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J J Keehn - Associate Pastor & Bus Director

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In the fall of 1976, I was brought to Harvest Baptist Church on a church bus.  That Sunday I heard the gospel story and received Christ as my Savior.  I was 10 years old. 

I became active in the Sunday school program and graduated high school right here at Harvest Christian Academy.  God called me to preach as a high school student and I left following graduation to complete Bible school.  In 1988, after graduation, I returned to serve as youth pastor  here at Harvest, and it has been my delight and joy to serve continuously since then.  I presently serve as associate pastor, youth pastor and bus director.

It is a privilege to be a part of this church family and to help in the spiritual lives of our people and our community.  If you have any need, it is our desire to be a blessing to you and to help meet those needs.

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Jack Dover - Associate Pastor

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I retired from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in 1977 as a traffic sergeant.  Carole and I joined Harvest Baptist Church in 1977.  Carole was saved and I believed I was.  In 1979 I was saved.

In 1982 I went with a prison ministry to one of Florida’s prisons.  While there, the Holy Spirit of God called me to preach.  Harvest Baptist licensed me into the ministry in 1983 and Carole and I started “Joyful Life” Prison Ministries that same year.  I was ordained by Harvest in 1986.  I preached and Carole sang in our prison services.

Dr. John R. Brooks put together three Bible courses—a beginners, an advanced and a study in the Book of Romans.  Dr. Brooks copyrighted the courses and received $3 per lesson.  However, he graciously allowed us to present the studies to prison inmates free of cost.  Certificates of completion are presented to the prisoners upon completion of each study.  We currently have over 10,000 inmates doing the Bible studies in every state, including Hawaii and Alaska.  We also have death row inmates in foreign countries where English is spoken.  Carole grades all the studies and handles all the related correspondence. 

From April, 1983, until March, 2003, we traveled about 4,000 miles per month going to various prisons in Florida and Georgia and averaged 24-26 services each month in those prisons.  In our services, we were privileged to lead thousands of men and women to the Lord.  I once did a study on how many were saved per mile we traveled and calculated that one person was saved for every 17.5 miles we traveled.  We wore out 5 vehicles with the last van we drove showing 480,000 miles on it when we traded it. 

In March of 2003 I had serious surgery and could no longer travel.  Carole continues with Bible studies for the inmates.  Preacher invited me on staff at the church with responsibilities for our visitors, hospital visiting and caring for our sick and shut-ins. 

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Faye Peeples - Music Director

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 I started taking piano lessons at age 12.  I took basic piano for 1 year from one teacher. Then, I studied for 5 years under a 7 year teacher.  Through the years I have played for several Baptist churches, been involved in lots of music-related programs, and always sang in high school chorus and church choirs.  I am so blessed to have been allowed the opportunities that God has provided for me.  I believe all the different ‘roads’ of music I went down in my youth were just preparation for the call God had for my life.  Like I once told Preacher, I have come ‘home’. 

 You see, Harvest Baptist is the House of God that I grew up in from my childhood.  Then the church house was called Arlington Heights Baptist Church and the pastor was William Askew. I was called of God here when I was in third grade (although I was not sure what the call was at that time).  Different things transpired, Pastor Askew moved away and mom and dad found another house of worship. But, God brought my mom and dad back to this particular House of God 30 something years ago, under a new pastor, Wilford McCormick, and a new name, Harvest Baptist Church.

 They told me about the church, and invited me, so I started coming to services, played the piano, sang specials, and even worked at Harvest in the bus ministry for a few years. But, God was not through ‘preparing’ me for my ministry in music at that time. So, once again, things transpired in my life and I moved away.  I not only moved away from town, I moved away from God. Terrible things happened in my life that I will not go into. Suffice it to say that when I came back to Jacksonville, I wanted nothing to do with God, church, Christians or anything remotely associated with any of them. But, one day a man started visiting my home – every Saturday – without fail – for months - to invite me to his church. I finally told him that if he would promise to stop coming to my house, I would visit his church. I can not begin to tell you all the wonderful things God did in my life after that. 

I really feel in my heart of hearts that had I not ‘gotten away’ from all the familiar things I grew up around, I never would have realized my real need for a Savior—God--in my life. At Calvary Hill Baptist Church, my eyes, ears, heart, and soul were all opened, and I will always be grateful to that body of believers for that. In December of 1998, I came to realize that I had been ‘playing Christian’ for all the years of my life.  I finally ‘heard’ God’s call to me. He broke my will, and He saved me from a real hell. That evening, during the altar call, I got up from the piano, went forward, and I truly made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life. Now He could finally make me into the person He needed me to be in order to use me for His work.

He also used this time to teach me the remainder of the skills He wanted me to have musically and to give me the husband He had prepared for me, in order to fulfill His will for my life. My husband once told me, “God sent me to you to protect you”. (If he only knew…) then He sent us, as a couple, back to Harvest Baptist Church.  Yes, I have come home and God has used us in such wonderful ways here at Harvest Baptist. It seems that He continues to open doors for us here, and I hope that we keep the spiritual awareness to always walk through those doors with Him as our guide. It is an honor to serve Him here with my Christian family.  And it is good to know that I can honestly say ‘my Christian family’.  I will continue to serve Him as long as He gives me the breath and strength to do so, in whatever capacity He sets before me.