James Coffey on Outward-Focused Church Growth and Community Outreach
About this episode
James Coffey, pastor of The Harbor Church in LaFollette, Tennessee, joins Daily Faith to share the remarkable story of how a Tuesday-night outreach meeting in a hotel room became a thriving, community-transforming congregation. James and his wife never set out to plant a church — they wanted to start an outreach ministry in Campbell County, Tennessee, a region that ranked number three in the nation for opiate addiction and number one in the state for two consecutive years. What grew out of that burden became The Harbor Church, now operating out of a 36,000-square-foot former Roses department store in the center of town. James explains how The Harbor's "Hope Center" runs a food pantry, addiction recovery programs, a thrift store in Woodson's Mall, and clothing drives serving 13 county schools — all fueled by the conviction that "90% of who we are and what we do has to be outside of the four walls of this building." He shares the one number that drives every ministry decision: the 86–87% of Americans, according to Barna research, who do not attend church — roughly 38,000 people in Campbell County alone. "We are here to complete, not compete," James says, challenging churches to stop measuring success by Easter attendance and start pursuing the unchurched, the addicted, and the forgotten. Visit The Harbor Church online at www.theharbor.tn.org.
Part of our Church collection of conversations.
What's Discussed
Pastor James Coffey of The Harbor Church in LaFollette, Tennessee, recounts how a Tuesday-night hotel-room meeting focused on Campbell County's opiate crisis — ranked #1 in Tennessee for two years — unexpectedly became a full church plant in August 2014. Now operating from a 36,000-square-foot former Roses department store, The Harbor runs a Hope Center offering food pantry services, addiction recovery, clothing assistance for 13 county schools, and a thrift store in Woodson's Mall. James anchors every ministry decision to a single Barna statistic: 86–87% of Americans do not attend church, representing roughly 38,000 unreached people in Campbell County. His guiding principle — 'We are here to complete, not compete' — challenges the broader church to measure success by outward reach rather than Sunday attendance, trusting God to grow the congregation from the inside as the church pours itself out.
- Hotel Room Outreach Becomes a Church
- Campbell County Opiate Crisis Context
- Harbor Church Origins and 2014 Launch
- Hope Center and Thrift Store Ministry
- John Osteen World-Focus Story
- The 86–87 Percent Unchurched Statistic
- Complete Not Compete Church Philosophy
- Encouragement for Pastors to Start Outreach
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Hello, my friend. Welcome to Daily Faith. My name is Philip Cameron and for the next week we have some great stuff to share with you. Daily Faith is a program that is designed and was birthed to give you a measure of faith, someone to agree with you and affirm what you are believing God for. Whatever your dream is, God's bigger than your dreams, and we've dreamed some crazy things in our life, and I've been amazed to find that when I get to the extremity of my dreams, when I dream as big as I can, I haven't even scratched the surface of God's provision.
Philip:And God's dream — he is looking for people that will love his work and love him and will want to be used. And we live in the most amazing days of time. We are living in unprecedented days. However the future looks for this country and the world, we will look back at these days as the days that formed, for good or bad, the future of America. And I am praying desperately for this country to have a revival. This country needs an outpouring of the Holy Ghost. We need an old-fashioned revival that will challenge and stir the church like has happened in the past.
Philip:So I'm just praying for America. I really am. For those watching for the first time, we have a mission work in Eastern Europe for 33 years. 33 years ago I adopted a wee boy in Romania, starving to death in an orphanage. I had no idea when I picked him up that day and gave him a cuddle and promised him, whatever it would take, I'm coming back for you. It took me a year to get him. He's sitting right there. His name is Andrew, and God used that year. I went back every few weeks to see he was going to be all right, that he was surviving.
Philip:And I brought food, and I discovered there's no toilets in the orphanage, and the roof leaked, and the beds were painted with lead paint. And in the year it took to get him, I totally changed the orphanage, and that year my life was changed. God totally changed me, and we've been helping kids for the last 33 years. Our main work is in a country called Moldova. You may have heard of it this last year because it's right next door to Ukraine. We have a village of homes, a beautiful place.
