Harvest Church purchases Calvary Baptist in Harrison, hopes to grow congregation

Church leaders looking to grow their audience in Harrison finally have a building to call home.

Harvest Church, a nondenominational ministry, is scheduled to purchase the Calvary Baptist Church in the Natrona Heights section of the township. The church sits along Pacific Avenue, just off Freeport Road.

“I’m stoked,” said Pastor Andy Sommers, of Leechburg. “We’ve been feeling like we were in limbo for a long time.”

Pastor Joe Jewart, leader of Calvary, said the building sale allows him to streamline his ministry to those who need it most.

“We’ll probably concentrate our message closer to the city or a college,” said Jewart, a 2010 Highlands graduate.

Harvest Church last year moved temporarily into another Harrison sanctuary — Grace United Methodist — which sits across from Highlands Middle School and had room to share in its four-story site. The idea was to give Sommers and his staff time to make connections in the community.

“They were very gracious to let us rent all this time, but we always hoped for a home of our own,” Sommers said.

Based in Kittanning, Harvest also has locations in Petrolia and Indiana, Pa. The church adheres to traditional Christian teaching and “seeks to live in unity in the midst of diversity,” according to its website.

In the year it shared space at Grace United, Harvest nearly doubled its membership from 30 to 50.

Once his congregation settles into the building, Sommers plans a slew of activities to raise its profile even more.

A youth festival was scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. July 25-29 for children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Services will begin in September and will be at 10 a.m. Sundays.

On Sept. 11, there will be a community barbecue where all are welcome.

In the meantime, Jewart and his congregation of about 20 will continue to hold services at the church until God leads him on a new path, he said. Services are at 12:30 p.m. Sundays.

“This sale gives us the money to finance the ministry that God wants us to establish,” Jewart said.

Earlier this summer, Calvary held an estate sale and emptied the church of almost everything, from its 32 red Oak pews to the hymn books to several pianos.

The congregation, bustling when it first began in the late 1960s, has dwindled to the “sort of people who do not just want to continue the status quo of cultural Christianity,” Jewart said.

It was time to move on from having a place of worship to spearheading the mission of God’s kingdom, Jewart said.

Jewart’s father, Randy, said he is “humbled by all the people who had a hand in keeping the church open all these years.”

He touted its rich history of mission work but said the building is just too much to maintain.

“We wanted to pass the baton to the younger generation and hope it bounces back,” he said. “We’re excited for the next step.”

So, too, is Sommers.

“We were looking for a large community for us to impact,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if everyone would be on board with moving again, but they are all feeling excited to make this ours.”