Over its two-decade lifespan, Bahamas Harvest Church has seen development, growth and maturity that, according to Pastor Mario Moxey, came with patience, dedication and faith in God. Mario and Erika Moxey celebrated the church's 20th pastoral anniversary last week with a number of exciting, well-attended events. On Wednesday and Thursday the church had two nights of services with Apostle Les Bowling, of Cleveland, Ohio as a guest speaker and Pastor Donald Battle, of Atlanta, Georgia as another guest speaker on Thursday.
On Friday the church held a gala at the Melia Nassau Beach resort, where it honored 15 long serving members of the church -- Stacey Benjamin, Paswell Gibson, Judymae Gibson, Francilda Vilbrun, Carolyn Culmer, Venice Collie, Elvin Cooper, Jackie Cooper, Dotlene Edgecombe, Don Rahming, Alma Rahming, Dianna Martin, Carla McPhee, Sharon Martin and Beryl Lloyd. The Harvest Generation Reunion Concert occurred on the previous Friday.
Mario Moxey gave his life to the Lord when he was just 19 years old while he was at a retreat.
"I was the only person who knew how to play the piano at the retreat. I started playing the piano [and] that led into leading praise and worship and praise, and worship became an integral part in my Christian walk," he said in a previous Guardian article. "But it wasn't just praise and worship -- I also had this incredible desire to win people for Jesus Christ."
That experience was the start of what would blossom into the pastoring path for Moxey, and changing lives and winning souls for the kingdom of God. He combined praise and worship with evangelism and called it harvest praise and worship. He then sought to study under World Harvest Church Pastor Rod Parsley, in Columbus, Ohio. It was during that time in Bible college that he would marry Erika.
The couple returned to The Bahamas filled with vision -- but no money. Moxey reached out to established pastor V.G. Clarke for the use of his church, Calvary Deliverance, to host a concert. That concert raised the seed money the Moxeys needed to start Bahamas Harvest Church. For Bahamas Harvest Church, evangelism is an integral party of what they do.
"When we look at evangelism, there are two components to that," said Moxey in a previous Guardian article. "One has to do with someone giving their life to Jesus Christ. Our church is based on this vision to reap the end-time harvest, so everything that we do is about reaching our generation for Jesus Christ. And because we want to reach our generation we're constantly thinking of the best way to do that. We live in a world where in order to reach a human soul you have to touch their heart and their physical wellbeing."
As the church recognizes its two-decade milestone, Moxey said he tries not to look ahead to see where it will be in five, 10 or even the next 20 years. He said he leaves it all to God's direction.
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