that, you know, are marginalized and are very comfortable with all of that.
And two of our son in laws both were ordained here and part of the ministry as they went on to college and came back, our kids. So, we were very blessed to have this as a huge influence, and those were defining moments, not only physically, but also spiritually, that we, like every month, we will see something happen of, I remember those days, and so that’s we’re blessed, brother. Really.
Gary Walton: What do you think made Harvest such a special place? What’s is there a secret sauce? What’s what’s what’s the big thing? Anybody?
Chris Pelletier: I think one thing that made it special is it it a family. And, you know, everybody was kind of away from their families. So I remember Thanksgiving, we the whole church, we would come together on Thanksgiving Day, you know, several of us would make turkeys or whatever, and we’d bring all these side dishes, and we just had a big family Thanksgiving. And, that was that was very impactful in in my life, you know, because very, you know, close to my parents and and that type of thing and we were away from them. So this just kind of helped not to replace that, but to add to that, you know, and and so I’m I’m thankful for that aspect.
That made it very special.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Family atmosphere.
Mrs. Lewis: When my husband became the pastor, he explained to, the new school staff for that next year that we were we were gonna strive for excellence in every area, and that was the goal, to honor God and to to make Harvest known on the island. And one night, we came I I just wanna tell this story real quick too. One night, we my husband needed a book that was at the church, and so he had only been the pastor a few months. And he comes in, and the people who were robbing the church were still in the church. And so they they did everything they could to destroy the the auditorium and to the office.
They poured, coffee in my typewriter. It was just a horrible thing, and we thought, you know, the Lord allowed this to happen. Why you know, when we were working so hard. But it it all worked out. You know?
Anytime we got publicity, people would come. Mhmm. You know? And that was a really good thing. And my typewriter, it really hurt my feelings because we had to go to the bank and get a loan for that typewriter.
Oh, yeah. And it wasn’t paid off. Yeah. But, anyway, I just
Gary Walton: I’m glad you mentioned that, Mrs. Lewis. The spirit of excellence, really, from the beginning has marked Harvest Ministries multiple ways, and it’s left an imprint on the island in, I think, a God honoring way. Yeah.
Dan Pelletier: All of those things are true, but there was always a lot of fun that went on around here.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Dan Pelletier: And I remember Charlotte Cedarholm was our piano player. She was living in the Imperial Apartments. My mother lived in the Imperial Apartments. By the way, she says hello.
Gary Walton: Oh.
Dan Pelletier: And she wished she could have been here.
Gary Walton: Wish she could be here.
Dan Pelletier: But Charlotte and I she is the only woman in the world that I’ll go to dinner with without my wife present, you know? She’s like a sister. And I remember one of the young men, and I was a youth pastor at the time, and we went down to her before Thanksgiving, Chris was mentioning Thanksgiving dinner, and Charlotte liked to cook. And I went down and we jacked up her car. It was a front wheel drive car.
We put put it down on blocks just where it was about a half inch. The tires were just barely touching. And then I went in my mother’s apartment and videotaped her response when she went out to get in her car. And the number of times she went around her car, looked under the car, tried to figure out how to back the car up, and it wouldn’t go anywhere. And then, I made sure that when we went to Thanksgiving dinner that day, we played that videotape for everybody in the church.
We had so much fun in those days.
Gary Walton: Lots of story of fun, I know. Pastor Lewis was a jokester. Mhmm.
Mrs. Lewis: Yeah. He was.
Gary Walton: Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Wring, when you see the ministry still thriving and God’s blessing, how does that make you feel as you think about your husband, your family helping to build something that’s still changing lives?
Mrs. Lewis: I’m amazed. I just feel humbled that God used us in any part of this ministry because we were not worthy. We were not anybody. We had no particular skills, but God used us anyway. And it was to His honor and glory that He was able to muddle through with two people like us, and the ministry’s still going strong.
And that was something my husband really it meant so much to him that the two ministries that he had, the churches were still strong. And especially Harvest, because it was in a place where the gospel was not heard all the time. People did not grow up in Christian homes. And he was looking forward to coming back, and I almost feel guilty for being here without him. Yeah.
But I’m so grateful. So thankful that you allowed me to come anyway.
Gary Walton: Well, we’ve talked about this, a little bit with both of you. Just recent years, both of your husbands have passed away and how much we would have loved them to be here in this part. And, and yet it’s still such a blessing to be able to honor the legacy and the faithfulness of them over the years and to have you here, you know, not just your husband’s legacy, but your own faithfulness in through there.
Anne Wring: It’s an encouragement. So many times we get depressed and we think, well, I didn’t do any good. What? All this work is in vain. You know?
Marty Herron: Wow.
Anne Wring: But God shows you it’s not in vain when it’s done for him. And I’m so grateful and thankful to God that he allowed me to come back and see what’s happening in Harvest. There truly is no place like this place. This is the place.
Gary Walton: Pastor Herron, today’s pastor, staff, young leaders, what wisdom do you want to pass on?
Marty Herron: Oh, boy. I’m not sure that have a whole lot of wisdom. However, I was thinking, as I’m hearing all of these stages, okay, and there is a biblical pattern when you look at our own lives, and I’m thinking now ministry, but the biblical pattern, and I think John Phillips’ one years ago that I read, that God normally discovers a man, detaches a man, develops a man, and then displays a man. You think about Joseph, who discovered Joseph, detached him from his home, stuck him in a whole another country, developed him, and then put him on display. Abraham, David, you name him.
