Home - About - History of Harvest

In 1988 a group of eighteen people formed Harvest Bible Chapel, with twenty-seven-year-old James MacDonald as the senior pastor. In 1995, after meeting in Rolling Meadows High School for a number of years, the church obtained property in Rolling Meadows. This property has come to be known as the Rolling Meadows Campus.

Harvest has since added a campus in Elgin (2003), Niles (2004), Crystal Lake (2007), and Wicker Park (2009)---one church, five campuses. Each weekend, over 12,000 people gather to worship at the first Harvest Bible Chapel.

Around 2000, God gave a vision to the elders to plant churches: life giving churches alive with the power of Jesus Christ where lives were being changed for eternity. Harvest Bible Fellowship was formed to promote the planting of new churches.

The elders set a goal of planting ten churches in ten years. The Lord blessed their faith, as there will be over 50 Harvest Churches around the globe by 2010, and over 25,000 people currently worship under the name Harvest on Sunday mornings.

Harvest Bible Chapel Joliet launched as a new church on September 12th of 2010. The story of Harvest Joliet is just beginning. Every ministry is being built from the ground up. If you are interesting in learning more about how you can be a part of Harvest Bible Chapel Joliet, send an e-mail to eric.posteluk@harvestjoliet.org.