World Harvest Church is an international pentecostal megachurch founded in Columbus, Ohio that is pastored by Rod Parsley.
First started in 1977 in Rod Parsley's parent's backyard, the church consisted of 17 people. Two years later Parsley bought property for the church to be built on. 180 people were attending at this point. In 1982 the seating was doubled. The number of people was so large that a second Sunday morning service was added. This influenced Parsley to upgrade the church, and in 1984 1200 more seats were added. Now sitting on Gender Road in Columbus, Ohio, the church seats over 5,200 people and contains an auditorium, a television studio, a children's ministry that includes Sunday school for children newborn to 6th grade, Harvest Preparatory School, and administrative offices. The church sits on 57 acres (230,000 m2) and is 122,000 square feet (11,300 m2). It was built by Roe Messner. Parsley's Breakthrough television program is taped at the church. Breakthrough is a program put on by the church.
The church also incorporates Valor Christian College, a young, co-educational institution located outside Columbus, three miles (5 km) from its parent church.
Read more about World Harvest Church: Breakthrough, Valor Christian College, IRS Investigation, An Allegation of Child Abuse
Famous quotes containing the words world, harvest and/or church:
“When a woman starts out in the world on a mission, secular or religious, she should leave her feminine charms at home.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“REST IN PEACE. THE MISTAKE SHALL NOT BE REPEATED.”
—Anonymous. Quoted in The Harvest of a Quiet Eye, Alan L. Mackay (1977)
“It is the custom of the Roman Church which I unworthily serve with the help of God, to tolerate some things, to turn a blind eye to some, following the spirit of discretion rather than the rigid letter of the law.”
—Pope Gregory VII (c. 1020–1085)