12 | September 2025
Replanting The Church Down the Road By Stephanie Heading, managing editor
While working in a well-established career in city plan- ning and development in Licking County, Chris Harkness felt the Lord calling and preparing him for a ministry in church planting. “He had been slowly kind of moving us towards minis- try,” Chris said. “We felt like he was speaking very clearly to us for maybe eight years. So it was like we knew he was moving us into ministry, but we were waiting on him to make it clear as to when and how and what we were supposed to do.” During those eight years, the Lord gave Chris opportuni- ties in his local church for increased leadership, preach- ing, and teaching as well as the chance to lead young families and groups. A few years later, he and his wife, Kari, sensed that the time had come. “It was time to get really prepared for something,” he said. “So I actually entered seminary and we began preparing.” Also during this preparation period, the couple began to feel an immense draw to relocate their family near the village of Fultonham, population 115, in Muskingum County. “I have all kinds of family connections here,” he not- ed.“This is where I grew up, and so when the Lord was moving and making it clear, he actually moved us back out here.” Chris thought the move would be a temporary situation, enabling his family to live close to his parents as he pre- pared for what the Lord had next. He believed he would go to seminary, get ready, and then the Lord would send him, his wife, and five children where he wanted them to go. Following the move to the Fultonham area, Chris and his family left the church they were attending and started a house church in their garage, and the house church grew to 20-25 people. Then the Lord brought a need to Chris’s attention. “The Lord connected us with a church that was literally half a mile up the street from our house,” he said. “It was essentially dying, and they were praying to the Lord.” Only four or five members were left in the 200-year-old church, and a little 89-year-old woman was leading the group to pray and ask the Lord to provide, because they were at a loss. “They had no pastor. They had lost virtually their entire congregation, and they were down to basically wanting to sell off the building and just kinda move on, almost, unless the Lord was going to provide. And he did.”
Pastor Chris Harkness and family
The 20-25 people in the house church connected with the dying church, and Chris knew this was the plan the Lord had laid out for him and his family. The house church and the struggling church merged and launched Uniontown Baptist Church with Chris as the pastor. “Well, what we actually found out was he had already moved us to the place he wanted us,” Chris said. “And so we didn’t move, because he wanted to send us some- where else. This was the plan.” Pastor Brian Moffatt, Friendship Baptist Church, New Concord, came alongside Chris and Uniontown Bap- tist Church and connected them to Send Network, the church planting arm of NAMB. “They’ve been a blessing,” Chris said, Chris was still working in city planning for Licking County and replanting the church, but his connection with Send Network helped him make one big life change. “Send Network kind of helped us go all in with the minis- try. A year and a half ago, I left that job in Licking County to become a full-time Replant Pastor here at Uniontown Baptist Church.” Today, Uniontown BC has about 60 people on Sundays, and the church is working hard to become an integral part of its community. “This is definitely where the Lord has sent us to share the gospel message for this community.”
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