April 2026 Newsletter
April 7, 2026
Praise the Lord! The Tomb is empty! JESUS told the world that it would happen and it certainly did! Jesus answered and said to them. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19 NKJV).
For many years I have prayed for my Lord to save, challenge, convict, encourage, equip, and call people into His service everywhere that He sends me and that He is doing! Pastor Travis Webb of Westview Baptist Church in Morristown contacted me several weeks ago and he told me that his Lord had spoken to him to put this passionate soul winner in the pulpit that he occupies on Easter Sunday morning. It is very hard for a true God-called pastor to relinquish his pulpit on Easter and Christmas! Only a very special pastor will do as his Lord instructs (1 Sam. 15:22). Message Title: “The Resurrection Really Did Happen.” Text: 1 Cor. 15. A precious 22-year-old man surrendered to his Lord’s call on his young life to proclaim the glorious gospel message! His grandfather played high school football with me at Morristown West High School in the early 1970’s! At the close of the service, Pastor Travis always gives His people the privilege to say a word for their Lord. One dear lady said: “I went to church at Calvary Baptist Church when I was a little girl with my grandmother and I gave my heart to JESUS there. I came to church on the church bus. Carl Triplett was the pastor. I praise God for Pastor Triplett and for the people who led me to Jesus!” She heard me affirm Pastor Carl Triplett and his impact in my life during the message!
Our daughter, Katy, along with her children, Haddy Cate and Macabee Lee, came home for Easter! As soon as they arrived, Haddy came to Kim and me and said: “I love JESUS!” On Wednesday night, April 1, Haddy asked the Lord Jesus to be her Savior and Lord in the privacy of their home! She is six years old! For many years I have prayed that my descendants will be mighty on this earth; that each one will come to faith in the Lord Jesus early in their lives and that they will live for their Lord and serve Him faithfully all of their days on this earth (Psalm 112)!
Coach Justin Hite of Morristown East High School gave this passionate soul winner the rare privilege to share the glorious gospel message with his baseball team on Tuesday, March 3! Twenty-seven players and six coaches were in attendance, and they hung on my every word from The Word! I gave each player and coach a marked New Testament! This is a very secular setting, and I gave each player and coach a Decision Card. I did not give a public invitation! Eight young men surrendered to their Lord’s call on their young life! Eleven young men rededicated their lives to their Lord! Six young men checked everything on their Decision Card! YES! They need to be counseled with, and Coach Justin promised me that he will do the follow-up! He and his assistant coaches have been doing weekly Bible studies with these young men! Praise the sweet name of the Lord Jesus for coaches who know what is most important in the lives of their players! This is more proof that we are in the Last Days before the Second Coming of our Lord, and that He is moving powerfully on this generation of young people (Joel 2:28-29)! As one of the players was leaving, he said: “Thank you! That touched my heart.”
A Christian businessman in West Greene County recently called me. During our conversation, he told me about the man who was gloriously Born Again in his church nearly two years ago. This dear man was an inmate in the Jefferson County Jail on a Thursday when I was there, and on the next Sunday morning I was proclaiming the gospel in this man’s home church! (Only a Holy Sovereign God could do this!) He came forward during the public invitation and said to me: “I thought that the Lord saved me right here when I was twelve years old. I know now that I was not saved at that time and I want to be saved right now!” This businessman and I led this dear older man to faith in the Lord Jesus and his pastor baptized him! He is now teaching a Sunday School class! Real evangelism really works when the Lord’s people work and really work together (John 9:4)!
The awesome power of our great God works in the “spiritually darkest places” in this world! I praise my Lord for placing me in these places and that He has very special servants praying for me! Oh, I can truly feel your powerful persistent prayers! It brings me to tears when one of the inmates asks the men to pray for me as they speak: “Lord, when this man is here, we know that we are going to hear from you!”
As we get closer and closer to the Second Coming of our Lord, I can clearly see the power of the Holy Spirit moving deeply on these dear men who are incarcerated! It is now six years that my Lord has been bringing me to the Jefferson County Jail! A young man who has been here for four years and has never said one word, spoke and prayed publicly for the first time this past month! One young man who realized that his cell block had been in the church room three times in one month asked one of the men to give his testimony! He said: “I have accepted Christ and I want to be baptized!” In one week, so many praise reports and prayer requests were made that I did not have time to preach! I just read Eph. 6:10-20 to warn them about the devil attacking them! Several of these dear men are leading their cell blocks in prayer and Bible study and men are being Born Again! For the first time in six years, I was led by my Lord to ask the men to surrender to their Lord’s call upon their life and two men surrendered! Many of these dear men are growing deeper in their walk with their Lord! They are learning that they can pray and that they can pray passionately and deeply! It is hard to be incarcerated when one is free on the inside because you also want to be free on the outside! Just ask the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 2:8-9)! This past month one man gave his heart to his Lord while twenty-eight men recommitted their lives and two men surrendered to their Lord’s call!
This coming Sunday morning, April 12, I will be blessed to proclaim the gospel at Beulah Baptist Church in Kingsport where John David Shanks is the pastor. Please pray for a mighty move of the living God!
With every fiber of my being, thank you for standing with this passionate soul winner! I leave you with the words of a young man in the Jefferson County Jail who recently surrendered to his Lord’s call. “I Surrendered. Brother Jeff, three times in a month is a blessing! Thank you for everything. You have given me so much hope in life. Because of you, through Christ, that I have met you and you have helped me be a better follower/believer.”
For Souls Forever In Heaven,
Jeffrey L. Harvel
Jeremiah 33:3
