‘Hungry for Something New’: Orchard, Harvester Teaming Up to Plant a Church in Ferguson, Mo.

By Chris Moon 

Orchard Group and Harvester Christian Church are partnering to plant a new church in Ferguson, Mo.  

The new church, known as The House, will have their first worship service Sept. 18. The church will be led by Lenny and Jennie Barber. 

“There’s a hunger and anticipation,” Lenny Barber told Christian Standard. “The city is hungry for something new, something fresh—but more important, something genuine.” 

Ferguson became nationally known in 2014 when a White police officer shot and killed an unarmed Black teenager named Michael Brown. Protests ensued. The Missouri governor eventually called in the National Guard to restore order.  

Ferguson gained a national reputation for violence and racial strife. It has helped fuel the ongoing discussions about race relations in the United States. 

Lenny Barber is a St. Louis native. His father planted a church near Ferguson when Barber was young. Barber remembers riding his bike near the church on those long Sunday afternoons as a preacher’s kid. 

“I’d be up and down the streets of Ferguson, taking it all in,” he said. 

Barber began his ministry career in Texas before moving back to St. Louis in 2007. He has worked in multiple youth ministries in the St. Louis metro since then and remembers handing out water and granola bars to business owners during the worst of the Ferguson riots. 

“It broke my heart,” Barber said. “I love Ferguson. It’s a cool town.” 

And so, when the opportunity to plant a church in the city came, he jumped at it.  

“I was looking for the red light not to do it, and I could not find it,” he said. 

A SPECIAL APPROACH 

The idea for a Ferguson church plant began in 2019 as the old Ferguson Christian Church watched its membership dwindle and the church headed toward closure. 

The church’s two elders had been meeting with leaders at Harvester Christian Church, a megachurch in nearby St. Charles, Mo. Doyle Roth was Harvester’s lead pastor at the time. 

“They realized their future was very difficult,” Roth said. “They didn’t want to dwindle and lose their building and [have] it go up for sale. They wanted it to continue.” 

Ferguson Christian Church eventually gave its building to Harvester with the understanding it would continue to be used for worship.  

Roth said he knew immediately that starting a church in Ferguson would require a “special approach.” This couldn’t be a case of a multisite church simply opening another campus.  

The demographics of Ferguson—nearly 70 percent Black—are much different than  St. Charles, which is predominantly White. And Ferguson is an established part of the St. Louis core, with a culture and identity that’s different from the still-growing St. Charles area.  

So, Roth reached out to Orchard Group, a church-planting organization that specializes in urban areas. The conversation revolved around helping start a new independent church in Ferguson. 

“That was an impressive first step by them,” said Brent Storms, president and CEO of Orchard Group. 

He credits Roth and the leaders at Harvester for their “open-handedness and humility.” Harvester plans to donate the Ferguson building to the new church plant once it obtains its nonprofit status.  

Storms said Harvester could have “run a play that we see run all the time” by opening a campus and streaming in sermons from Harvester’s main location. But an entirely new church plant allows a congregation to take on a life of its own that better reflects the community.  

A brand-new church also is more likely to multiply and plant new churches itself. 

“It’s going to yield something that’s even more beautiful,” Storms said. 

Harvester, for the most part, is taking a hands-off approach.  

The megachurch won’t send hundreds of its members to help launch the Ferguson church—unless those people happen already to live in Ferguson. Harvester’s name won’t be anywhere near the front sign—something that could give local residents the idea the suburban megachurch is trying to swoop in to offer help or to seize an expansion opportunity. 

Instead, Roth said, the new Ferguson church will be all about what God does through Lenny and Jennie Barber and the local congregation that gathers at The House. 

“We’re here to support it and work with it,” said Roth, who now serves as the mobilization pastor at Harvester. 

BUILDING UP THE HOUSE 

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed everything down, of course. It wasn’t until 2021 that Harvester and Orchard Group helped identify the Barbers as the couple to launch the new church in Ferguson.  

Lenny Barber was asked to preach at Harvester that summer, and Roth called to meet him for a follow-up. Roth pitched the idea of Barber leading the church plant.  

The Barbers went through a church-planting assessment with Orchard Group that summer, and Lenny Barber did a residency at Harvester until February of this year. 

Now, all eyes are on The House.  

Barber said the name is designed to invoke feelings of home. 

“There’s something about home—going home, the love you receive, the encouragement,” he said. 

The new church did a Thanksgiving outreach last year, serving 600 meals at an apartment complex. It followed that up with a Christmas toy giveaway to more than 140 kids. 

The church has started a men’s group, too. Barber said single-mom households are a particularly large demographic in Ferguson, and this points toward the need for strong men. 

Twenty-eight men from all walks of life showed up to the first meeting. 

“That’s what we’re praying for. A true definition of diversity is what we’re hoping and trusting God for,” he said. 

A women’s group also is meeting, and the church is actively volunteering in Ferguson’s public schools. 

Barber said about 40 people are part of the core church launch team.  

The church building can seat 220, and an architect currently is assessing whether larger bathrooms can be constructed. The new church also is seeking to expand parking capacity before worship services begin in September. 

Barber said people in Ferguson seem to be happy a church will be launching in the old Ferguson Christian Church building and that it will be led by someone who is from the area. About 50 percent of the community is unchurched, he said. 

The 2014 riots—and the notoriety they brought to Ferguson—have resulted in some division in the community, Barber said. He said residents have a “true burden for change to take place.” 

“Residents are wanting something new and fresh but are a little bit hesitant in trusting people,” Barber said. 

He said he’s been meeting with as many people as he can.  

“We want to come alongside folks and introduce them to the greatest there is,” he said. 

Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colo.