Tom Camp | Senior Pastor
Pastor Tom Camp is a native of Indiana. At the age of 16 he was starting to get involved with drugs and alcohol. He married at the age of 16 only to divorce at 17. It was at the age of 19 that he met his wife, Teri. At that time, neither of them knew the Lord. They had their daughter, April, out of wedlock and the three lived together for two years prior to coming to know Jesus Christ. During that time Tom was involved in a small drug ring. He would use the proceeds from the product he sold to keep himself supplied with drugs and lived a party lifestyle.
When Pastor Tom reached the age of 21 he found himself depressed having come to the realization that his life was going nowhere. He was seeking help and wanted to find a church. Around Christmas time, he and Teri went to a Baptist church with a woman who had been praying for him for many years. It was there that he and Teri were introduced for the first time to the Person of Jesus Christ. Tom and Teri gave their lives over to Him at that church and they were married immediately afterwards.
After his conversion, Pastor Tom began to get involved with worship and youth ministries. He and Teri then had their second child, Jeremy. Two years later, at the age of 23, Tom began to feel the call in to ministry and decided to enroll in bible college. He attended Central Bible College in Springfield Missouri for one year when he became aware of the Calvary Chapel Movement originating in California. He and his family then went to visit some friends out west where they visited the church and saw Pastor Chuck Smith. Tom and his family caught the vision of the Calvary Chapel Movement and returned to Indiana when he was at the age of 25.
Back in Indiana, Pastor Tom went to serve with the Calvary Chapel of Lafayette with Pastor Joe Bell. Tom stayed with Calvary Chapel in Lafayette for two years when the Lord lead him down to Calvary Chapel Crawfordsville under Pastor George Markey for 8 years. George left to go to Ukraine as missionary, than Dave Keesee became the pastor. Tom, now 27, remained with Pastor Dave for approximately 2 years. During his time serving in Lafayette and Crawfordsville, Pastor Tom served as a worship leader, a Bible study leader, a youth leader and in prison ministries. The Lord also blessed the Camp family during the years in Crawfordsville with two additional sons, Jared and Joshua.
Pastor Tom was about to go on staff at the church in Crawfordsville when the Lord showed him his calling was to Lafayette, not Crawfordsville. Tom (38) once again returned to Indiana with his family where he began a church in the basement of Barb Cottington. At that time, 20 people comprised the Body of Christ known as Harvest Chapel. The group began to grow and tabernacled from location to location. Eventually, the Lord provided Harvest Chapel with a building at 1019 Wabash Avenue. While meeting at 1019 Wabash Avenue, the Lord allowed Harvest Chapel to buy the building just a few blocks up the road that, until then, had functioned as a topless bar. In a beautiful picture of the Lord’s redemptive work within the body of a believer, Harvest Chapel transformed the former den of iniquity into a meeting place for worship and the Word of God. The body of Harvest Chapel continued to be blessed with new believers and eventually the congregation switched its meeting place to the building now known as Sacred Grounds.
Over the years the body continued to grow and has moved once again to tabernacle at Judi’s Catering in Lafayette where the once 20 strong bible study has become a church of more than 450 men, women and children. Tom, now 62 years old, serves as head pastor and still leads worship and bible studies. Tom, once a high school dropout, has also served as a teacher at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Indianapolis.
Harvest Chapel, under Pastor Tom’s leadership and Jesus Christ’s headship, has had a unique ministry to the neighborhood surrounding Wabash Avenue and is known in the area as the church that ministers to the whosoevers. It is a unique ministry that comes with a unique blessing. Harvest Chapel is committed to being Spirit lead in all of its endeavors and hopes to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in all of it’s undertakings.