November 18, 2015
Across the last 41+ years, Wesley Biblical Seminary has trained men and women to be ministers of the gospel all around the world. Marshall Daigre and Jeff Wolheter graduated one year apart, and they both felt God’s call to church planting. They both share how God has used them to grow his Kingdom by starting new churches.
Marshall Daigre (M.Div. ’07)
Harvest Pointe prepares souls for Heaven and plants seeds of the gospel so that we produce fruit in the Kingdom. We strive to create an atmosphere where the whole person can be entirely converted to Jesus and grow something to share with others. Our name, Harvest Pointe, directs people to that “growing” reality. What we plant, we will harvest! A fruit tree doesn’t eat fruit; we exist to grow lasting Kingdom fruit to share with the world around us.
I graduated from WBS in May 2007, and my wife and I started Harvest Pointe that June. We currently rent space in Madison, AL. For us, it’s never been about the building but the people.
We find many in our city who are not anti-church or anti-Jesus but they disconnected. Ryan and Jessica are a great example. They hadn’t been connected to a church in years. Last year during our Team Sunday, they visited after being invited by a member of our church. Now their whole family is involved in our church and mission. What a joy to see people converted to Jesus and connected to others!
Please continue to pray that Harvest Pointe abides in Jesus and his mission.
Jeff Wolheter (M.Div. ’06)
A week after I graduated from Wesley Biblical Seminary, we moved to Kendallville, IN, to plan what would become Bridgeway Evangelical Church. After a year and a half of small groups, we publicly launched Bridgeway at the Kendallville Youth Center in March 2008.
God brought us many unchurched 20-30-somethings. We have always been about serving the community for the sake of the Kingdom. For example, twice a year we have “be the church” Sundays. Instead of going to church to worship, we serve the community and worship by being the church. We’ve done home projects and laundry, raked leaves, shoveled snow, visited nursing homes, and served the community in many other ways. We have found that while these Sundays are a great way to serve the community for the sake of the Gospel, they have a greater impact on the spiritual formation of the people of Bridgeway.
In March 2013, Bridgeway moved into a more permanent location. Since that time we have grown from 50 people to around 115 on Sunday mornings.
Please pray that we will continue to reach the unchurched of the extended Kendallville community!