Philip:Where we take young folk when they're put out of the orphanages and they're on the streets and traffickers get them. We take them to our village called Vatra Village. Vatra is Romanian for hearth, as in a hearth and home. We didn't choose that name — that was the name it had before we got it, and we thought that was like the Lord saying yes. And we built these beautiful homes for kids to come to. We put them back in school and they learn about Jesus, and the crazy thing is that these kids have become missionaries. Every one of them prepares food, goes to villages, helps widows, helps broken families.
Philip:And what's happened is these orphans — the orphans' hands have become the means by which God uses to care for broken people. When Russia invaded Ukraine, within hours — and that's them right there at the Moldovan-Ukrainian border in blizzard conditions — our kids stood there for days and days on end feeding broken lives. The fathers couldn't leave. The government wouldn't let them — 18 to 65 have got to stay and fight. So mothers ran with their kids and got to the border and found orphans with hope and love and the gospel.
Philip:And that's what we've been doing and working in that realm ever since. This year has been an amazing year. We have fed thousands. We have given away thousands of blankets and Bibles, and we continue to work. One of the things that we have done — we have a home up in Ukraine in Odessa that we've leased for the last six years. It is a beautiful home that houses 24 girls. And when the war broke out we took our girls from that house back to Moldova, to Vatra Village.
Philip:And the owner of the home has decided to sell it. At the same time, our kids in Moldova — they're now talking about having to go back to Ukraine and there was nowhere to go. And I just — my heart could not sit and watch young ladies that are worth $300,000 a year to a trafficker to be put on a bus with a bus ticket back to nothing. And in the middle of it, it took me a couple of weeks of prayer and seeking God, and I'm challenged by God — I believe — to buy this house.
Philip:How do you buy a house in a war zone? It's insane. And I was arguing with the Lord, and the Lord challenged me. He said, if I asked you to give $2,000 for a house that can hold 24 kids, would you risk $2,000 to buy this house? And I said, yeah, I would. I would risk it. He said, find 99 other people to believe that way and the house will be bought. So that's what we've done. I gave $2,000. My pastor here, he heard what I was doing, he said I'm in. And other folk have been doing the same thing, and we're about halfway there to buying this house.
Philip:I'm looking for you to believe God with us, to give a gift. I know it's a lot of money, but it's a lot of lives to save, and we're just asking you, if you're watching us today, God has arranged us to meet together. And so we want you to be a part with this. They've just sent me a video, and understand this — every girl you've seen in this video is worth $300,000 a year to the traffickers. Every girl. There's a girl in the video with a wee boy beside her. That's her brother. She was in her home in Ukraine, and when we said we were evacuating into Moldova, she ran away and came back with her brother and said, please, if you're saving me, save my brother. And he's at Vatra Village right this minute.
Philip:So watch this video — our kids made it themselves and they sent it to us, and I want you to understand a bit better what we're challenged to do. And I'm going to ask you to ask God to be a part with us. Watch this.
God challenged us to open a home just a few years ago. We looked for many months to find a place big enough to make a difference in young girls' lives. We finally found the perfect place that can house 24 girls. We signed a long-term lease with the owner and it has just ended. At the moment we are able to house the Ukrainian girls in Moldova, but as the war drags on there is pressure to have those who escaped the Russian invasion return to Ukraine. Moldova simply cannot afford the cost of maintaining so many refugees. Many have returned to Ukraine. Many have left for Europe and the USA and will never return. Our girls wait every day to return to their homeland. If their home is sold, there will be nowhere for them to go.
In the natural it seems impossible. We have already strained every sinew in our ministry this year to care for thousands of destitute lives. We are about to send at least two containers back with warm clothes to help lost souls survive the brutal winter. But what about the young lives we are already committed to protecting? Where would they go? Can you imagine handing them a bus ticket to a death trap and telling them, you are on your own, we have nowhere for you to go, your home has been sold? How would they survive in a country stuck in the no man's land of war?