So I’m hearing these stories and thinking this is what and how God works. God discovered a man in the Wrings and discovered this is what I want in this place called Harvest, knowing all along there was going be a time of detaching a lot of lives and Harvest itself and distinguishing it from everything else going on in this island, and then developing it, and all of us had the opportunities to be a part of that. And so, we get a chance to display what God’s done years ago, what Maxim was, and that has helped us, which is the view is, and I’m hearing it for all of us, is we want to give God the glory, others credit, and then we’ll all get the rewards someday. And I think this is the interest we have, of course, for the weekend. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Amen.
Dan Pelletier: Even early in the early days, you knew you were being touched by somebody who was growing in the Lord. I felt like we all grew together.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Dan Pelletier: And we we did things at at as young as we were, I was amazed at the privileges for leadership that we were given, and yet there was always pastor Innis or pastor pastor Lewis, I’m getting him mixed up with where I am now, pastor Lewis, he would be there to let you almost hang yourself and then he’d then he’d find the way to rescue you before you did too much damage. And that leadership was amazing. He let us be stretched, know, he let us hit those Joseph moments where you’re thinking, how is this gonna work? And, you know, sometimes we looked at things and we would think, this is bad, but God meant it for good, and it turned into something just amazing. And I’m amazed even now.
I look now at young people that were in my youth group and and and now they’re in leadership here. Mhmm. I’m amazed. Yoh Shirato, that knucklehead, I never thought he’d go anywhere. And then and then Cliff picking us up at the airport last night.
I told him last night, I said, this great. I said, I got fat, you turn gray. You know? It’s it’s just it’s amazing to me what God’s doing. And and I see I saw Brianna Romo’s name in the office.
I haven’t seen her yet, but I thought I remember her as a child, as a teenager. And and it’s it’s it’s really exciting to see. We live at our motto at our church touching the future with truth from the past And that just fits here too. That’s the way it’s been.
Mrs. Lewis: Pastor, one thing we haven’t covered is the the people that God sent to do the jobs that needed to be done. The first year, we came to the end of the first year, and I panicked. You know, all these people are leaving. Who’s gonna do their job? And I learned through the years every single time God sent the right person with the right education or whatever to do the job, and and we were so thankful for them.
Gary Walton: Well, special people, really. I mean, over the years, hundreds
Mrs. Lewis: Mhmm. Hundreds.
Gary Walton: Not dozens, hundreds of people that have come with a mission heart, desire to serve God
Mrs. Lewis: Mhmm.
Gary Walton: Leaving family, and the imprint and the impact that’s had, actually, not just on Guam and Micronesia, literally around the world, you know, because they didn’t all stay here. They’ve come and some have gone. Right.
Mrs. Lewis: And they made us look good.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Harvest has grown, changed, over the years, but the mission remains. What’s your prayer for Harvest for the next fifty years?
Dan Pelletier: Well, last Sunday, we celebrated a hundred and forty four years at our church at San Francisco my prayer is that they’ll be able to celebrate that here one day if the Lord tarries.
Gary Walton: Amen. Amen.
Anne Wring: I pray that the ministry will continue and be blessed. And I think as long as the word of God is preached and the love that the members and the staff show to others. I mean, it is a family, and God’s gonna bless that.
Marty Herron: Amen. You know, I think of first Thessalonians one when out of all the things Paul remembered about that church, and I would say the same if God tarries and gives Harvest fifty more years, he said, I’m remembering you for our Father, God and our Father, for your work of faith, your labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That would be my prayer for the people that are here. And as Mrs. Lewis mentioned, we’ve all had teams of people that we would be here for another hour listing all of them, because this morning, early as we were praying, thinking of individual names of people, that if I started, I would just like, without them, this never would have kept going.
I was just praying we wouldn’t blow this thing up, actually. And so, do think that as long as there’s a continued desire for a work of faith, a labor of love, and a steadfastness of hope, the Lord God’s gonna have His hand on this.
Anne Wring: I also think of the many, many churches, small and big, in the Mainland that supported the ministry for us to come and start the work.
Marty Herron: Yeah.
Anne Wring: And I think of them. I wish I could remember them all and send them, you know, what’s going on fifty years later.
Gary Walton: That’s an interesting thought. You know, after your family, nobody else was really mission supported, but your family was. And those churches, you know, Mainland that supported you were the seed Mhmm. Of this ministry over the years. Wow.
Anne Wring: The prayers and and all that they did for the ministry here. So it it paid off.
Marty Herron: Yeah.
Gary Walton: Well, from humble beginnings to, fifty years of God’s faithfulness, for the current Harvest Baptist Church, Harvest Ministries, we wanna say thank you for these foundations, the legacy of ministry that you, your families, have made. And, same thing, I know I’ve heard this from pastor Herron, regularly about the idea of not wanting to drop the baton, and our generation feels the same. Mhmm. You know, these conversations that, that we have with you, reminds us of the the beautiful foundation that God’s laid here, and, there’s no place like this place. And, God has done something very unique here, that only he could do.
And, so our prayer is that we’d be faithful to God first, but but there is a there’s an accountability to the work that has been put here, the sacrifice, and we feel that. So, thank you for being willing to come back, share over the course of the next few days. And, we’ve been praying for you, praying that God would bless your ministry, that you’d encourage us as we take that baton and continue it on, you know, to the first part of this next fifty years. So thank you all for being here. We’re looking forward to these days together and praying for God’s blessing on your lives.
Chris Pelletier: Thank you, brother. Thank you.
Mrs. Lewis: Thank you.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to today’s Harvest Time. You could be part of celebrating our fiftieth anniversary at Harvest Baptist Church. Come to our Sunday morning worship service, which will be at 10AM on Sunday. We’re all meeting together in the Family Life Center, again at 10AM on Sunday in the FLC, our fiftieth anniversary at Harvest Baptist Church. And we’ll be with you again next week for more Harvest Time.