Harvest United Methodist Church co-pastors to say goodbye to Lakewood Ranch congregation
LAKEWOOD RANCH -- At the 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services at Harvest United Methodist Church on Sunday married co-pastors Steve and Catherine Fluck-Price will deliver their final sermons at the 19-year-old church they envisioned, built and led to fruition at 14305 Covenant Way in Lakewood Ranch.
"Sadness at having to say goodbye, but also with a lot of joy at the time we spent here," Fluck-Price said Wednesday as she stood in front of the sprawling church with her husband and tried to talk about leaving their congregation, which has grown from 175 nearly two decades ago to 1,200 on the rolls and 800 who come each weekend.
The Prices, who estimate that 12,000 people have signed the guest rolls of the church off Lorraine Road since it has been open, are bound
by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and the conference has called them to move to another church, where a pastor has retired.
It will be somewhere in the conference territory, which runs west of Tallahassee to the Florida Keys and the co-pastors, who also started a Harvest United Methodist Church/Bayshore Campus at 5512 26th St. W., Bradenton, will announce their new appointment Sunday.
"In the Methodist church, we are ordained to an itinerant system, which means that we are under appointment by the bishop and the cabinet and are moved when they feel it is the right time to move," Fluck-Price said. "There is consultation and input from the pastors and the congregation but the conference is looking at what is best for the entire area. We are moving to a church where someone has retired and this causes a lot of shifts."
The Prices' replacement will be announced on April 17, Steve Price said.
"Because this is our last week, we have been given the green light to go ahead and share our part of the news early," Steve Price said.
The Prices said they would love if all 12,000 visitors show up Sunday for the final services and a celebration in the Harvest Center after the second service.
"We hope some people who have never been to church will come," Fluck-Price said. "It will help the church realize that Harvest is not about Catherine and Steve."
Steve Price said he can't even estimate the number of people he has met over the last two decades.
"I am thinking not only of people I know from Harvest but great people in the community,' Steve Price said. "I would like to see their faces this weekend as we celebrate the last 19 years."
Many ties to East Manatee
Last Wednesday, amid moving boxes, the Prices took a break from packing to reflect on the church's and their rather remarkable story.
The Prices met at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., where Steve Price was studying to be an accountant and Catherine Fluck was studying for the ministry. After their relationship deepened, Steve Price decided God was calling him as well. The couple married and after their schooling and experience with other churches, moved to the area in 1997 with the dream of creating a new Methodist church in East Manatee.
A district committee from the conference had started conversations with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Lakewood Ranch's developer, the Prices said.
John Swart of SMR Commercial Real Estate, drove the Prices to the current locations of the church.
On that day in 1997, Lakewood Ranch's first community, Summerfield, was 3 years old and had recently sold out. Publix, Northern Trust Bank and others had just announced they would open in Town Center and Corporate Park. The Prices would end up forming partnerships with many businesses like these, including Publix and nearby Faulkner Farm.
"We thought it was on the end of the earth," Steve Price said of that first visit. "It was in the middle of nowhere."
Fluck-Price said Lorraine Road was dirt at that time and University Parkway only went as far as Legacy Boulevard.
"Lorraine Road ended with a fence just north of where our church is now," Fluck-Price said.
But the Prices got to see the future. "SMR had a great master plan and it's been the centerpiece of this whole East Manatee growth," Steve Price said. "It's been neat to be a part of it."
A little more than a year later, the conference purchased the property from SMR and for several years, Harvest United Methodist Church worshipped in temporary quarters, including homes and Gocio Elementary School in Sarasota County.
"Our very first service at the school had 180 people and a lot of them were well-wishers," Steve Price said. "We drew upon every family we could drum up."
The Prices drew people because they were authentic, said Brad Baten, who first came to the church as a fourth-grader and is now the leader of the children's ministry.
"We were church shopping and going around the area and we stopped at Gocio, but didn't come back for three weeks," Baten said. "Then, we came back and Steve says when he sees me, 'Hi Brad.' I'm in fourth grade and been there one time. But Steve remembers everyone's name. They are so hospitable. They invite you out to lunch and make you feel so welcome."
Catherine Sykes, a staff member for six years, said that the reason the Prices are successful is that they promote healthy relationships.
"Honesty, communication, no triangulating," Sykes said. "You learn here to go directly to the person if you are having an issue. There is no gossiping, no back talk. You talk through whatever issue you are having. They are really very healthy."
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.
This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Harvest United Methodist Church co-pastors to say goodbye to Lakewood Ranch congregation ."