I'm going to believe God to buy this special place. We will continue our work in Ukraine and trust him for protection as the days ahead unfold. We will be right there in the middle of tragic events with a place of refuge for young girls to find rest in a home provided by loving hearts. If God moves, the home we need is already waiting. We just need you. Will you pray? Will you give? I'm certain everyone who could wouldn't even hesitate to help this miracle take place. That is how this huge door of opportunity could open. We can minister to these dear souls for years to come and be a beacon of hope on a battlefield of despair.
Philip:That home is ours if we have enough faith to believe God for it. We are halfway there. The house costs $150,000. We need to refurnish it and we want to buy a van, so in case the Russians come — at the moment they're not — but we'll have enough time if we see them taking territory towards Odessa. We can put our girls in our van and run back to Moldova for safety. So that is our safety valve in Odessa.
Philip:I need you to pray about this. God — I believe God is causing you to watch this program today for this purpose. We can save 24 girls' lives. Every one of those girls — can you imagine? Can you imagine traffickers getting those kids, those beautiful young girls? And I'm asking you to help me, please. We are halfway there. Can you give whatever you can give? We can use whatever amount God speaks to your heart. But God challenged me to risk $2,000 to save 24 girls' lives.
Philip:And I believe that God can speak to you to do the same thing. You said, well, I've never given that amount of money. It was a challenge for me when he spoke to me about it. My goodness, how do we do that? And the crazy thing was when I spoke to my pastor, he immediately said, Philip, I want to do the same thing. That's God. And several other pastors did the same thing. So I'm asking you today to pray and to be a part with this. You can get in contact with me — it's real simple. The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee. PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. You can go right to dailyfaith.tv — there's a giving place there. You can give, or you can call us: 833-DAILY-FAITH. Just dial Daily Faith on the keypad of your device and you'll get through to us.
Philip:Help me. We are believing God to have this done by the end of this November, this month. Please, let's get this done so these girls can sleep at night in Moldova, knowing that when they've got to go back to Ukraine they won't be getting off at a bus station in the middle of war, in the middle of hell, but we'll have a place where they can stay and their home will still be there. You can help me do that today if you would, and I'd deeply appreciate it.
Philip:My guest today is James Coffey. He's pastor of The Harbor Church in LaFollette, Tennessee, just up the road from us — a series neighbor. And what intrigued us was that this pastor has a passion not just for the gospel in the church, but for caring for those in need. And as you've just heard, I believe we can touch the heart of God by loving people in need. It moves God to help you when you see outside your own world. And this church has a tremendous outreach to needy people in a very needy part of Tennessee, along with preaching the gospel. And I'm delighted to have him with us on Daily Faith. James, welcome to Daily Faith, my friend. How are you doing?
James Coffey:I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.
Philip:I'm intrigued by what you're doing through the church. You have a thrift shop that's connected and there's a ministry connected to that. Can you explain to us what you're doing?
Hotel Room Outreach Becomes a Church
James Coffey:Yeah, so the simplest way is to give a little bit of a brief background on what got the church here. So we planted the church a little over eight years ago, going back to 2014. My wife and I at the time were not actually intending to start a church — we were actually trying to start an outreach ministry in our community. Right at that time, in the two years following us opening what would become The Harbor, we had Campbell County — that we live in — was number three in the nation for opiate addiction. And then we were number one in the state of Tennessee for two years in a row. And so drug abuse, poverty, just the needs — the list just went on and on.
James Coffey:And so we were trying to start an outreach ministry and we started in a hotel room meeting on Tuesday nights, trying to rally people together. Hey, these are the statistics that we have in our community, these are the challenges that are plaguing our community, plaguing the next generation, and this is what the Bible says we can do about it. And so we were meeting on Tuesday nights for just about seven or eight weeks, and after about a month and a half of meeting and trying to rally people, the meetings were going every week. We had eight people the first Tuesday, 17 the second Tuesday, 27 the third Tuesday. And so by the time we got four weeks in, the room would only hold about 40 to 50 people and we were looking around and getting excited about it.
