World Harvest Church began as a backyard Bible study in 1977. Seventeen
people attended. Nobody there thought it was going to be a church.
But after a few meetings, the idea of something more permanent took hold.
The group rented facilities in the area for weekly meetings, and eventually
constructed a building on Wright Road just outside Pickerington. The
church kept growing, and eventually required a larger building on the same
property. Finally, the church – then known as Word of Life – purchased
property on Gender Road in southeast Franklin County, and built what is
now WHC on what had been a corn field. When the new building was
dedicated, the congregation was named World Harvest Church in honor of
Dr. Lester Sumrall, who had befriended Pastor Rod Parsley some years
earlier and had become the young pastor’s mentor.
The Columbus campus of World Harvest Church also houses Harvest
Preparatory School, a K-12 educational institution, the operational offices of
Breakthrough, Pastor Rod Parsley’s worldwide television program & six
other national ministries. The Columbus campus is also the home of Valor
Christian College’s classrooms and dormitories.
Today, more than 12,000 people in central Ohio will tell you World Harvest
is their church home. At every WHC service you’ll find a family-friendly
congregation of Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ, representing every
age, ethnic group and walk of life.