THE
LORD
HAS
DONE
THIS!
Celebrating
25
Years of
God’s Goodness
isaiah 41:20
THE LORD
HAS DONE THIS!
Celebrating
25
Years of
God’s Goodness
isaiah 41:20
Come celebrate with us this year as we acknowledge the Lord’s kindness to us
When we look at all that’s been accomplished at Harvest over the past 25 years, we say without hesitation, “The LORD has done this!” The Word has been preached. The name of Jesus has been lifted high. Prayers have been spoken. The gospel has been shared. Souls have been saved and so very many baptized. Lives changed. Addictions overcome. Marriages restored. And so much more! Ministries have been started and supported locally and around the world. New churches have been planted. And we believe, God has been glorified.
Our official 25th anniversary weekend is Saturday-Sunday, September 19-20 at our 7 George Street location. Three identical services will be held Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 9:00 and 11:15 a.m. Longtime friend of our church, Pastor Joel Anderson of Flagstaff Bible Church in Arizona, will be preaching.
25th Anniversary Events
Letters To Harvest
Testimonials
We’ve been attending Harvest for 23 years. With Todd’s direct style of teaching, God has transformed my life. We don’t attend to be comfortable, we attend to hear Gods word the way it was meant to be. Happy Anniversary Harvest
We have been part of the Harvest Family for 24yrs now.
We are blessed to have been led here so long ago – grateful, thankful, appreciative.
From Martin:
The Lord has blessed Harvest with continued great Biblical preaching over these years, led by Todd.
That is why we are still part of what God has done here.
Along with the importance of Biblical preaching is Biblical worship.
Another reason why we are still part of Harvest- great worship lead by dedicated Worship Leaders and volunteer worship teams.
Add onto these important elements of a God honouring church is the hard work of a dedicated staff.
God has provided and blessed Harvest greatly in all these areas held together by the Spirit’s help and comfort!
There have been ups and downs as any church would experience, but by God’s leading and Grace we have grown and matured as a church which consists of growing and maturing Elders, Pastors, Staff and members/ attendees.
We are in His hands as we have always been – not following perfectly but learning and growing through all He allows.
Looking forward to another 25yrs of purposefully seeking and obeying God’s leading and prompting.
May God continue to provide great Leadership to His church.
There is choice in our following – may our hearts continue to choose Him and not self in our following.
Very blessed and grateful to be part of the Harvest family.
Thank you God.
From Kathy
When we joined Harvest in the early days, our daughter was a year old and our son was not yet born. The church was small enough that only one room and a nursery were needed for Harvest Kids (then called Higher Ground). The church grew quickly, with more rooms added for children’s ministry and the format of Harvest Kids taking shape. I remember the earnestness on some of the young faces during the children’s worship time. Many of those young ones now have children of their own and are living out what God has called them to. It is an incredible privilege to be even a small part of what God does in the calling of generations.
We have so many memories of our time at Harvest over all these years; the blessing of being a part of various small groups and Bible studies, our kids participating in High Five, Awana and youth group, Martin joining a short-term mission trip to Ghana and an evangelism group that did outreach weekly and serving on the greeting team and finance team, the blessing for me of being a part of what God did in launching Envisage through Harvest almost 20 years ago. We appreciate that Harvest is a place where each person has so many opportunities to serve God and use the gifts He has given, for His glory and our joy.
One of the teaching points of Todd’s sermons that I have carried with me all of these years is about hupomoné, the Greek word that expresses “remaining under” and having hopeful, steadfast endurance in the face of adversity. God has brought our church and our family through seasons of joy and celebration and also through challenges where we learned (and continue learning) to practice hopomoné, having our character shaped and our faith built as we do.
We are so grateful to be a part of this local expression of God’s global church, the Bride of Christ. I am so grateful for the welcome each Sunday for us all, that whether we are weary and discouraged, ignorant and “not-knowing what we don’t know”, or hard-hearted and rebellious, we are in the right place, a church filled with people who struggle with each of these things too.
