---

Pastor Doug Long had a good life…good family, good home, and good job as a Senior Pastor. He and his wife, Christy, had moved to Texas, and Doug had become the pastor to a small church with an older congregation. “I kept thinking, Why do you want a young pastor? And they told me, ‘Because we know if we don’t change we’ll die.’ So I thought, hey, this is right up my alley. And God saw fit to bless the ministry. We grew from sixty to a few hundred strong with lots of baptisms and changed lives.”



There was a lot of fruit in the church, yet Doug struggled with the fact that there wasn’t a clear pathway to grow leadership and true disciples. He says, “We were always adding another thing to the schedule, but I wasn’t being effective in what I was doing because leaders weren’t being grown. And I thought, I’d rather do three things with excellence than ten things with mediocrity.”

Then in 2005, Doug attended the Straight Up Conference and was introduced to the world of Harvest. “Within the first ten minutes of the conference I was so moved I was bawling. There was powerful worship, and instantly I realized THIS is what my heart longs for. After worship I thought, Well that was great, but the preaching can’t be solid. But then they rolled out the preaching, and it was right on!” Since then Doug started praying, “God, if there’s ever a chance, I’d love to be a part of Harvest.”

Doug recalls, “I waited and waited on the Lord. He was still doing a work in our church in Texas; I was the pastor there for seven years. But ultimately I couldn’t overcome the congregation-led mindset of my church and to dismantle Sunday School (for small groups) would have split the church, and that’s not what God called me to do. I have a love for the people there and was not called to split the church. That was God pushing me out, and He had already begun to pull me toward Harvest.

And while the pull was strong, transition is always a challenge. Doug and Christy have three children who would need to adjust to their new school, HCA, and a new life along with them. When asked how he would advise someone else considering a huge step of faith, Doug counsels, “Pray. But also look for the open door and don’t be scared to walk through it. Look for God’s timing and when it comes, it will be so clear, you’ll march right through that door. Take the step! There is no regret in being right where God wants us.”

In September, Doug joined the Harvest Bible Fellowship Training Center. He has a core group in Traverse City, Michigan waiting for him to finish training and launch their church in the spring. Doug says, “I want to walk away from the Training Center having a clear pathway forward about how to stay on the most effective path for the church. I have a heart to see other leaders raised up. Strong leaders—that’s where it’s at.” When asked how the Training Center is preparing him, Doug says, “They’re giving me vision, allowing it to resonate in my heart, and make it my own. Building a new church is a coupling of both the science that we’re learning here in the Fellowship with the spiritual. It’s the merging of those two things that make for a great church.”

And Doug has vision for churches even beyond his Traverse City launch. “I’m serious about church planting and making disciples. Our prayerful desire is to have other churches planted out of Harvest Traverse City. I don’t know how God is going to do that, I just know if I’m truly serious about making disciples, we will plant other churches. Christ promised to build His church, so we’re getting on board with His agenda and loving every minute.”

To get connect to the Harvest Training Center for Church Planting, click here.