Pastor John Sauser, the pastor of Faith Baptist Church (FBC) in Iowa City, along with the leadership of the church recognized that God was doing a work in Iowa County. In 1996 there were around 20 people attending FBC and within a few short years that number doubled. In addition, there was significant increases in the number of teenagers attending “The Loft” a youth ministry held in Iowa County at the barn loft of Jon Kinzenbaw. This ministry was headed up by Tim Jones, a deacon of FBC, with a burden for the youth in the surrounding area. After much prayer and seeking of the Lord’s will and direction, the leadership and congregation of FBC moved to establish a daughter church in Williamsburg, Iowa.

                Sensing God’s calling to go with the church plant work, in March of 2001, Pastor Sauser announced his resignation from FBC as pastor, and became a missionary church planter for the new Baptist work in Williamsburg. On September 15, 2001, an organizational meeting was held at the home of Lance and Megan Veldboom in rural Williamsburg, and Harvest Baptist Fellowship was formed. Harvest Baptist was chosen that evening as the name to reflect the desire to minister in the agricultural community of Iowa County and fulfill the commission of the Lord to send workers into His harvest fields. The Declaration of Purpose was signed, stating in part that “we, the undersigned, guided as we believe by the Holy Spirit, and relying upon His continued guidance and blessing, do hereby covenant ourselves together to form an independent Baptist fellowship of believers in Williamsburg, Iowa, to be known as Harvest Baptist Church…”

Harvest was blessed in leadership as three godly deacons from the church in Iowa City, Tim Jones, Dirk Zollinger, and Travis Ryan were all from Williamsburg and helped lead in the transition and planting of the new church. When Pastor Sauser announced his resignation at FBC, a search went out for a new pastor for the growing Iowa City church. Three more deacons were added to the group in Iowa City to help assist and make the transition smoother. Faith Baptist Church gave sacrificially, not just in their financial giving to the work, but also in people as well, losing about a third of their members to the new work in Williamsburg and having to select a new pastor. God’s grace was again evident in the calling of their new pastor, Tim Waldron, the same month that Harvest held its first services. FBC experienced growth after the planting of Harvest and were looking to add on to their building or build elsewhere. Joint services were held for special occasions, such as Harvest’s first year anniversary. The friendships and bond of love between the two churches ran deep.

                On October 14, 2001, Harvest Baptist Church was officially born, holding its first gathering in the cafeteria of Mary Welsh Elementary school. Bookmarks were distributed with Hosea 10: 12 printed on them, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground; For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” Using the Mary Welsh Elementary school for holding church services was a real blessing to the congregation and ministry of Harvest. The school was newly built, and the way it was designed helped to fully exceed the needs of the early church. The church purchased 100 folding chairs and a portable sound system that were all able to be stored and used by the school. It was truly God’s provision, and the church was blessed by the availability and accessibility of the building for church functions. The library functioned as the children’s church, nursery, Sunday School classrooms, as well as Thursday night prayer meeting. The art room was used for classroom space as well, and the youth group met in the music room. The cafeteria functioned as the adult Sunday School classroom and church sanctuary. The gym was available and used for special events or meals such as Easter breakfast, two weddings and a funeral. The hallway was used for serving lines, with tables lined and filled with food for fellowships to celebrate events or thank those ministering to the church. The pulpit was handcrafted by a woodworker who generously donated it to the church. By the year 2006 the cafeteria was filled with people for services and additional chairs were needed.

                It was a special blessing during those early years to visit the Mother Church of FBC for baptismal services that took place about once a year. When the school building was unavailable, services were held at the West End Pond shelter and usually followed by a picnic lunch. The working relationship with the schools was wonderful, and a sponsoring church provided gift baskets to express our thanks and appreciation for the teachers whose rooms we used regularly as well as the janitors and others we got to know during our time at the school. We thought this was a thoughtful idea, and annually carried this out at Thanksgiving to express our appreciation and to thank them for their patience in sharing their space with us. The Harvest congregation has had much to be grateful and thankful for in the forming and building of His church.

