Harvest Baptist Church in Paragould recently celebrated the retirement of a $6.3 million debt. (Submitted photos)
PARAGOULD, Ark. – For Harvest Baptist Church, the start of the New Year brought more than just a fresh calendar. In a recent celebration, the congregation marked the retirement of $6.3 million in debt, a feat accomplished in just four and a half years.
Executive Pastor Jason Mears and Steering Committee Chairman Raney Nutt both describe the journey as a “God story,” marked by a leap of faith that relocated a century-old congregation to more fertile ground.
The process began in June 2018, the same week Mears joined the staff. Despite being without a senior pastor at the time, the church voted to relocate from its longtime campus. With the help of interim pastor Dr. Stan Norman, the transition was set in motion.
For decades, the church occupied a facility in an aging part of town. While the history was rich, leadership realized they were losing young families because the location had “slipped from the purview of the community,” as Nutt puts it.
The decision to move was daunting. “The church had been there over 100 years. People raised their families there,” said Nutt. There was apprehension, “but we had an uncommon unity from the onset.”
That faith was rewarded almost immediately.
“From the time we decided to sell to the time it sold was like two weeks,” Mears said. “That quieted the spirits of those folks who were still trying to discern the Lord’s will. It was a big deal.”
In what the leadership describes as a clear sign of God’s hand, a local church offered $2.1 million for the property before it was even listed.
“Once we got that offer, we weren’t fearful. It was a ‘Joshua and Caleb’ moment,” Nutt said.
While their new 38-acre site – previously farmland owned by the church since 2000 – was being prepared, the congregation spent two years operating out of a temporary 8,000-square-foot facility — a significant downsize from their previous 55,000-square-foot home.
Construction on the new 33,000-square-foot campus began just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The church saw God’s providence in the timing of their contracts. By signing early, they avoided the massive supply chain delays and price hikes that hit shortly after. On August 1, 2021, Harvest Baptist held its first service at the new location.
Since that move-in date, the “harvest” has been literal and massive. The visibility of the new location, combined with a focused mindset on the unchurched, led to a 123% increase in attendance.
- Attendance: Average attendance has climbed from 350 in 2021 to 783 in 2025.
- New Members: 425 people have joined the church since the move.
- Baptisms: The church has celebrated 184 baptisms between August 2021 and December 2025.
- Reach: Leadership conservatively estimates that over 1,500 guests have visited the campus in the last four years.
The growth is deeply rooted in discipleship. More than 400 show up for Wednesday night service now, a number Nutt said is “almost unheard of in modern church life.”
“The Lord has blessed us,” Nutt said. “We could have messed things up, He made sure they went perfectly. It was the Lord. That’s all I can say. It wasn’t an individual or a group; His hand has been all over this.”
“God rewarded their faithfulness and their obedience by doing things that only He can do,” said Senior Pastor Laramie LeQuieu, who came in “in view of a call” at Harvest Baptist Church in December 2021, just four months after the doors opened at the new building. “God demonstrates His power through our obedience. When we start taking those steps of faith, He begins to reward those steps of faith and do the things that only He can do.
LeQuieu described the church’s journey and growth as a “a move of God.”
“We are not aiming simply to draw a crowd, but our aim is to make disciples. Our church really wants to fulfill all of the Great Commission. They want to reach people and see them baptized … to follow through on teaching them,” LeQuieu said.
Harvest Baptist is not slowing down. This past October, the church broke ground on a 13,000-square-foot addition focused on education and children’s ministry to accommodate a 400% increase in their kids’ program. The new space is expected to be completed by late summer or early fall of 2026.
“This is not happening at Harvest because we have done something to deserve this, God deserves the glory. He has chosen to do it here. We want to be good stewards of that. We want to be good stewards of the season we are in,” LeQuieu said.
With three Sunday services now required to fit the growing congregation, leadership is already eyeing “Phase Three,” which may include a brand-new worship center.
“I’m thankful for those in 2018 who were obedient to go into uncharted waters,” Mears said. “The church is not a building, it’s a people. God has been faithful.”