Thank you Pastor Todd and Cheryl, and Harvest Staff and Elders, for leading and equipping our church to be a place that seeks to love God and love people. Thank you for remaining under through times of difficulty and for tenaciously seeking to do this in a way that is pleasing to the Lord!
What a testimony of God’s grace, faithful pursuit of mission, and significant global impact.
So many memories. So many people.
I had the privilege of walking alongside Harvest as God partnered them in His work in Cameroon and Scotland. Pastor Todd and Cheryl, the elders, staff, and members immediately flood my mind with memories of kindness, encouragement, and gospel urgency.
Watching Harvest go to the nations was a significant part of how I had the privilege of walking out the mission alongside them. I’m deeply grateful for this church family and will always remember how God kept, sustained, and used them for His glory.
May God continue to strengthen and energize the Harvest family to take the gospel to the nations!
Kirk VanMaanen
It is a profound thing to look back over 25 years of ministry.
When I first learned of this church and its planting pastor, Todd Dugard, back in 2001, I must admit that I was skeptical. I questioned the model, the timing, and even whether the effort had been well conceived. But one of the lessons of 25 years is that God’s ways are not our ways. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8, ESV).
God goes before His people. And He has a remarkable way of taking what we see as weakness, uncertainty, or even impossibility and using it as the setting in which His power is most clearly displayed. As Paul learned, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
I never attended Harvest Barrie as a member, but I was given both the privilege and the burden of serving as an elder during one of its most difficult seasons. It was a time of testing, refining, and necessary change. There were difficult decisions and difficult days. Yet through them, I came to see that the Lord was not abandoning His work here. He was pruning it, strengthening it, protecting it, and preparing it for what was still to come.
Jesus said of His church, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). There were times when that promise became much more than a familiar verse to me. We saw the power of God preserve His church through circumstances that human wisdom alone could not have resolved.
In those years, Harvest Barrie became something of a “beta model” for a much broader Canadian church-planting movement. We learned lessons here—sometimes the hard way—that helped shape what followed elsewhere. The challenges we faced, the mistakes we corrected, and the structures we built and rebuilt became part of a roadmap for planting and strengthening churches across Canada.
It was an honour to have a part in that season—not because it was easy, but because God proved Himself faithful through it.
And personally, partnering with Harvest Barrie built my faith. I came away with a deeper confidence in the providence and protection of God. I saw that His providence does not mean the absence of difficulty. Rather, it means that even in difficulty He is present, sovereign, purposeful, and at work. What appeared at times to be setbacks became instruments in His hands.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Twenty-five years later, we have the privilege of looking back and seeing some of what we could not see while we were living through it. God was there. God was working. God was protecting His church. And God was accomplishing purposes larger than any of us understood at the time.
And now, look at what He has done.
There is a strong and fruitful church in Barrie, faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, making and maturing disciples, and helping plant life-giving churches across this country. What began with uncertainty has endured, matured, and multiplied. That is not ultimately a testimony to any pastor, elder, model, or movement. It is a testimony to the power, providence, protection, and faithfulness of God.
So on this 25th anniversary, we look back with gratitude, celebrate what God is doing in the present, and look toward the future with confidence—not confidence in ourselves, but in the One who has sustained this church for a quarter century.
The Lord says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:19).
He was at work then.
He is at work now.
And He will be at work tomorrow.
Twenty-five years later, my faith is stronger because I have seen His hand at work.
Then, now, and tomorrow—“this is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).
I’ve been coming to Harvest for almost 12 years.
I was a committed Catholic for 37 years but I would lookat my husband and kids in church and it seemed like I was the only one even remotely interested in what was happening. I also knew I needed more. A friend introduced me to Harvest and I was skeptical. It would be a significant transition . I had grown up with highly devout Catholic parents and I knew they would be wounded. The first few times of going to Harvest I was uncomfortable. It was radically different than what I was used to. I was used to weekly Communion and there was a sacredness in the mass that had stuck with me.
