Our History

OUR HERITAGE

Harvest Intercontinental Ministries Unlimited (HIM-U), formerly Bethel World Outreach Ministries, was established in August 1990 in Silver Spring, Maryland, under the leadership of Bishop Dr. Darlingston G. Johnson and Pastor Chrys M. Johnson. It held its first service on August 12, 1990, at the Blackburn Center on the Campus of Howard University, with a small group of fewer than twenty persons present.

Before beginning the new work in the United States, Bishop Johnson pastored the Bethel World Outreach Center in Monrovia, Liberia, from 1987-1990. Under his leadership, the local church became the fastest-growing church in Liberia. The church initiated an active discipleship program using cell groups, a vital prayer ministry, and an effective outreach program using television, newspapers, and crusade evangelism. Membership was approaching two thousand by June 1990. During this time, the church planted three other churches in Brewerville, Robertsfield, and Gbarnga. The impact of the local church extended far beyond its membership, notably among university students, youth, and young adults, who were turning to Christ in large numbers and embracing a call to ministry. The Pentecostal faith began to spread throughout the country by emphasizing the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, power evangelism, and the importance of the Word. Those were exciting times. Then, the gruesome and horrific civil war that killed more than a quarter of a million people erupted. It seemed that all was lost; however, God had other plans.

Bishop Johnson and his wife, Lady Chrys, were invited to attend a ministerial conference in New Jersey in June 1990. After the meeting, the Liberian Civil War escalated, and all flights to Liberia were suspended. The Liberian Civil War created many upheavals, including the church’s scattering into the Diaspora. This meant that many believers who had come under the training and influence of Bishop Johnson’s ministry went everywhere, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. According to Bishop Johnson, as he and his wife, Chrys, sought the Lord for direction during this critical period, God spoke to them, saying, “Don’t be refugees. Be missionaries. I told you to win the lost at all costs. I did not limit this assignment to Liberia. There are lost people here, too.” The sovereign move of the Holy Spirit produced the need for a new strategy and organization with an expanded vision that focused on world missions, church planting, leadership, and resource development.

According to former General Secretary of BWOMI, Reverend Charles Wesley, in response to this need, Bishop Johnson founded Bethel World Outreach Ministries International, now Harvest Intercontinental Ministries Unlimited. As a result, HIM-U has a network of hundreds of missionaries, pastors, and evangelists serving Christ, building churches, schools, and orphanages worldwide.

The objectives of Harvest Intercontinental Ministries Unlimited are as follows: First, to offer fellowship and promote partnership among ministers embracing a shared vision. Second, to enhance the effectiveness of ministers by providing theological education and practical training in the art of ministry. Third, to safeguard the integrity of ministers and churches by providing rules, order, and structures that require spiritual accountability. Fourth, to fulfill the Great Commission by promoting missionary outreach and church planting in disadvantaged areas. In pursuit of these objectives and facilitating the task of global missions, BWOMI, now HIM-U, created the office of the Presiding Bishop and administrative districts in 1991. The Presiding Bishop appointed National Overseers to oversee missionary outreach. BWOMI established the Central Missions Fund to generate income to finance the work of missions. Two other churches were planted in Liberia, bringing the number of churches planted from 1986-1990 to eight.

During the Liberian Civil War, members of the churches in Liberia had to flee for their lives – most of them settled in neighboring African countries and the United States. From 1991 to 2021, BWOMI planted 364 churches in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, United States, Ghana, Niger, Mali, The Gambia, Tanzania, Togo, Senegal, Chad, Nigeria, Kenya, France, South Africa, Gabon, Australia, Brazil, D.R. Congo, Guinea Bissau, Beni, Rwanda, Romania, and South Korea. Though horrific, the civil war extended Liberian missionaries’ reach throughout the region and beyond, showing us that God uses hard times to create positive outcomes.

In pursuit of these objectives, the first local church in the United States was organized by BWOM in Silver Spring, Maryland, on August 16, 1990. Today, Harvest Intercontinental Ministries Unlimited is a premier multicultural, mission-oriented, disciple-making organization with more than 450 churches and ministries in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, the United States of America, and South America. In March 1999, Bishop Darlingston Johnson commissioned Rev. Obadiah & Elizabeth Swen to plant a church in the Northern Virginia area. The first service was held on March 7, 1999, at Deacon Hannibal & Edith Brumskine’s residence in Alexandria, VA.

What are our important dates and events?

March 7, 1999: First service held at Deacon Hannibal & Edith Brumskine’s residence in Alexandria, VA. (12 persons Present), Church Anniversary.

March 12, 1999: Begin holding services at the Econo Lodge Hotel, Falls Church, VA

June 2001: Relocated and began holding services at the Best Western Hotel, Alexandria, VA

October 2002: Purchased The Glory Center, 8305 Richmond Hwy # 2A & 3A, Present Sanctuary

May 2003: Began holding services in The Glory Center.

November 15: Pastor Obadiah Swen’s Birthday

March 3: Pastor Elizabeth Swen’s Birthday