Harvest Time Ministries: Helping kids in any way possible

Published 12:25 pm Friday, February 24, 2023

By Bailey Marvel

Star Correspondent

Young people in the Elizabethton area will benefit from a new outreach ministry.

Harvest Time Ministries recently expanded to the Elizabethton area.

Chaplain Michael Maddox, the founder and director of Harvest Time Juvenile Ministries, has over 48 years of experience dealing with troubled youths both in juvenile detention centers and with Harvest Time Ministries itself.

“I served as a chaplain in a juvenile facility. I have been all over the start of Florida at various juvenile detention centers. I have gone into homes where kids were under home arrest, I have visited homes where children were under house arrest, I have just about done it all,” Maddox said.

Maddox is expanding Harvest Time Ministries into East Tennessee and into Carter County. “I was debating between whether or not to come here (to East Tennessee)… I was in church service one Sunday night and I said, ‘Lord, if you want me to stay in Florida, I’ll stay, but if you want me to go, I’ll go.’ The Lord spoke very vividly to me, ‘Go!'”

Maddox said today’s young people face many issues. While some people may think as a more secluded community Carter County would be safe from many of the plights of the world, Maddox explained that is simply not true. “It is just about the same anywhere you go: you’ve got drugs, gangs, family violence and a lot of time we deal with families where one or both parents have been incarcerated. It’s the same problems you see everywhere.”

Harvest Time Ministries is here to help children with physical needs, emotional needs or spiritual needs.

“We do mentoring work, we teach life skills, we do family intervention, spiritual guidance, we try to provide food and clothing to kids who need it, we have even helped some teens get their GED. We help these kids in any way possible,” Maddox said.

The goal of Harvest Time Ministries is to be “a ministry that brings the light of God’s word into dark places where a juvenile is both free and incarcerated.”

Harvest Time Ministries is here to help and they are always looking for others willing to help as well as children to help. If you are interested in either, call 423-234-0473 or send an email to htjministries@gmail.com.