Elder Timothy Titus Scott, Jr., is the senior pastor and developer of Harvest Celebration Evangelistic Church located in Jackson, MS. The following website has all the information and upcoming events for the church, http://www.harvestcelebration.org.
I enjoyed interviewing Eld. Scott, he has opened my eyes to the many similarities a non-profit business / organization has to a for profit business. I hope you learn a little bit from this interview as well. The transcript of the interview is shown below. I will be referred to as CM and Eld. Scott, TS.
(CM) Tell me a little about yourself.
(TS) I became a truly committed Christian at the age of 15 and entered the ministry as a preacher / teacher while yet a teenager in 1974. I graduated from High School in the Summer of 1975 at the age of 16 and enrolled at Coahoma Community College. In 1977, I graduated with honors with an Associates degree in General Business and enrolled the next term at the University of Southern Mississippi. While pursuing a 4-year academic degree, I completed the requirements and was ordained as an Elder in the Church of God in Christ, Inc. After graduation from college with a B.S. in Computer Science and a Minor in Mathematics in 1979, I joined the staff at Saints Academy as an Instructor of Mathematics, a private school in Lexington, Mississippi. After two years as a high school teacher, I relocated to Jackson, Mississippi in 1981 to pursue a career directly related to my degree in Computer Science. While working as a Computer Analyst in 1984, I received my first assignment as a pastor in a rural community near Brandon, Mississippi. I have been working as a bi-vocational minister and in the computing industry for the last 29 years.
I have 4 sons and 1 daughter. I am married to Angela Hawthorne Scott.
(CM) What made you want to branch out and start your own business / church?
(TS) In 1997, I resigned from my first pastoral assignment and immediately began the planning phase of launching a new urban church in Jackson, Mississippi. The realization of this new ministry would be the fulfillment of a dream. This dream included a strong desire to minister in an urban setting and lead a Christian church with a mission to touch lives with love, hope, and direction.
(CM) Could you give some examples of the challenges you faced when starting Harvest Celebration Evangelistic Church and how you overcame them?
(TS) Harvest Celebration Evangelistic Church was launched with 5 adult members and no sponsoring organization. The greatest challenge was locating a facility, which would adequately accommodate our first year needs and would fit our anticipated budget. After many months of searching across the city of Jackson, we located a facility within walking distance of my place of employment that became our location for the first 6 years of the ministry.
All of the other challenges were minor and quite common for launching a new church. We needed chairs, musical instruments, PA equipment, tables, desks, and more.
One of the launching members provided us with a keyboard and amplifier that we used for several months until the new church had the resources to purchase one. A local church in Jackson and Hattiesburg provided us with all of the PA equipment needed for our launch. We learned about an auction being held south of Hattiesburg of furniture from several public schools. We were able to secure within our starting budget all of the furniture needed to meet our anticipated needs for children’s ministry and more.
(CM) How long did it take you to get the church up and running?
(TS) 3 Years
(CM) Who is your target market?
(TS) The un-churched and people who had a passion to reach the un-churched with love, hope, and direction.
(CM) Starting from your grandparents to your parents and then your siblings everyone has been involved in the church. Did you always know you would become a preacher?
(TS) I did not always know that I would become a preacher. My father is a preacher. Most of his brothers were preachers. His father was a preacher. However, before I was 6 years old, I developed a love for playing the piano as I watched my mother and others playing the piano and the Hammond organ. Long before I finished elementary school, I became the pianist for our home church and became an organist during the summer before I enter the 7th grade. Nothing else had my undivided attention until I became a committed Christian at the age of 15.
(CM) Could you describe a typical day as the owner of Harvest Celebration Evangelistic Church?
(TS) (Sunday Schedule)
6:00am Prayer and Meditation
6:30am Final Preparations for 2 services and meetings
8:00am Dress for Service
8:30am Leave for Church
9:00am Worship Service 1
10:45am Worship Service 2
12:30pm Follow-up and Disseminate assignments
1:00pm After Service Meeting(s)
2:15pm Lunch / Dinner
4:30pm Follow-up for Previous Services or Weekend
5:30pm Preparing for Services, Meetings, and Pastoral Conferences this week
(CM) How do you come up with sermons for your congregation?
(TS) Most sermons are developed by selecting themes and scriptural passages which affirms love (from God, for God, or for each other); emphasizes hope (balanced optimism and confidence in God) for the days ahead; and provides direction for successful living based on the wisdom provided in the Scriptures of the Holy Bible.
(CM) Do you consider other churches or businesses in your other industry competition? If so, how do you deal with the competition?
(TS) Yes. The competitiveness in ministry is not for people but for the attention of people whose lives are extremely busy and very involved with many things related to family, employment, and school.
We deal with the competition by aggressively seeking to get on people’s agenda by providing relevant, value-added ministry with a sensitivity to other demands being placed on them by the needs or requirements of others and real life issues.
(CM) Which business would you say is your most fulfilling, Harvest Celebration or your other business?
(TS) Both are quite fulfilling because both are service-oriented businesses. Harvest Celebration is the business that adds greater intangible value to the lives of those who are serviced by the church.
(CM) Is there any advice or information you would like to share with new entrepreneurs or people thinking about starting his or her own business?
(TS) Take full advantage of the “how-to” resources (e.g. www.arcchurches.com) and web-based collaborative tools (e.g. Google Apps) which are now available to launch and to organize the thousands of pieces of information which will be generated for the business which includes the dreams, projects, tasks, ideas, recommendations, contacts, reference documents, official documents, and scheduling info of the business and team members.
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