Leadership
John Dirkse, Senior Pastor
John Dirkse became the senior pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel of Rockford in March of 2005. He grew up in Leavenworth, Washington and studied music at Northwest Nazarene College for 2 years (1983-85) before sensing a call to pastoral ministry. At that time he transferred to The Master’s College in Newhall, California to prepare for ministry. This decision was motivated by a desire to be under the influence of Bible teacher, John MacArthur,Jr. through the college and the church (Grace Community Church). Upon graduation from college, he entered the Master’s Seminary for further studies in theology and served at Grace Community Church as an intern in the High School ministry leading worship (1988-92). Expecting to immerse himself in a teaching ministry after graduation from Seminary, it became clear after several years that God was leading him into praise and worship. Before coming to Harvest, John was worship pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane, Washington for nine years. John met his wife, Betsey, while attending college, and they married seven years later at the time of John’s seminary graduation. They have five children: Luke, Alyssa, Lauren, Emma, and Olivia.
Jacob Ronan, Worship Director
Jacob moved to Rockford just in time for Harvest’s inaugural service. A graduate of The Master’s College, Jacob worked in student ministries at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA. There he led worship for the High School and College ministries, as well as did outreach events at UCLA, USC, CSUN, and churches throughout the Pacific Northwest. He loves seeing as many places in God’s creation as possible and beating Pastor John Dirkse at pretty much every sport that exists and believes the world would be a better place if everyone used Apple computers.
Andy Tobin, Associate and Children's Pastor
Andy joined the staff at Harvest as associate pastor in February 2008. He grew up in Milwaukie, Oregon and lived there until he moved to Spokane, Washington to attend Whitworth University (1998-2001). While in Spokane he attended Faith Bible Church, where he met John Dirkse and served with him on staff as a pastoral resident in the college ministry while being trained for full-time ministry (2003-2005). Andy moved from Spokane to Southern California in order to complete his theological training at The Master’s Seminary (2005-2008). As he was finishing seminary he and John started a conversation about serving together again. After much prayer it became clear that the Lord was moving he and his family to Rockford to serve Him at Harvest Bible Chapel. Andy and his wife, Arianna, have been married since 2003. They have three sons: Liam, Asher, and Merric.
Jesse Schmidt, Associate and Student Pastor
Jesse Schmidt came on staff at Harvest Bible Chapel in July 2012. When Jesse was 14, his dad and family planted a church in Montello, WI. Here Jesse spent his high school years and was called by God to full-time ministry. From 2004-2008 Jesse attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Unsure if he wanted to work in a church or camp ministry, he chose to do the youth ministries major. While at Moody Jesse served on staff at Winnetka Bible Church as a youth ministry intern and later became Assistant Director of Youth Ministry and then Director of Youth Ministry (2006-11). During this time God solidified His call on Jesse to serve His church, and he has never looked back. During Jesse’s last year at Moody he met his wife Ashlee, who was a sophomore transfer student. They were married in May of 2009 and now have two kids, Jayden Larissa and Micah Stanley. Along with serving at Harvest Rockford, Jesse is working on his Masters of Christian Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Kelly Berg, Office Manager
Lauren Lundberg, Administrative Assistant
Janella Johnson, Part-time Administrative Assistant in Harvest Kids
Harvest Rockford Elders: Doug Warren, Jon Link, Ken Haak, John Dirkse, Ralph Monge