However, there was something about Pastor Todd’s preaching that reached the depths of my soul. I was hungry for truth of the Scripture and his sermons fed my soul. Weekends turned into months, and I began to feel that Harvest is where God needed us to be.
A handful of months later my marriage blew up suddenly and traumatically for all of us . It changed all of our lives but His Word doesn’t change and I dug into Harvest bible studies and the sermons with fervour; it holding me, and keeping me anchored. I clung to psalms I didn’t know before because Harvest encouraged me to open His Word daily, and Pastor Todd personally comforted me in small encouraging whispers.
Over time my faith developed and one Sunday Pastor Todd made an invitation for us to be baptized. I had a plan already and I didn’t want to go. But something supernatural happened that morning to me and God was doing a work in me that I wasn’t aware of. I kept telling myself that today wasn’t the day. But my heart started to quicken, I could feel a white noise in my ears and my feet began to walk to the back to the church. It wasn’t me. I didn’t want to get baptized that day but God’s love for me was biggger than my stubbornness. He walked me backstage and into that baptism booth and I declared my faith publicly for the first time. I’ll never forget it. He poured out His grace to me, grace upon grace.
A few years later, my son, Matthew looked up at me after the last song one Sunday service and said “I want to get baptized”. He was only 7 at the time and I made sure that Pastor Dwayne was going to say yes! There was something in Matthew’s eyes that told me that he too had a spiritual experience. God was calling him. He had a plan and some years later He was going to do something big with him.
Almost a decade later He did . During a troublesome and dark time, God met Matthew on the side of his bed and began that work. He lifted him out of the darkness and into the light. Matthew was planning on going to university to be a computer engineer. Not long after that encounter and another one like it, he said “mom, I believe God wants me to be a pastor”. Jordan C started mentoring him, and he enrolled in bible College and started his theology degree. Pastor Todd started also coaching him and he is now on the staff team , he has a passion and zeal for the bible and the gospel that cannot be unquenched. He loves our church and that inspires me continuously. He has mentored others and is bearing much fruit. My daughter Rebecca has watched her mine and her brother’s faith develop and has been admiring it. She comes to us when she’s struggling. She experienced doubt and unbelief .
Matthew and I have been encouraging her to read His word , to pray for the gift of faith and to repent. She has been doing that and she has come to faith as well a few months ago, and her experiences has impacted her boyfriend also who is also now attending church and seeking and finding the Lord .
I am continually amazed by what God has done through Harevst in our family. I am so eternally thankful for how God has used the staff to encourage , pray for and equip our family. He had a plan, and still continues to work in ways I could never have dreamed of . Our story doesn’t end here. God is faithful to His promises and He will continue to do a perfect work in us. I am so thankful for Him and for Harvest for the love that they have poured into our church family.
Congratulations Harvest!
Congratulations to Harvest Barrie and Pastor Todd. What a wonderful milestone, I wanted to send you congratulations. It seems no time at all since James was here to celebrate your 10th anniversary!
You and your leaders should be very proud of launching and growing harvest Barrie over the last 2 1/2 decades.
I know that you faced challenges, endured setbacks, but through it all went on to great successes.
Congratulations on your anniversary and the wonderful leadership over all of those years.
God is good!
