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McHenry County Farm Bureau Harvests Crops and Souls (10/18/06)
McHenry County Farm Bureau harvests crops and souls
PAT STEMPER VOJTA
 The McHenry County Farm Bureau is an important link for farmers, a source of agricultural information and a place of worship on Sundays.
At 9:30 a.m., a special group of people enter the Farm Bureau building at 1102 McConnell Road, Woodstock, to host a church service. It does not matter to them where they meet, as long as they worship together. These members belong to Fresh Harvest Church. The nondenominational church is part of a larger organization based in Florida called Christian International Church. Offshoots of the original church can be found nationwide, and Apostle Cheryl Roush Armstrong decided Woodstock was the perfect place to start another branch.
“We birthed the church in Woodstock because it’s the governmental seat of the county, and we serve McHenry County,” said Roush Armstrong.
A first-time participant at Fresh Harvest may find this a nontraditional church. “It’s culture shock,” explained Roush Armstrong. “There isn’t the cross in the front and there isn’t a baptismal font.”
“That’s what’s hard for some people. They’ll say, ‘I want to know what’s coming next,’” she added.
“We have teaching, preaching and worship and that way we’re like every other church,” said Roush Armstrong.
But how they differ is in the way the service is presented. “Everything we do is interactive. It’s not a one-man show,” she said. “I will call a teenager up and ask them if they have a word for the church today.”
The church is also casual, even the pastor is known to wear blue jeans.
The service may also include words of comfort and encouragement for a member in need. Other times there may be the “laying on of hands” for a member who needs healing. The pastor said she never knows exactly what each Sunday will bring, but added, “We love to be together.”
Services have no designated time to end, but “nobody ever looks at their watch,” she said.
Parishioner Beth Haines and her family travel from Marengo to attend Fresh Harvest. “Our family is actively pursuing the things of the Lord and the gifts that He has given us. We want to use those gifts to the fullest of our ability and that’s why we’re at this church. Fresh Harvest equips people based on a Biblical standard, to reach the fullest potential that God has for them,” Haines said.
Their ministries extended beyond their group when they traveled to the site of Katrina to help clean and paint area churches that were devastated by the hurricane. Roush Armstrong hosts Sunday school for first- to sixth-grade students and Sunday night is devoted to teens and their current yearlong study of the “Holy Spirit Encounter.” The pastor also offers teen and marriage counseling.
Roush Armstrong teaches weeknight classes, which she encourages her parishioners to attend. The one-year course is titled “Holy Spirit Encounter,” which studies the Father, Son and Holy Spirit relationship through the word of God. While you can attend the church without taking the course, Roush Armstrong said parishioners need them. “If you want to be an active part of what we’re doing, you have to have some training.”
Roush Armstrong earned a doctorate degree in Ministry from Wagner Institute, Colorado Springs, Colo., and was ordained a Presbyterian pastor. While attending the institute, she met Bishop Bill Hamon, founder of Christian International Church, where she first learned about the church.
In 1996, Roush Armstrong moved to Woodstock with her husband, Jim, mother, Elsie Roush, and adopted nephew, David Roush, to become pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Marengo. She served as pastor for more than four years and decided to begin an offshoot of Christian International.
“I chose the name Fresh Harvest because it’s a harvest of souls, and the root of the word fresh can mean holy,” she said.
Her husband was ordained in 2002 and occasionally they minister together. “What’s interesting about Christian International is that couples are ordained,” she explained.
Fresh Harvest began with a dozen members that met in each other’s homes and now the group has grown to almost 45.
Relying only on donations, Roush Armstrong, 55, recently purchased 10 acres on Route 47 in Woodstock, north of Route 176. She hopes to someday afford to build a church. “We’re fine where we are, but we believe for the next step whenever it’s supposed to be. I want to have a place where people can come and eat and I’ll have food and clothing to give out,” she said.
She also plans to use the building to provide shelter for homeless families.
For information, call (815) 206-0549 or visit www.freshharvestchurch.com.
This article
originally ran in the October 18, 2006 issue of The Woodstock (IL)
Independent (www.thewoodstockindependent.com). It is also posted with their
permission.
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