About World Harvest Church
World Harvest Church began as a backyard Bible study in 1977. Seventeen people 
attended. Nobody there thought it was going to be a 
church.
But after a few meetings, the idea of something more permanent took hold. The 
group rented facilities in the area for weekly meetings, and eventually constructed 
a building on Wright Road just outside 
Pickerington. The church 
kept growing, and eventually required a larger building on the same property. Finally, 
the church – then known as Word of Life – purchased property on Gender 
Road in southeast Franklin County, and built what is now 
WHC on what had been a corn field. 
When the new building was dedicated, the congregation was named World Harvest Church in 
honor of 
Dr. Lester 
    Sumrall, who had 
befriended Pastor Rod Parsley some years earlier and had become the young pastor’s mentor.
The Columbus campus of World Harvest Church also houses 
Harvest Preparatory School, a 
K-12 educational institution, the operational offices of Breakthrough, Pastor Rod 
Parsley’s worldwide television program & six other national ministries. The 
Columbus campus is also the home of 
Valor Christian College's 
classrooms and dormitories.
Today, more than 12,000 people in central Ohio will tell you World Harvest is their 
church home. At every 
WHC service 
you’ll find a family-friendly congregation of Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ, 
representing every age, ethnic group and walk of life.
We hope that sounds like the kind of place you want to be. We invite you to join us in 
celebrating and worshipping our awesome God!