Church Blessed by Topsoil Gift, Blesses Community with Garden Harvest
Pastor Scott Harper, and his wife, Lisa, have led Clare Assembly since 2009. The Harpers, who have seen the church more than double in size to more than 130 attendees in the rural community of about 3,000, have worked hard to see the church become a vital part of the community.
“Every year we host a Christmas ‘Walk through Bethlehem’ Christmas event, hold a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp at the middle school, participate in the town’s annual parade, Jonathan (the Harper’s son and youth pastor) and I both coach middle school track, and we’ve also participated in CityServe,” Scott says. Meanwhile, Lisa is the founder and director of Marathon Mission, a ministry that helps runners and walkers achieve their goals and raise funds for the ministry or public service organization of their choice.
However, this year, following a spring health fair, several church members inquired about starting a community garden to benefit those in the church as well as in the community.
Scott agreed with the idea. He adds that he really appreciates that those with the idea were among the ones who volunteered and invested their time and energy into seeing the garden become a reality.
In some communities, a community garden may not be seen as that impactful, but Scott points out that Clare County is one of the poorest in the state of Michigan.
“There seems to be a lot of single-parent homes and generational poverty in our county,” he observes. “So, having a ministry where people can receive free, fresh-from-the-garden vegetables they may not be able to otherwise afford is a real blessing.”
The free topsoil was distributed two-feet deep across a 40- by 60-foot plot, tilled, and a four-foot fence was added to help deter deer and other animals in search of a tasty snack.
“They planted a variety of vegetables including corn, red potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, green beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and beets,” Lisa says. “Different people with different skills all came together to make it happen.”
The volunteers, who preferred to remain anonymous, divided responsibilities that included hauling, fencing, tilling, plotting, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting.
“Everyone worked wonderfully together . . . everyone had their own special skill that fit right in with the process,” one volunteer says. “It was a God thing — He brought the right people together to grow this garden.”
The harvest began in early summer and is continuing today, with the produce blessing individuals in the church as well as Our Father’s House Childcare Center which serves 40 children, 70-80 family units (representing roughly 300 people) from the church’s monthly food pantry ministry, and a local soup kitchen.
And as the vegetables were harvested and distributed, words of appreciation and thankfulness began to flow; and those who worked the garden felt blessed to be part of a blessing to others.
Scott says that an important side benefit of the community garden has been new or deepened relationships among the volunteers.
“I feel the people volunteering with the community garden have not only stepped up, but have become closer, like their own small group,” he says. “Some people who got involved with it, I never would have imagined they would want to, but it’s been really good to see how they connected.”
Even outside of the volunteer group, Scott says the garden has provided a touch point that everyone can talk about as garden-fresh vegetables — not to mention the “sweat-equity” it takes to produce them — are something that everyone can be thankful for.
Although the Harpers admit with a smile that they have yet to hear of anyone “falling to their knees and asking what they must do to be saved” when presented with the free vegetables, they also know that these types of acts of kindness and compassion could one day play a part of someone making a decision for Christ.
