Our History
Dan with Chaplain Dorothy Hilton
|
Originally Harvest of Life was incorporated in Texas by its founder Rev. Murl Gwynn. It’s intended purpose at the time was to record the Bible in indigenous languages and dialects so missionaries could use the tape recordings in remote villages of Latin America and Africa for evangelism. Murl and his volunteers built recording studios for a requesting missionary whenever asked. This effort continued through 1987, when Dan and Marilyn Nase came on board to develop Christian illustrated magazines in Spanish known as the Foto Novela.
The Nase's having served with another literature ministry in Mexico, Editorial Vida (Life Publishers), and also having learned practical publishing and printing skills with Christian Literature Crusade located in Philadelphia, set off for Mexico to start from “scratch” a Christian “comic book” for evangelism. A survey was made of those ministries and denominations working to evangelize in order to determine the need for this type of literature. In the past, mostly tracts and Gospel portions had been used to distribute among the unsaved. Most literature had been adopted from English and in reality was not contextual to the culture. This new form of literature was met enthusiastically by those on the “front lines” of evangelism and church planting. The first series, Camino a la Abundancia (The Way to the Abundant Life) was printed in 1988. This work was 100% written by Hispanics and was culturally appealing. The first volume of this seven part series of a testimonial presentation of a conversion realized a distribution of 600,000 magazines. And from those first challenging beginnings till the present, over 5,000,000 illustrated magazines have been printed and placed in the hands of unbelievers. This figure, coupled with the printing of books and tracts, have resulted in nearly 12,000,000 pieces of literature being printed and distributed throughout Central and South America and the Spanish-speaking peoples of the Caribbean. In addition, distribution early on was realized in Spain; not to the Spaniard, but to the Gypsies. Gypsies found Jesus in a simple, understandable, and culturally accepted format. In 1991, an advance into Cuba was initiated. This on-going effort has seen over 2,000,000 tracts, Foto Novelas, books, New Testaments and Bibles shipped and distributed throughout this island nation. The literature has been used exclusively by the Christians in Cuba to reach their fellow countrymen for Christ. The single, most popular piece of literature received by the Cuban Church has been John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. This illustrated presentation of a classic Christian literary work has been very effective in leading many to know Christ as Savior by understanding the "spiritual warfare" involved in making that life-changing decision. Because of the high literacy rate and educational level of the Cuban, this allegorical presentation of man's search for God has received wide-spread acceptance. |
Who We Are |
Harvest of Life is grateful to have participated in editing of the language, refining of the drawings and the dissemination of the book, Pilgrim's Progress, throughout the nation of Cuba.
The greatest challenge in Cuba has been explaining who Jesus Christ is and what exactly His purpose was while on earth. Though accepted as a historical figure, much distortion, legend and tradition exists because of so many years under atheistic communist rule. Consequently, when one tries to share Jesus with the average Cuban, the “battle” is not necessarily an unwillingness on their part to listen, but instead, a total ignorance of the atoning work of Christ and His claim to deity. “God incarnate (in the flesh) as the provision for the forgiveness of our sins” is a term totally foreign to the average Cuban and, in reality, for most peoples in any multi-ethnic group. In order to help “bridge this gap” of spiritual ignorance, Harvest of Life accepted the challenge of defining the Jesus of the Bible by publishing, printing, and distributing 935,000 magazines entitled “Quien Es Jesus?” (Who is Jesus?). A Bible correspondence school was advertised on the back page and thousands responded to the free courses offered, thus furthering their knowledge and commitment to Christianity. |
What We Are
|
Under the leadership of Dan and Marilyn Nase and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, Harvest of Life has been involved in disaster relief (the earthquake in Mexico City, 1986), church construction in the mountains of the State of Hidalgo in Mexico, distribution of food and clothing to those in need, an outreach to upper class Mexicans and ex-patriots through an evangelistic work called the Mexico City Breakfast Club and now prison ministry to the Hispanics. All these efforts have and are intended to present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is our desire to present to the Hispanic the opportunity of hearing the Gospel and also seeing Christian love in action through the lives of those who claim Jesus as Lord.We have been blessed to preach and show our "passion for the Christ" to the inmates of various State Institutions, private prisons and Federal Facilities in North Florida. Harvest of Life is grateful for the opportunity to represent you in the Prisons of North Florida. Ministering to the "least of these" in both Spanish and English. God has blessed the effort for the last 10 years as we . . . “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” Matthew 28:19.
|
Where We
|
Now under the leadership of Dan and Sarah Evans and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, Harvest of Life will keep moving forward. As we look back and see how God has worked, we say, “Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!” Through all the ups and downs, He has never left us nor forsaken us. He has been the anchor for our souls and the Rock on which we stand! He has moved and accomplished what we thought were not possible and all He has asked us to do is trust Him. Now He is calling us to come up a little higher and He wants to begin another chapter of His story in our lives. The Evans met Dan & Marilyn Nase almost 20 years ago through a Spanish acquaintance. They were involved in prison ministry and little did we know that all these years later, the Lord would have something in store for the Evans'. Dan knew the Lord was calling him into prison ministry and began cultivating in the soil of his heart and planting the seeds along the way that have come to fruition and will continue to do so. Through the twists and turns of life, God led Dan and Sarah to their current church, Thomasville Road Baptist Church, and come to find out this is where Dan & Marilyn attended church. In August of 2015, Dan Nase approached Dan & Sarah about his vision for this ministry he was leading. They were thinking and praying about how to continue this ministry and so they approached us about prayerfully considering taking over this ministry as they would remain on and be considered missionaries under this ministry. We know that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts not our thoughts. Here Dan was all these years feeling that tug and pull of God's calling into prison ministry and one day having a ministry of his own and trying to figure out how all that was going to work and here God says, "I already have it worked out for you!" Trust and obey! So that’s what Dan and Sarah are doing. They are obeying His call into prison ministry and are the directors of Harvest of Life along with the Nase's. We ask that you pray about supporting this advance into the prisons of North Florida for the purpose of evangelizing and discipling those who are incarcerated. In the almost four years Dan Evans has been a part of Harvest of Life, he has recruited 58 volunteers that are not all part of one church, but over 10 churches in the community! Harvest of Life conducts worship services in 4 different institutions monthly and Dan teaches weekly in 3 different institutions. God is expanding their territory and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for this ministry, HIS ministry, for the future! Please make a prayerful decision about joining with us as a regular prayer and financial partner in this noble and honorable opportunity to reach the incarcerated with the gospel.
|