The Story of New Harvest

New Harvest Christian Fellowship was born in the streets of La Puente , CA in the spring of 1974. The fellowship started as Victory Chapel (a part of Victory Outreach) in a little blue, 2 bedroom, residential house with a handful of people from surrounding communities. Little did this small group of believers realize what this life changing spark of revival would ignite and lead to in later years. There are many in the fellowship today that could, and do, testify to the small beginnings of New Harvest Christian Fellowship. Services were conducted in the front living room of this small house. The church leaders and workers made this house work; to be a place where visitors and members could call their church home. A wall separating the living room and kitchen was knocked down to create more room and one of the bedrooms was used as a children's nursery, and a small altar was built in the front of the living room. From originally having 12 adults attending services at this house the number grew to around 22 and it was at that time they were nearing full capacity and had to begin praying for another location to have church.

Services in the early church were similar to those we have at New Harvest today. Prayer was held an hour before service. The service would begin with a music worship service and then go into the preaching of God's word. Early on the worship service consisted on one song leader (the pastor) and a guitar player, but, after some time men began to rise up and pick up instruments and play for worship in the worship band. Before many of them answered the call to preach, our Pastor played in the church's worship band; they were called the Victory Chapel Worship Band. A young Art Valenzuela, who had a music background, began to play the piano for song service. Richard Salazar then began playing the flute and Sergio Romo began playing bass guitar. A horn section was also started up with Pat Fitzgerald playing the trumpet. Song services at this time would last between 30-45 minutes; and sometimes longer if God's spirit led in that direction. The preaching of God's word would last between 45 minutes to 1-1/2 hours. All in all each service held on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays would last between 3-4 hours. This small core of believers invested their time in prayer, outreach, and worshipping God. Along with a few families that lived in La Puente , some commuted from cities such as Southgate , Anaheim Hills, and Monterey Park . The church was constant in outreaching and preaching the Gospel to those outside their doors. Street outreaches consisted of preaching and testifying out of a bull horn/megaphone off of a street corner. After some time the Victory Chapel worship band began traveling and ministering through music in different cities. This worship band was Victory Outreach's first traveling music band. They would play frequently out on the streets as an outreach tool. Because the music attracted many people they were exposed to the truth of the preaching of God's Word. After about six months the church outgrew the little blue house and moved to the city of Pico Rivera where they shared a church building with Victory Outreach.

The church demonstrated their love and commitment to God by staying faithful even when their schedules had to be adjusted while in their new church location. Because they had to work around the owning church's scheduled services, they had to meet at 6 a.m. for setup and then would pray afterwards from 7-8 a.m. Services would follow. The church was experiencing a great revival at this time and many would experience the falling of God's spirit through their prayer meetings before service. The worship band was still ministering to many through their music and many who attended the owning church began attending the Victory Chapel worship services because they loved the band. God continued to move in this early church and it was here that more families started to hear about the church. This was accomplished through prayer and street evangelism. Consequently the congregation grew to the point that within another twelve months another location to worship was needed.

During the summer of 1976 the Victory Chapel praise band played at a church in Monterey Park where certain men from that church were given a burden to bless Victory Chapel with their building. With about 75 adults they moved into the new church building. The former church moved completely out of the building and the Victory Chapel congregation moved it. It was in Monterey Park where the church experienced much more growth and they came to understand God's purpose in raising the fellowship. What was learned about this purpose in those early years has not been forgotten. Evangelism, discipleship and church planting became a vision that stirred the hearts of men to take steps of faith. This vision in the heart of those who began this church in those early years was unique in that not many other churches were committed to church planting. In 1977 the first satellite New Harvest church was launched out into the city of Oxnard . Followed soon thereafter Pastor Pat Fitzgerald and wife Ester started a church in Santa Barbara , CA and Pastor Art Valenzuela and wife Irene began a church in Stockton , CA . A few new music bands were birthed at this time and another church was sent to the city of Sacramento . The church continued to minister through outreaching locally as well as co-laboring with the Pastors who that were sent out to pioneer in various cities.