Campbell County Opiate Crisis Context
James Coffey:And this is, you know, God's laying it on the hearts of people to really mobilize in our community and make a difference. And we noticed after about five or six weeks that everybody that was gathering did not have a home church. And these were people that had no relationship with Christ, or they were finding Christ in these Tuesday meetings, or they had, for whatever reason, stopped going to church. And so that's actually how the church was birthed. And so we started meeting on Sundays in August of 2014. And the mission of the church was always, if we're going to fulfill what Christ has called us to do as believers and disciples, 90% of who we are and what we do has to be outside of the four walls of this building. And so that's kind of always been who we are.
James Coffey:And we've been blessed. We went through a journey — in June of 2014 we were meeting in a hotel room, August we started meeting in a storefront, in 2015 we started meeting in a theater, and then now we relocated first of last year to our current facility, which is a former Roses department store. So now we have 36,000 square feet right in the center of town, where we operate not only the church but what we call the Hope Center, which is our outreach ministry. And that includes recovery, food pantry, partnering with other organizations. For example, coming into Christmas, we partner with the Campbell County Children's Center and help provide Christmas for several children in our community.
Harbor Church Origins and 2014 Launch
James Coffey:And so with that, that's kind of how the Hope Center thrift store — which is located in the Woodson's Mall directly across the four-lane from us here in town — that's what our store does. So it allows us to do some really cool things. Not only does it help fund the ministry that we do in this building through the Hope Center, but it also allows us to supply needs. For example, people that are being released from jail have no clothing, or things like that, families that lose their homes in a fire — providing clothing calls for the 13 schools in our county. And so that's what we're about. And we believe that when we gather together for church, that's simply God pouring into us so that we can go pouring out to others.
Hope Center and Thrift Store Ministry
Philip:I mean, what you're talking about is just incredible. It's salt and light. I mean, the whole point of the church is not just to be a building where blessed people come together and sing a song and hear someone preach. And really — let's be frank — a lot of times people are unaffected by what's going on. It's almost like a ritual in their lives. But when you add mission and vision to something — I travel in churches all the time and pastors will say to me, that's the biggest offering our church has ever given, we've never seen our church so moved. And I think to myself, I know, because what I'm presenting to them is purpose and vision and focus.
Philip:And the church today seems to be out of focus. We're caught up in ourselves. And I'll never forget — years ago I was at John Osteen's church. Joel's daddy. My dad and I were there ministering, and he had at the back of the church — not the one that Joel Osteen has now, but at Lakewood — a huge map of the world. And in his pulpit he had a drawer, and he pulled out this drawer on the Sunday morning service, switched out all the lights so it was in total darkness, and he began to flick these switches. And every switch that he switched, a light came up on the wall map that was behind him. And he'd assigned people in his church to pray for these different countries. So when he started with the A's and the B's and going down through, the crowd began to pray louder and louder and louder. And by the time he was all the way down to Zambia, the place was absolutely just rocking with prayer.
Philip:We had just had lunch that day and I said, Pastor, I've never seen anything — that is the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life. And this is what John Osteen said to me. He said, Philip, when I get the people focused on the world, they don't have time to worry about themselves. And if we can focus the church outward, if we can get the church giving outward, reaching outward — whether it's to drug-addicted folks or to homeless people, to abused people, to poverty-stricken kids — whatever you're touching, James, that is where the heart of God is.
Philip:We do work in, as I said, Moldova and Ukraine. When I first went there the Lord clearly spoke to me and said, don't preach — love them. I couldn't speak the language, so that was easy. I couldn't preach because I didn't know how to speak to them. But then we played jigsaw puzzles and those games where you flip over the cards that match. My wife and I spent hundreds of hours. And by the time we got able to communicate with them about Jesus, there was no battle, because Jesus had sent us and Jesus loved them through us. And when we talked about the Lord they said, yes, we want Jesus in our hearts. And that's what you're doing through The Harbor Church.
