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City Reaching Through Marketplace Transformation
Harvest Evangelism, Inc. is an inter-denominational ministry committed to the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The Harvest team, led by founder and President Ed Silvoso, is dedicated to serving the entire Body of Christ around the globe by instilling vision for city, regional and nation-wide transformation. This vision focuses on Five Pivotal Paradigms for Nation Transformation and the biblical principles of prayer evangelism (Luke 10: 1-9, I Timothy 2:1-8), to see transformation take place in the church as well as in the marketplace (Acts 2:17-21).
That None Shall Perish
It all began in late 1992 when then businessman Rick Heeren, and his wife Rachel, journeyed to Argentina and witnessed the transformation that was occurring there through prayer evangelism. Pastors there were praying together, breaking down the walls that had divided them ethnically and theologically, and equipping and releasing their members to pray for their neighbors and co-workers. On the plane trip home, the Lord spoke to Rick and asked him to bring what he had seen God doing in Argentina back to his own country, beginning in his own home town—the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Rick left his job and began meeting with pastors all over the Twin Cities. Many pastors’ prayer groups were formed, but it was not until 1995 when Rick had lunch with an Elk River businessman by the name of K.C. Foster that the seeds of what had been brought from Argentina began to germinate. Rick told K.C about the transformation of an Argentine city named Resistencia. He told him that this transformation had been documented in Ed Silvoso’s book, That None Should Perish. K.C. was so impacted by this conversation that he bought two cases of the Silvoso book and began to distribute them to the pastors in his city. Soon these pastors were praying together on a weekly basis in the Elk River Library.
A Detonator City
By the fall of 1999, it was becoming apparent that the Spirit was moving in Elk River. Ed Silvoso saw in Elk River the potential to become a prototype for prayer evangelism that would “detonate” other cities to follow their lead. Rick took this message to the pastors in Elk River and they accepted it wholeheartedly.
In September of 2000, seven congregations from different denominations gave up their Sunday morning services to come together for a Celebration of Unity at the local high school and committed together to see the kingdom of God come to their city. An acceleration of the prayer evangelism process in Elk River was launched. It was then that Elk River became a detonator city.
A detonator is a small explosion that sets off a larger explosion. That’s what Elk River has become. From seeing a nation-leading teen suicide rate dwindle to nothing, to seeing a community bank become world-renowned for the way in which it combines faith and business, to seeing the counsel of God in operating in the halls of government, Elk River has indeed become a “a detonator city.” In the ensuing years, over 300 leaders from more than 60 cities and 20 states have gathered in Elk River to see how to set in motion a strategic path towards transformation. Today, there are dozens of similar city reaching efforts being developed across Minnesota and the Central Region.
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 The Elk River Story
In February 2004, the book The Elk River Story, written by those who have had a key role in the process and edited by Rick Heeren, was released. As of July, 2007, over 12,000 copies of The Elk River Story have been sold, influencing leaders across the US and around the world. The Harvest Evangelism DVD, “Transformation in the Marketplace with Ed Silvoso”, captures in a compelling visual testimony the essence of the Elk River Story. Rick sees both the book and the DVD as examples of Habakkuk 2:2, "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.”
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 Thank God It’s Monday!
Rick Heeren’s second book, Thank God It’s Monday, is an instruction manual on how to take God to work with you. Led by the Holy Spirit, Rick has spent the past 15 years unlearning all of the things that he learned during the previous 25 years in his business career. He now helps Christians in the marketplace to make these adjustments to the way that they perform their jobs. Rick is convinced that, because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, Christians in the marketplace will become differentiated by their relationship with the Lord. Rick has developed a 12 hour Thank God Its Monday seminar, based upon his book, in which he equips marketplace ministers to serve as agents of transformation within their spheres of influence. |
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 The Threshing Floor
Rick Heeren’s third book, The Threshing Floor, documents the prophetic word, delivered to the state of Minnesota in 2003 by Chuck Pierce and Dutch Sheets, that Minnesota, is God’s threshing floor for the nation. A threshing floor is a place where, in the context of a harvest, one takes wheat and threshes it—separating the grain from the chaff. The grain is then taken into a milling process where it is ground into flour. Minneapolis, MN dominated the flour milling industry from 1870 to 1920. In his research for the book, Rick discovered that an act of idolatry was committed by the flour milling industry in 1906. Shortly after that, Minneapolis ceased to be a force in the flour milling industry. This book has helped many intercessors, pastors and leaders understand and embrace the issues of defilement in the land in order to bring about spiritual, social, governmental and economic restoration.
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Other
In addition to his position as Regional Vice President of Harvest Evangelism, Rick serves as the Apostolic Coordinator for the Minnesota Prayer Alliance (MNPA), is a member of the International Transformation Network (ITN), and regular faculty member for Harvest Evangelism’s Overseas Transformation Mission (OTM) and the International Institute on Nation Transformation (IINT). Rick and his wife, Rachel, live in Bloomington, MN. | |
