MEET OUR STAFF

Kip & Bethany Harms  

Kip was raised mostly in Arizona with his parents and three other siblings.   His parents worked hard and sacrificed a lot to meet their needs.  The family spent most of their spare time involved in sports, as all three boys were avid wrestlers.  However, the sand dunes in California, is the place where they spent winter vacations and long weekends.  Riding sand rails and ATV's is where most of Kip's treasured memories of his family occurred.  

Kip later went on to wrestle at Phoenix College in1983, where he was met by a disciple on his team, and shortly thereafter became a Christian .   This began an exciting journey of discipleship, Bible study, memorizing scriptures, and a deep desire to be used by God. He moved with a group of  disciples to Boston in 1985 who wanted to grow and to be trained to go into the ministry.  While attending Bridgewater State College he led a small campus ministry, while wrestling and later, coaching the wrestling team.  This experience was life changing and laid the foundation for serving in a fulltime capacity after college.  This is also when he met his future wife Bethany Arnold, who was also in the Boston Campus Ministries.  

Bethany was raised in Pa. with her parents and two siblings.  Her family is tight-knit and hardworking.   She played field hockey in High School and spent many hours working at her family's Christmas Tree Farm.  She graduated early from high school and moved to Boston to go to college, where she was met by a disciple while working as a nanny. She was baptized in 1985 and was part of the Univ. of Mass. Campus ministry. She went on to lead a Women's Bible Talk and had the opportunity to be trained by Laurie Tranchell and Anne Roby.   

On May 27th, 1989, Kip and Bethany were married, and sent out on the Honolulu mission planting.  They led the campus work and later started the singles and teen ministries. In 1991 they planted the Hilo church on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Serving the Hawaiian people was one of the best experiences of their lives.  

In 1993 they were asked to move to Los Angeles to plant a church in Santa Barbara.  They also planted churches in San Luis Obispo and helped lead in the East Region until 2003.  Kip and Bethany moved to Harrisburg Pa in 2003  and worked secular jobs until 2007.   At that time they were asked to return to the ministry and lead a church planting to Penn State Univ, where they are currently working.  Kip and Bethany have 3 wonderful children, Joseph who was adopted who is 21, Gabe is 17 and Taylor is 15.  Returning to the ministry has been an exciting and life-changing experience.