Harvest Rockford

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 9 years.

John met his wife, Betsey, while attending college and they got married 7 years later at the time of John’s seminary graduation. They have five children Luke, Alyssa, Lauren, Emma, and Olivia.

Follow John on Twitter: twitter.com/Jdirkse

Scott Kolcharno, Children and Student Pastor

Scott joined the staff in October 2003 after graduating from Moody Bible Institute and serving as a student ministries intern at Harvest Rolling Meadows. He and his wife Amanda, have a desire to see students come to Christ and grow in their passion to make Christ more important than anything else in their life. Scott enjoys hanging out with Amanda, playing and watching sports and being a part of what God is doing and will do here at Harvest Bible Chapel of Rockford.

Follow Scott on Twitter: twitter.com/skolcharno

Jacob Ronan, Worship Director

Jacob moved to Rockford from Southern California just in time to be on hand 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, 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.

Follow Jacob on Twitter: twitter.com/jacobronan

Andy Tobin, Associate 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 two sons, Liam and Asher.