— Canon Brian McVitty (Anglican Diocese of Canada)
Our kids were 3, 5 and 7 and we were headed for divorce. We were very broken and hiding it from everybody. My body was also broken and in need of repair. A friend recommended her chiropractor and it took me a year to finally walk through the doors of Family First Chiropractic. It was very clear that Dr. Steve was passionate about restoring health to his patients and about Jesus. It was annoying. He insisted I listen to a radio program called, Walk in the Word on Life 100.3. To appease him, I did. I’d never heard anyone preach like that. Certainly not in the Presbyterian Church I grew up in or the Greek Orthodox I joined in order to marry John. Note: we both grew up in the church, and knew about God…that was it! My curiosity was piqued and I continued to listen, always wondering how that preacher knew exactly what was going on in my life!! Dr. Steve ended up treating my whole family, and one day he invited John to lunch. My husband came home from eating lasagna with Dr. Steve and told me that he had just given his life to the Lord. He wanted to try out Dr. Steve’s church, Harvest Bible Chapel. To appease John, I agreed. We walked through the doors of Emma King Elementary School (weird place for a church) on January 6, 2003. People were friendly, didn’t seem like the stuffy, judgy church people I was accustomed to. They were on the ball with programming for children (super important to me). It was a nice chill vibe, and curiously, I had the same sense after hearing the preaching…how did this guy know what was going on our lives?! John was different and I wanted to know more, we kept going. Some sweet ladies invited me to “Women’s Event” in February. It was there that I came to understand that the missing piece in my life was Jesus and I surrendered my life to him. We were placed in a Small Group right away that was filled with the most kind, caring, fun, mature believers. They loved on our broken family, without judging us. They patiently walked with us and shared the love of Christ in so many tangible ways. We poured through God’s Word and realized that we couldn’t quit our marriage. We were new creations, God had a plan for us, we needed to trust and obey. It was really, really hard but so, so good. We jumped into serving at Harvest, radically changed our lifestyle, and developed deep friendships with authentic people….who were just as messy as we were. The Lord revealed our gifts and abilities and we were able to use them in his church, which led to my staff role with Harvest. We have been so very blessed to have our kids grow up in this church, receive solid teaching and mentoring and develop godly friendships. Our third born walked away for a time and this church rallied around us, prayed for us and him and this March he returned and is certain that Jesus is Lord of his life. In God’s kindness, we are watching our 6 grandchildren receive the same solid teaching through Harvest Kids, Awana and High Five, and develop sweet godly friendships. Our oldest son felt called to ministry at age 10 and what a gift to work alongside him in ministry and watch the Lord use him in powerful ways. He has been mentored and loved well at Harvest and we’re excited for what God has in store for him and his family. Our journey with Jesus has been filled with peaks and valleys, but God has been faithful through it all. He continued to use the people and ministries of Harvest to mold and shape us into his image. I am so very grateful that our gracious God scooped up my broken little family and gently placed us in the arms of Harvest Bible Chapel, he knew we would need each other. Thank you, Harvest Bible Chapel Barrie for your steadfast service to the Lord, for his glory alone!
My first visit to Harvest was in October 2016. at Timothy school. I have to admit to some shock at that first service. I had attended the Church of Christ for the previous 35 years where the only music allowed was singing, no musical instruments at all. I wondered what. I had gotten myself into. I slowly adjusted and now our worship team is a favorite part of the service.
On my first visit I was very warmly welcomed by Trish Marable who found a spot for me with her and some of her friends.
What has kept me here over the past 10 years is the. Biblical teaching, the warmth and caring of the people especially in our Life Group.plus the help given to me and my family from all the staff when times were tough.
I truly believe God took this burned out Christian and brought me to Harvest where he is still working on me.
Having been involved since pre 2001, my wife and i can honestly say that God did amazing things.
God had worked all things in HIS time, so
– a faltering church of less than a dozen members who were ready to fold, could
– meet by divine intervention at MBC over a meal a leadership group of
– an expanding American church wanting to daughter new churches…. including in Canada, its leadership’s home country, who knew
– a young pastor in London (who believed in church planting), who
– had an administrator and family committed to him that would bring skill sets much needed to manage a fast expanding new church body (…and make it so Sue could stop answering calls in our home\church office for Todd as ‘church secretary’ and get back to making me food)
– At the same time, a new Christian radio station in Barrie (how many times does that happen in Canada?) with growing reach, playing
– a fast growing “Walk in the Word” espousing the pillars of the new church and
– people coming from as far as Midland and inviting non-churched friends, resulting in
– homes being offered for youth meetings. (A son from that home became a pastor to be raised in the church and sent out).
– A local worship pastor, and a youth pastor in the wings, on a God directed path to HIS new church plant….
It all happened at once – just as HE planned.
There is no way this could have happened by our will and efforts (we tried). GOD DID IT ALL and continues to do so.
Habakkuk 2:3