                Pastor Sauser was on missionary status during these years with Baptist Church Planters (BCP). BCP was an arm ministry of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC) that led in the ministry of church planting across the country to help ensure success and stability in numbers, finances and staffing. As part of missionary status, Pastor Sauser was to raise his own support and many Wednesdays and Sundays were spent traversing the state of Iowa and neighboring states as well, to proclaim the story of Harvest and tell of God’s working and faithfulness. He had the conviction to never ask for money, but rather to testify of God’s grace at work in the lives of people. God provided and blessed in this regard as well, as many churches donated to the work of Harvest either financially or physically in lending support to the building work or ministry of the church. Harvest was blessed with a generous rental agreement, and funds not used towards rent, the ministry or supplies were placed into a building fund. Due to the generous gifts and promises of in-kind contributions, the church began to look for land on which to build a facility that would honor God, house a growing congregation in a permanent residence, and make weekly setup and tear-down a memory of the past.

                Pastor Sauser and Dr. David Little of BCP toured the town one day looking for available land and inquiring of the properties of other standing churches that were looking at building a new facility. They were taking into consideration visibility, accessibility, cost and availability, and the Lord provided all of that in a field west of the Williamsburg Care Center (since torn down), a seven-acre site that would be visible from Highway 149 as people came into town from the interstate. The land was located off North Street, one of the main roads of town and was donated by Jean and the late Leighton Jones parents of Tim Jones.

                In June of 2005, after months of prayer and working with Continental Baptist Builders (CBM) on design, blueprints, cost estimates, and the organizing of workers, a groundbreaking celebration was held. Several came to celebrate with Harvest, including Dr. David Little, Pastor Dick Dayton the state representative of the Council of 10, Pastor Tim Waldron and his wife from the mother church in Iowa City, Kent and Lavonne Johannes, lead builders on the project, Dallas Putnam and Peter and Darla Ringelberg, Directors of Building of CBM, and many other friends from FBC and elsewhere. A building resembling a two-car garage was constructed on the edge of the property to help meet the needs of the missionary builder families who were living out of 7-10 trailers as they worked on the construction of the new church building. This garage building included a restroom and showers, washer and dryer, refrigerator and storage. Tables and chairs were setup for communal meals provided by the Harvest church family each Saturday. A storage trailer was located on the property close to the building site to house the tools and supplies needed by the builders. Builders came from Iowa, Michigan, New York, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania as well as other states to help. Many were here long term to see the work finished, but some came until their role was fulfilled, and they were needed at another building site. All lived out of their own trailers on the site, with the area resembling a trailer park on the north side of the nursing home across the street. The land was built up to keep it above the flood plain, an inground-source heat system was dug and installed, footings were poured, walls built, and the roof placed over the classrooms, restrooms, fellowship hall and kitchen, all as part of phase one. Once phase one was completed and the building enclosed, work continued on the interior over the winter of 2005. In March of 2006, the process was repeated on the north side of the building, adding offices, the sanctuary, and additional classrooms. The first meeting of the congregation on the new site took place on August 11, 2006, when Mary Welsh was not available for the day. The work was not yet completed so construction areas were blocked off, and worship was held in the drywalled fellowship hall space. The final project was completed two years after it started in June of 2007. The church enjoyed a special celebration on July 22, 2007, a day of dedication and thanksgiving to God for what He had done. Psalm 98: 1, “Oh sing unto the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things.”

                A significant portion of the labor in constructing the new building was completed by volunteers. The CBM builders raised their own support as missionary builders and helped to provide oversight to the many from Harvest and other congregations from all over that provided volunteer help on various projects. The blessing of being a part of building the church structure was an added blessing in the building of the real church – the body of Christ in the people of this community.

                To name just a few, preaching and teaching opportunities were given to men such as Tim Jones, Dirk Zollinger, Travis Ryan, Brandon Fritz, Don DeLay, Steve Johnston, Jordan Sauser, and many others as the ministry continues on. Margaret Reihman acted as the music coordinator, helping lead ministries including putting together a choir, an orchestra, and assigning special music. Pastor Sauser was burdened to teach the parenting class “Growing Kids God’s Way” to several different families over the years. Pastor Sauser also asked for many to be in prayer for his weekly personal ministry schedule. The love and involvement of the people of the church in each other’s lives contributed to the growth of the church, and the loving reputation of the church within the community. Many, many, faithfully served in the hard work and ministry of the church and contributed to its depth and outreach, serving alongside and picking up where these early members left off. The ministry of Harvest Baptist church is committed to teaching and training people to live their lives in Christ and for Christ. We pray that Christ will be pre-eminent in the church and enable us to serve others in the wonderful community of Williamsburg for many years to come.