In 1980 the church acquired its current property in Norwalk . It was here where the church became New Harvest Christian Fellowship and began to be called “The Mother Church.” New Harvest, Norwalk , continued to help its satellite churches through co-laboring with outreaches and meeting twice a year for bible conferences. Through these conferences many more churches were sent out and vision for reaching the world was imparted to the hearts of men and women who would answer the call of God on their lives. With a current congregation of over 1000 members and over 30 satellite churches established throughout the world, the fellowship is reaching the countries of Chile, England, Mexico, Honduras and Russia. New Harvest Christian Fellowship has, and always will be committed to world evangelism; being dedicated to serving the communities in which they are located. New Harvest's Pastors and congregation are thankful to God for what He has allowed the fellowship to accomplish during the past 30 plus years. New Harvest looks forward to what God will do in the future as we continue our excellence in serving Christ.

For multiple years New Harvest Christian Fellowship, Norwalk , had a need to expand its original building in Norwalk to accommodate the increasing number of member and visitor attendance. Some temporary expansions and modifications were made to the building but what was really needed was to rebuild entirely. For 10 years New Harvest planned to tear down its original building in order rebuild a brand new facility, and in March 1998 this dream that was in the minds and hearts of many for several years, finally began to come to fruition. March of 1998 marks the year the old New Harvest Building was torn down. The congregation moved to neighboring Santa Fe Springs and was able to rent out a building to house both New Harvest church and its Christian School . At this location our church was just big enough to hold the congregation temporarily to as well as continue to be a location to hold various events New Harvest hosts on an annual basis such as Unmasking Halloween, Christmas services, and youth conferences.

In December 1999 construction of New Harvest Christian Fellowship Church and Educational Facility was completed and Pastor Richard Salazar along with our other Pastors commemorated the event with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. This was also the church's first Sunday Morning service. After about a year and with Sunday morning service attendance increasing it was necessary to hold two services on Sunday morning. This would give the opportunity for the church building to hold the amount of people coming out on Sundays. The two services on Sundays are held at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Adding two services was one of many changes New Harvest Christian Fellowship, Norwalk , made to reach our community.

New Harvest recognized changes occur over time so the church incorporated various ministries and programs to help reaching our community and the world.

Oneighty, a youth center for those 13-22 years, was started locally in October 1999 because Pastor Richard Salazar saw the need to give young people a fun and safe place to hang out in hopes to reach them for Christ. At Oneighty young people can, at no charge, enjoy video games, lives concerts held weekly, air hockey, billiards, a live DJ, and basketball courts all under the supervision of security guards and other volunteer workers.

The traditional Sunday school program was given a face lift and improved to what is now called Heir Force. Heir Force is a Sunday school program that offers a stimulating environment used to draw children. Every week, the children in Heir Force experience a fast moving, multi-media presentation that entertains and educates children through praise & worship, video skits, puppet skits, illustrated sermons and various special events such as moon bouncers, rock climbing, face painting, refreshments, carnival games & parties. In addition to Heir Force, Breakroom is a Sunday Morning ministry that provides kids between the ages of 12-16 fun and exciting lives worship music played by band comprised of young people and fun teachings of God's Word.

Two years ago New Harvest opened up a Christian Bookstore and Café ( www.thenodebookstore.com ). The Node is located off Firestone Blvd. in the city of Norwalk and is a place guests can enjoy good food and purchase their favorite Christian music and various books and literature. On weekends the Node is a venue for lives concerts all of which are free of charge.

F.O.C.I.S (Family Outreach and Community Intervention Services) was founded to collaborate with various local and county programs to provide workshops throughout the county of Los Angeles, and partner with a number of programs including the L.A. Sheriff's Department to promote and educate the community regarding health, gang awareness, family violence and physical abuse, substance abuse, peer pressure, children of incarcerated parents, and premature sexual relations.

The God-given vision of New Harvest Christian Fellowship endures; reaching the world for Jesus Christ is the goal. In addition to this, the fellowship recognizes that the next generation must be reached and is empowering young men and women in the fellowship to accomplish this. With this in mind, most recently, a young adult's church called Ignite was started in October 2005. At Ignite young adults can reach out and worship God through inspiring worship and hear God given direction through inspiring teachings from His Word.

From its inception until now, for 33 plus years, New Harvest Christian Fellowship strives to reach as many people as possible and share with them the hope that is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. All of the programs and ministries of New Harvest Christian Fellowship are specifically designed to reach and improve lives, and affect change in hearts of families for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.