Pastor Leonard Roy Harris
Pastor Leonard Roy Harris has been a local church pastor for 39 years serving at the Grove Heights Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois. He has also been a part-time correctional chaplain for 25 years serving at the nation’s largest community correctional center for federal prisoners operated by the Salvation Army in Chicago .He also served on a village gospel ministry team in Benin West Africa for 11 years. By God’s grace, he is still serving in these three ministries.
Prior to this, the author was a Juvenile Court probation officer for 5 years where the Lord led in the development of a gospel-discipleship and mentoring ministry to juvenile delinquents. He also served as director of a mission in the Cabrini Green Housing Projects for 5 years.
As a youth, he served with a youth ministry as a chaplain for 7 years and later as their adult camp speaker for 34 years. During those years, many young people believed in and received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
For those Saints Who Want to Let Jesus Use
Them to Preach the Gospel to the Lost in Their
Families and the World Making Disciples of Them
This is a testimony of encouragement and challenge. I believe that Jesus wants to preach the gospel and make disciples through you if you let him. He wants to set a spark and blow it into a flame that will burn within you as his servant. “He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants” Psalms 104:4
This testimony is written for the busy saint who is on the go and may not have time to read many books. Hopefully you will catch the vision of this book quickly and move out with a new challenge, zeal and passion for the Lord, the saints and the lost.
I am one of Jesus’ local church pastors and this is a testimony borne out of many years of learning and helping him train his servants to go and make disciples. I hope that he will use this testimony to speak to your heart encouraging you to yield to him allowing him to disciple you and through you to go and make disciples of the lost in your family, school, workplace, community, neighborhood, nation and world.
Jesus has been personally giving me on-the –job training in gospel outreach and discipleship for many years and believe me I am still learning and growing. He has been teaching me through mistakes, blunders, correction and insights.
I have been a local church pastor for 39 years serving at the Grove Heights Baptist Church in Chicago IL and 25 years as chaplain at the nations largest community correctional center for federal prisoners operated by the Salvation Army in Chicago. I have also served as a village gospel ministry team leader in Benin West Africa for 11 years. By God’s grace I am still serving him in these three ministries.
Prior to this I was a Juvenile Court probation officer for 5 years where the Lord led in the development of a gospel-discipleship and mentoring ministry to juvenile delinquents. I also served as a director of a mission in the Cabrini Green Housing Projects for 5 years.
As a youth I served with a youth ministry as a chaplain for 7 years and later as their adult camp speaker for 34 years. During those years many young people believed in and received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Beginning as a teenager I was a door to door gospel evangelist for 12 years and was used by Jesus to develop and lead teams in gospel ministry in the housing projects and other neighborhoods of Chicago. I still do door to door gospel-discipleship ministry as a pastor.
I am a biblical counselor and writer of short bible companion, life navigation booklets that can be quickly read. All of this has been by the grace of God under his direction and empowerment. All glory to him.
I mention all of this as a testimony of my journey with Jesus as he has been training me and using me in his gospel outreachdiscipleship- mentoring ministry over the years. My desire is to share with you what I have been learning in the hope that it will encourage and challenge you to develop an even closer intimacy with Jesus allowing him to use you to help him reach the lost and make disciples of them.
I have been married for 46 years and my wife and I have 4 daughters, 5 granddaughters, 3 grandsons and 3 Son-in-Laws.
THE LOCAL CHURCH, THE GOSPEL AND YOUR FAMILY
I believe that Jesus wants to empower and call his local church saints alongside its families helping them in the fulfillment of their roles as husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.
I believe that the local church should not become a substitute for its families but a support and encourager of its families. Its ministries should always be geared toward its families and the families of the lost.
The local church can do this through fellowships that strengthen the family and through encouraging husbands and wives to fellowship with one another as well as encouraging family fellowship.
I also believe that the local church should mobilize its families to reach out to other families with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That the husbands and wives intentionally build relationships with unsaved husbands and wives and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
That the husbands and wives disciple the newly saved husband and wife and help them to establish daily devotional time with Jesus and daily devotional time together with him as well. This includes worship, bible reading, discussion and prayer for themselves, their children, others and whatever they are led to pray for.
To also gather with the newly saved husband and wife along with each couples children to help them to establish family fellowship.
Finally, to equip them to build relationships sharing the gospel with the families of their relatives beginning with the husbands and wives and in many cases the single mother. In this way the gospel of Jesus Christ will multiply family by family fulfilling the promise given by God to Abraham:
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3
I expand on this more in Gospel Focus Three “Focus on the Family.” I mention it here that you might know the overall focus of this book.
Pastor Leonard Roy Harris
