Case Study:  Harvest Bible Chapel Granger, IN

Harvest Granger began with 13 people interested in founding a new church.  They launched in an elementary school in February of 2009 with 250 people.  They settled in at 150 and then began to grow. 

They formed a facility team.  They collected a $13,000 facility offering initially, and began searching.  The team got excited about a 24,000 sf. warehouse on a major road.  However, the Elders were not excited because the site was landlocked, and the price was high.  The owner stopped communication, and God closed the door.

But Pastor Trent was building a relationship with the Pastor of a local church that was dying.  They began to discuss a “Church Adoption” where this church would join Harvest.  They worked on a plan for an entire year, and things were looking promising.  Then in January of 2011, the pastor resigned abruptly, and the deal fell apart. 

Nothing happened for 6 months.  Then, Pastor Trent got a call on Friday.  The elders of this other church said, “We’re in.”  The leaders from two churches met on Saturday, and announced the adoption on Sunday.  God did it in just 3 days. 

This happened while Granger was at about 300.  The new building needed to be renovated and expanded.  It was only 4,000 sf., so they hoped to add another 3,000 sf.  The new building would seat 600.  The project would cost $850,000. 

In July of 2011, they held a facility offering and collected $400,000 in cash and $200,000 in pledges over a 3-year period.  They had saved up $250,000, and they borrowed $200,000. 

After 3 years of worshiping in a school gym, they moved into their new facility in February of 2012. 

They had 470 at their last Sunday in the gym.  They had 601 people at their first service in the new building. 

The new facility accelerated the ministry.  “Whiplash” is the word Pastor Trent used to describe the experience.  The new building is surrounded by 60 acres.  The owner attends the church, and the leaders are praying he will donate the land to the mission.  

Case Study:  Harvest Bible Chapel Davenport

Harvest Davenport began in 2004 with 20 people.  Their launch team worked hard to start this new church, and over 400 people attended their first service.  They began looking for a facility shortly after launch.  They found a big box store sitting on the busiest intersection in the quad city area.  Previously, the building was an electronics store.  The building was 53,000 sf. 

The original asking price was $10 million.  Six weeks later, the owners dropped it to $5.1 million.  They settled on a final price of $4.7 million. 

The church had about 600 people at the time of purchase.  They needed $150,000 in earnest money.  They needed a down payment of $1.3 million.  They had six weeks to do it.  They were only one and a half years old.  They didn't even have elders yet.  After a massive blitz, they collected $1.7 million and made the down payment.   

The building was a mess.  They had a one year build out process.  Their total project cost was $8 million dollars. 

The whole deal almost collapsed when their financing fell through, but then a local bank gave them a loan.  After the building was done, they had $123 dollars in the bank. 

They had 600 people at the time of purchase, 1,000 at their move-in service, and one month later 1,500 showed up to worship.   

They are currently flat out of space.  They have three services and are averaging 2,300 people each weekend.  They have no rooms available, and the building is being used every night of the week.  They are praying to plant one new church every year.