Planting the seeds for a new church

Another church is planning to take flight in Lake County.

Harvest Bible Chapel is making preparations to hold weekly services in Gurnee on Sept. 9. Harvest Bible already has a Lake County presence in Lake Zurich.

Nondenominational Harvest Bible attracts up to 9,000 worshipers for services at related campuses in Rolling Meadows, Niles and Elgin. About 800 worshipers on average visit the Lake Zurich church each week.

Leaders believe there is room for another place of worship in Lake County, said Gordon Zwirkoski, director of church planting and operations for Harvest Bible Fellowship.

"Even if you take the biggest churches in the area," Zwirkoski said Tuesday, "there are many more people who don't go to church on Sunday morning."

Harvest Bible's planned opening at Woodland Middle School in Gurnee would come a little more than a week after another church debut in the area.

St. Raphael the Archangel, a Catholic church, plans to hold its first Mass on Sept. 1 in a renovated barn on Route 173 just east of Route 45 in Antioch. St. Raphael will be the Archdiocese of Chicago's first new parish in eight years.

As for Gurnee's Harvest Bible, it'll be run independently from the other locations, Zwirkoski said. He said local control is desirable for major decisions.

"We believe in an independent local church governed by elders," said Zwirkoski. "It's just biblical."

Mike Bryant, who'll be senior pastor at Harvest Bible in Gurnee, said the church hopes to draw from northern Lake County and southern Wisconsin. In addition to the regular Sunday morning service in the middle school's cafetorium, Harvest will offer a children's ministry for infants through fifth-graders.

Bryant said it's too soon to speculate when -- or if -- the church will seek its own building.

"I definitely think we'd love to have a permanent facility in Gurnee," Bryant said. "We really don't have a timeline on that. We'll see how God moves and how God works."

To market its effort, Harvest Bible has been sending direct-mail pieces about the Sept. 9 launch in Gurnee to selected Lake County households.

Bryant said about 4,000 of the glossy fliers were distributed last week from a Lake County fair booth, with another 6,000 glow sticks with Harvest Bible information handed out. He plans to work a booth at next week's Gurnee Days festival.

Last year, Grayslake-based The Chapel went on a growth spurt when it purchased two buildings and merged with a Libertyville church. The nondenominational church now operates in Grayslake, Libertyville, Mundelein and Barrington Hills.

Part of The Chapel's marketing effort involved the distribution of matches with its logo at suburban bars and restaurants.