Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub - Harvest Denver
Growing into adulthood with poor experiences in church after church, Jeff Schwarzentraub knew he didn’t want to pastor a church. But he had a deep desire to disciple men and grow them in leadership, so he thought he had found his niche as an itinerant preacher. His radio ministry, One Heartbeat, had a strong following and people were coming to Christ through his preaching. Yet frustration was growing in his heart as he saw many converts, yet never had a place to plug them in for consistent growth and discipleship over time.
Reaching out to a friend from Harvest Peoria, Jeff got connected with Harvest Bible Fellowship’s Executive Director, Kent Shaw. Kent asked Jeff if he had ever considered church planting. “Sure I have,” Jeff responded, “and let me tell you why I never will.” And after listing all his reasons, the Lord began to work in Jeff’s heart. After a long conversation, Jeff got off the phone, and through tears, told his wife, Kimberly, “We’re going to plant a Harvest Bible Chapel.”
Recalling how God moved, Jeff says, “I saw the church as a stale, dead, boring place where people weren’t accomplishing anything, and I didn’t want to be a part of that. But God was showing me, It’s not the church you’re frustrated with, I died for the church. You’re frustrated that people in the church aren’t taking my glory seriously enough, and I’ve given you a burden to lead a church the way I want it to be led.”
God took Jeff’s frustration and turned it into fuel for a new church that looked like God wanted it to look. Jeff recalls, “I realized it was time to spend my life investing in seeing Christ’s church magnified the way God wants it to be. God gave me a new compassion for churches that aren’t serious about His Word or making disciples. It’s one thing to sit on the sidelines and complain about what the church is doing wrong--it’s another thing to get in the game and do something about it.”
So in March 2010, after spending time at the Fellowship’s training center, Jeff and Kimberly got in the game and ended his traveling preaching circuit to find a permanent home at Harvest Denver with a core group of about 20. And through Jeff’s faithful preaching and discipleship as well as influence from his still-active radio ministry, the church grew from those 20 faithful people to 125 in just 13 weeks. “I recruited a good friend of mine of 30 years to join our core group,” Jeff says, “And he got saved at our very first service. What a privilege it was to baptize him this year!”
As the church grew, Jeff’s heart to disciple men to be leaders grew even stronger. “It was rare that I would walk into a church where men had stepped up to lead. So from the very beginning of Harvest Denver, we were going to call the men to lead. We don’t want people to come into our church and ask where the men’s ministry is; we want them to think where is it not? There are men in children’s ministry, set up ministry, small group ministry. It’s the men who need to lead the church. Our vision at Harvest Denver is to impact the nations of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ by making disciples right here in the greater Denver area. And I think God is just getting started!”
