Capital Campaign


It is a Thursday evening, but it's pretty much the same every night. There is a steady stream of cars in and out of the parking lot.

Parents are picking up their kids from the after-care program the church offers. This program includes tutoring, music lessons and one-on-one-mentoring. Many HCC seniors have found a place of service -loving on kids who often come from dysfunctional living situations.

Four activities are going on this evening:


A group meets each week to pray for different areas of the city. After prayer, they decide on a service project for the next Saturday. They've done this for so long that most people recognize them when they come to their neighborhood. Sometimes they don't get a lot of work done, but they have a lot of great conversations with the residents.

Meanwhile a crowd of high school students are here for the community basketball league that uses our new basketball courts. High school ministries has been really effective in building relationships between the coaching staff - who are all committed members of Harbor Covenant – and the kids in the community. Many times the staff is here long after the game is over hanging out with the kids who don't seem real anxious to go home.

There's a group in the kitchen making sack lunches. Somebody will be here again at six a.m. tomorrow when church members and people in the community know they can stop by to pick up lunches for hungry people near where they work.

A band is setting up in the coffee area. Most of the congregation doesn't particularly care for the music they'll play, but they're pretty excited about who will come to hear the music. They know this will be the only exposure to church a lot of these people will get and they want it to be a positive one. One older couple is pretty excited because their grandchildren are coming this evening.

The children of Harbor Covenant are scattered around the area in individual homes. They're learning biblical truths about who God is and who they are in Him. They're also having a ton of fun. They can't meet at the church because there just isn't enough room. Besides, someone figured out that their friends were more likely to come if they were invited to a home. A number of parents drive their vans around their neighborhoods picking up their kids' friends. Many of the houses belong to church people who don't even have kids, but they want to see children come to Christ.

This weekend will be busy around the church:


Saturday morning, there will be a huge gathering of men. It's the final meeting before they head off for a week to hike to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. Only about half the guys are from the church because the requirement for going on the trip was that you had to bring a friend who wasn't a Christian. There was a time when that would have been a problem because a lot of the guys didn't have non-Christian friends. But for the last couple of years, the men have really taken seriously the idea that they are missionaries in their neighborhood and workplace. They'll have gear spread out over the floor of the Gathering Place as they figure out who'll carry what.

Saturday afternoon, many HCC women will be in the same area. Only this time they'll be there with a group of refugee women from Asia. Our women will be teaching them the skills they need to care for their families in a very different culture. They are happy to share their cooking and management skills. However, they are most excited about the fact that these Asian women have started to trust them and have begun to ask questions about Jesus. The Asian women don't know this, but the Harbor Covenant women met in the morning to fast and pray for them. They had to do this in the sanctuary because the Gathering Place was already taken, but that's ok because the insulation between the two areas is good.

Saturday evening is the quarterly all-church dinner. As the church has become more diverse and more spread out, it is one of the intentional times that are designed so that everyone can come together. Thankfully the weather will be nice, so the crowd can spill out onto the plaza and the grass beyond. It is a great picture of our community as long time members will end up sitting with new people and old folks with teenagers. It hasn't always been this way, but a couple of years ago, people began to feel very strongly that they shouldn't just pay attention to their friends when they are at church and many have become really good at keeping an eye out for new people or those who are on the fringe.

The church has four services on Sundays. Each one has a different musical style and format. It's taken a lot of getting used to and hasn't gone perfectly, but the congregation discovered that the more ways the church offered for people to connect with God, the more people would come. When one service is going on the sanctuary, other people are meeting in the Gathering Place for coffee and fellowship. This offers great flexibility for ministry. So many new people are becoming Christians that the church for the first time in years is keeping track of the numbers. They aren't counting people when they first commit themselves to Jesus though, they count them when they begin to show signs of discipleship. This is easier than it sounds because new people are paired with mentors. All who are seriously committed to Jesus at Harbor Covenant are involved in mentoring others and being mentored. It took a while to catch on, but nothing has paid more dividends for the Kingdom than people investing themselves in others.

When people come to the Harbor Covenant Campus for the first time, they have no problem figuring out where to go because the large outdoor plaza is a focal point that draws attention to the front door and Gathering Place of the church. It's the exception rather than the norm that people come alone because the congregation of Harbor Covenant has invested deeply in relationships in their neighborhoods and workplaces. Most of them are brought by their friends in the church.

There will be an elder forum after the church. A group will be coming and the elders know what they want to discuss. The tithe we gave to local missions back in 2011 was so successful, they'd like us to have another capital campaign and just give all the money away. The elders feel confident the church is ready for this.

Activities are drawing to a close that Thursday evening. Steve Teitzel and Michael White are the last to leave. Locking up is a breeze, because we installed a system that locks all the doors and turns off the lights from the receptionist's computer. .

As they walk to their cars, Steve turns to Michael and says, "Five years ago would you have ever dreamed that expanding this building would transform our hearts and our church so much?" Michael replies, "I had this vision once, but I figured it was only good for a motivational speech. I never dreamed people would take it so seriously."