If anything is ever accomplished for God, someone had to work for it.

 

Prayer is like faith, asking and believing God. When I pray and believe, God gives me the answer. (Matthew 21:22). But yet the Bible declares, "Faith without works is dead." (James ).

 

So this means that it requires dedication and hard work if we are ever to accomplish anything for God.

 

I recall a particular incident that occurred some twenty-two years ago in Akron, Ohio. Even though it was a long time ago, to me it still seems to be only yesterday....

 

I was in the office of my church superior, sharing what was on my heart with him. I had just completed building a complete new church facility, as well as increasing the church attendance and membership by several hundred people. It had been difficult, but I knew what the Lord had given me to do, and I was determined to fulfill His divine will.

 

My labor had caught the attention of the hierarchy of our headquarters in Cleveland, TN and I was honored to have our General Overseer come by and take me out to lunch. He was a wonderful Christian gentleman who was well experienced in financing as well.

 

He shared something with me that day that I will never forget. He showed me how I could save literally several millions of dollars that would go to interest by simply "biting the bullet" and paying off our church loan in five years.

 

Well, "biting the bullet" meant paying some $11,000 a month toward our mortgage payment. It was one of the most difficult things that I ever did, but we were doing it.  And besides all that, everyone in our congregation gave extra each week toward our mortgage.

 

God blessed our efforts. We knocked on doors and shared Jessu Christ with the community.

 

I had such a burden to win souls to Christ and to build my church congregation from new converts, that I actually went to the Tennessee Tent & Awning Co in Chattanooga, TN and purchased a used 50 x 80 gospel tent. I put this tent up in the surrounding areas of our local community, knocked on doors and had revival services under that old tent. God blessed, and we were able to win many people to Christ. And you don't need to guess whose church they joined? They joined mine because I was the one who won them to Jesus Christ.

 

 

Fellow pastors who were dear friends of mine in the ministry later shared with me that they were laughing at me and saying, "There is that Brother Harter, preaching under that shabby old tent when all the while he has the million dollar sanctuary."

 

But early one Monday morning, I received a telehone call from some one who had attended our services under that old gospel tent. The tent revival brought back memories of his childhood and God touched his heart. He requested that I meet him at a local bank at a certain hour that day. And when I met him at the bank, he had the banker to give me ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.    

God had blessed me so that I was able to raise several hundred thousand dollars from our membership. God sent several sinners to me and they gave donations as well. And then with this $100,000 donation, we were able to pay our principal down enough to lower our mortgage payment to $7,000 per month. Even yet, that was a lot of money to come up with in the early 1980s, but we did it.

 

One day, a man in my church requested a meeting with me in my office. He had recently moved into our community from New York. He stated that he wanted to send his tithes back to his former church in New York. Immediately my response was, "Brother, you should pay your tithe into the local church where you attend."

 

But he proceeded to share with me that he had received word from his former church in New York where he had attended. The congregation did not have enough funds to pay the electric bill for both the church and the parsonage. They only had enough funds to pay one, not both.

 

The pastor decided the electric bill for the church must be paid, so the parsonage, the place where he and his wife and their small children lived, had no electricity. What the pastor did, however; was to run an electrical cord from the church into the parsonage. He and his family moved their personal belongings into the one room. With that one extention cord, they plugged in an electrical heater to keep themselves warm, and his wife would at times use the extension cord to plug in a hot plate in order to prepare meals for the family.

 

What would you have said to that dear Christian brother that day sitting in my office, asking me for permission to send his tithe to his former pastor/church?

 

It would only be a cold-hearted pastor that would say no to that request. My heart was greatly touched by this man. You see, God had blessed me. At that time, my family and I lived in a good house with heat and we had food on our table. 

 

I informed the dear brother that yes, he should send his tithe back to New York and in fact, we would send a check from our local church to that pastor as well.

 

But here is my point. I never got over that incident. I thought to myself, "Are we not all on the same team? Are we not all laboring to bring men and women to God?"

 

I immediately met with our financial board and the Pastor's Council. I said to them that our plan is to have our local church paid off in five years. I plan to continue the $7,000 in our monthly budget. At the end of six years, our church would be paid off and we would have $84,000 extra in the bank due to our paying $7,000 for one year. But after the sixth year, it was all mine.

 

Oh, I did not mean "mine personally." What I meant was that we were going to give away $84,000 a year.

 

My plan was to locate a retired minister, someone with wisdom and the gift of discernment. I wanted to give this particular man a credit card so all his expenses would be covered. And he was to go everywhere, and wherever he discovered a need, whether it was a church who had their electricity turned off, or a struggling missionary on some foreign soil, or perhaps an evangelist who had a financial need, regardless, my desire was for that man to give away $84,000 a year to the work of God. Think about what could be accomplished by doing this? We could enhance God's work everywhere.

 

Did I get to accomplish my goal? No. I am sorry to say that I came within three years of accomplishing it. I resigned from my position before I could do it.

 

But now, back to Akron, Ohio twenty-two years ago...

 

Every thing I just shared with you, I shared with my overseer. The strangest thing occurred that afternoon. It was totally something that literally shocked me. I never expected this for a moment.

 

In that office that day, the same office where in the past I had been many times. However, in the past, it was in that very office where I had former overseers lay their hands upon me when I served as a State Evangelist and I was prayed over. Great men of God prayed, asking God to bless my revival meetings and to give me many souls.

 

It was in that very office where a man of God prayed with my wife and I when we had just had our precious little girl of some 21 months old die because someone poisoned her in our church nursery one Sunday morning, and it literally closed her lungs within 24 hours. And just before noon on Monday at Children's Hospital, the doctors informed Sister Harter and me that little Angela had passed away.

 

But now as I shared my vision with him that day, he leaned back into his black leather chair, placed both his legs on his desk and then crossed them, and began to laugh uncontrollably.

 

He said to me, "Melvin Harter, you are the biggest dreamer I have ever met in all of my life."  

 

I was shocked!  But I can still remember the words I replied to him that day. "Brother Overseer, that church building that you see there, at one time was nothing more than a dream, but today, it is a reality."

 

Was that terrible experience a bad reflection upon my church denomination? No, it was just one man's opinion.

 

But you know something, the thought has occurred to me since my coming to Miracle Valley....

 

If the Lord blesses me and helps me to make through and get Miracle Valley established, I could still do it. The only difference would be that it would not be just $84,000 a year, it could very well be one million dollars a year.

 

This principle could be taught to our students at Miracle Valley Bible College and I know that we could literally touch this world for God in a way that it has never been done before.

 

But before it can happen, we have to financially secure Miracle Valley.