It’s time to get the word out, tell friends and family, and complete all those necessary tasks that just need to get completed.   Recently I was speaking to a close friend about current plans to plant a church in Savannah, GA.  I made the comment that, ” I would rather be busy than bored ”

My wife Chris and I, the Harvest Light team, as well as many new friends have fully engaged in plans to join with other churches, ministries, and Christians in the Savannah, GA area.

There are many ways to stay up-to-date on this project:

LIKE US on FACEBOOK

Get Updates on SavannahFreedom.org

Visit us at HarvestLight.org

This is going to be a great adventure, we are already meeting some wonderful people and seeing God’s wonderful hand everywhere.  Check here regularly for meeting and event information.

Bill

Wikipedia defines ‘Idealism’ by the following:
‘Idealism also refers to a tradition in Western thought that represents things in an ideal form, or as they ought to be rather than as they really are, in the fields of ethics, morality, aesthetics, and value.‘

Webster’s Dictionary has this to say:
‘relating to or constituting mental images, ideas, or conceptions’

In other words, the word Ideal means to refer to a previously achieved quality of a thing, or the standard that has not yet been achieved.

With respect to our country and the people who live in it, I believe America is comprised of wonderful people who truly desire to live a life that is significant, who work to be good and caring people, who have a healthy belief system of right and wrong.  With respect to an ideal, I believe a quality and standard of community and civil responsibility was handed down to us from our founding fathers who gave up much of their personal convenience, wealth, and – for some – their very lives to bring America and it’s ideal standard of freedom, justice, strength and character into being.

Above I wrote the following ‘a previously achieved quality of a thing’
With respect to America, I believe today we have shifted from the ideals that our forefathers had.

• They believed in a people of freedom who could worship God the way they longed to – without government intervention.
  To them, ‘seperation of Church and State’ was in order to keep the government out of the Church, and not the Church out of the government.
• They believed that the government was for the people and by the people. That government should serve the people and not the other way around.
• They believed in a people of strength and character and gave them the rights to many freedoms that have now slowly been taken away from them.
• They believed in a people who could be self governed with an eye towards social justice ahead of the cost of convenience.

I also wrote of ‘the standard that has not yet been achieved’.

• I believe we in America have the perfect opportunity to arise again and become the leaders in the world that God founded us for.
• I believe we can again become the harbor for the alien, the foreigner, and the weary.
• I believe we can make changes to have a government that serves the people and not one of enforced servitude.
• I believe we can raise up a standard of morality, and justice, liberty and freedom without compromising any individuals freedom.
• I believe we can have a youth culture that is not spiraling out of control, but is ready to take control as the imerging generation.
• I believe we can be a beacon of hope for the passing generation in all nations that their lives were not lived in vain and they have been listened to – no ground has been lost.
• I believe we can be a source of strength and confidence to all who look for a protector and defendor, a helping hand in time of need.
• I believe we can be a trusted ally even when doing so could come at great cost.  Friendship and loyalty demand it.
• I believe in many other great things about our country and our people…

However, I believe that no ideal is worth having, and no ideal is attainable without a transformation of our individual and national soul to God Almighty who created us.
America needs an awakening and I believe we will see the following verse fulfilled in our lifetime:

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

- Bill NeSmith

I am not saying that Unity is easily achieved – it does take work.  Many times unity has not been grasped because the means to achieve it has been illusive and has been misunderstood.  Unity is not a conformity so that all parties look, act, and speak alike – any more than the unity of marriage is the denial or abdication of one person’s individuality is surrendered to the other.

Unity is achieved by being open to those who are different from us; who have strengths that we do not have but need; who have weakness and lesser abilities that we can assist them with.

Unity is not achieved by arranging those that agree, look alike, and believe the same things to come together in a common voice to overpower or persuade another ‘unified’ group. 

Unity is not as if one assembles a flower bed or vase arrangement – putting like flowers and plants together, arranged according to height and color. 

Unity is not brought about because of our likeness but because of our differences.  We are who we are, as a bride is different from the husband, so is one group different than another – in order to be a part of a union that can reproduce something from the two.  To reproduce something from the sum of it’s parts.  In a world of individualism and isolationism how glorious could the Body of Christ be if it were to embrace it’s members rather than solely identify them based on secondary identifiers such as denomination, history, and culture?

Unity is more like the creation that God has arranged in any field or forest in the world.   When you first walk into the woods you do not see pines on one side, oaks on another, bushes to the left and grasses to the right.  No, you see a masterful array of beauty brought about by a single purpose – to be a part of the forest.

We as Christians must arise with our unique giftings and talents, bringing them to the group that calls themselves Christians and desiring not to be arranged according to like attributes but seeking to simply be a part of the Body of Christ.

- Bill NeSmith

Welcome to our site and ‘Hello World!’

Along with being an ordained minister I have also spent many years as a Systems Analyst in IT organizations.  The title of this post is ‘Hello World!’ – a very common and standard thing for IT people to read when they are learning a new language or developing a new program.  This is becoming a new language and a new program for my heart to process.

Harvest Light Ministries is about eight years old now and has gone through many shifts both in scope, or sphere of involvement, and vision.  In 1991, I had been involved with a church in Maryland originally called ‘Harvest Christian Fellowship’ which had later been renamed to ‘Church of the Harvest’ (or the other way around).  Because of this involvement, I grew to like the name ‘Harvest’.

One day in 1991 while driving home from work, I noticed a combine in a field, harvesting wheat in the dark with bright flood lights on the front lighting the way.  A few days later, while driving to work I was thinking of names for my church (that I hoped to start) and I laughingly asked the Lord, ‘Lord, you know the name of my church, what is it’s name’ and all of a sudden I felt deep within me the words ‘Harvest Light Fellowship’.  I asked Him what that meant and I was immediately reminded of the combine I had seen about two weeks earlier – and I believe the Lord said, ‘because you will be harvesting in a dark place’.

For years we have been working to equip and release people, to shine a light on a group of people standing in a dark harvest field.  Shining a light around them that revealed that there were tools at their feet. We have been working to identify these and not only learn of their use but to teach others.

Recently, I believe we have gained some new insight into the direction of Harvest Light Ministries.
Scripture tells us that all mankind was created in the image of God and that God is Light and in Him there is no shadow of turning or darkness.  It also says that Jesus was the express image of God and the Light of the World.  Christians are also called the Light of the World.  All this being said, Harvest Light will hope to Harvest Light from People, the light that reflects His image until people are saved (ultimate personal restoration), restored, equipped, and released to do good works – greater works than Jesus’ disciples saw and did.

We have a phrase:  ‘Unity for Restoration, Equipping to Release’.

We desire to unify: to work and partner with others in the body of Christ who want to make an impact for the Lord.  We believe that all called to good works and as each supplies their part, then greater works can be accomplished.

We desire to restore: to see the restoration of people, nations, and cultures.  Many indivduals have gone through life altering circumstances such as divorce, death of a spouse, or dashed hopes and dreams.  These people need to be reignited and given new hope.  America and many other countries have watched internal pressures erode their culture, their founding principles, and national pride.

We desire to equip:  to be a source of education and encouragement, to revive the message of reconcilation and preaching the kingdom.  We desire to be a part of a Holy Spirit empowered transformation of thought and vision in all those we can reach in this country and abroad.

We desire to release:  to empower and invigorate, to challenge and to provoke to good works, all who desire to serve God with their lives, resources, dreams, and vision.

- Bill NeSmith