John Osteen World-Focus Story
James Coffey:Absolutely. But you know, one of the things that we've really put a — because you hit on one of the primary words that we talk about a lot of times, actually two of them: vision and focus. And those two go hand in hand. A lot of times, especially as the church, early on we saw exponential growth really quickly, and we weren't an intended church plant. We didn't — we basically broke almost every rule that a church plant would have as far as, if you want to be successful, this is what you do. We were just — I made a statement at the very first meeting that we had. I said, I'm not interested in building a church, I'm interested in growing a family. And we want to be a group of people that are knit together.
James Coffey:Jesus said everything's wrapped in two commandments: love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. And so we really focused on that. We said we're going to love God, we're going to love people, and if we love people it's not just going to be in word, it's going to be in action. And so we really felt like the vision and staying focused on that vision is what is going to drive us. And so as we began to see growth over the years, a lot of times one of the first questions you get asked — especially if you're talking to other ministries or pastors — is, hey, how many do you guys run? And how many do you have on Easter? You know, those kind of questions.
James Coffey:And since those early weeks all the way up until now, when people ask me about numbers I say there's one number that drives us, and that number is somewhere between 86 and 87. And people look and they're kind of puzzled, like, what is that? That's the percentage that Barna, according to their surveys, says 86 to 87 percent of Americans do not attend church. And so that's the number we're going for. And so for us in our community, that's about 38,000 people in our county. And so regardless of how many people are packing churches out on Easter or whatever the case may be, every Sunday — you know, I always say most people listen — we are here to complete, not compete. The church down the street is our neighbor, our brother and sister. We're not trying to see what numbers they have or what numbers we have.
The 86–87 Percent Unchurched Statistic
James Coffey:There's about 38,000 people that either do not know Christ or, for whatever reason, they're not gathering together on Sundays and throughout the week in their church. And that's the people we're going to go get. And some of them are drug addicts, some are alcoholics, some are prostitutes, some are homeless, some used to go to church and they don't go anymore, some of them have no idea what Easter is from Christmas and who Moses is from Noah. And that's our numbers. That's the people we're going to continue to drive after. And I feel like — and this is what we have found, and it's exciting to see other churches that I know you've had on your program or other ministries doing the same thing — if we focus on the numbers outside and let God grow the numbers on the inside, that's what the church in the book of Acts looked like. And so that's really kind of where we're focused and where we're driven.
Complete Not Compete Church Philosophy
James Coffey:And you know, a lot of people will say, well, just because people aren't coming to church doesn't mean they're not Christians, and that is true. There are some people that are not physically able to go to church, or work schedules, or whatever — we understand that, there are real things. But I think if anything that we have learned in the last two to two and a half years through COVID and everything that's happened after — emotional health, mental health, spiritual health, physical health, financial well-being — all of the different challenges, you have so many different things coming at you seven days a week. And if you can physically — and if not, that's why we do online services. That's why, obviously, ministries like what you're doing right here — we've got to get faith and the word of God into people.
James Coffey:Because if there was ever a day that not only the world needs to hear it, a lot of people in Christ need to be reminded that, hey, I walk through the valley — it's time to pull up the tent that I put in this valley and say I'm not going to stay here anymore, because I know in whom I have believed, and if I keep moving forward he orders the steps. And so that's why — I know pastors today that have dipped the toe in this water that we're talking about and they're thinking, how do I start, how do you begin? And I encourage you guys watching, if you're watching and you're going to help people around you, I promise you this: if you open your heart to those around you, God will open his hand to make provision for you.
Encouragement for Pastors to Start Outreach
Philip:We are giving away right now in our warehouse — packed up, ready for the container, waiting for the container to come over — 15,000 coats. Churches across this country have sent us them, literally by our trailer going and picking them up, and also hundreds upon hundreds of boxes from FedEx and UPS, people giving and donating every day. They're still coming in because we found a way of turning someone's heart towards those in need. Let me give your address out so if someone's getting in contact with you they can.
James Coffey:It's The Harbor Church, and the web address is www.theharbortn.org.
Philip:And that is how you get a hold of James. And if you're interested, I'm sure he'll be willing to share how they began and the process of what you do and how you set up these things. And by doing so — don't sit and curse the darkness, my brother, my sister. Don't sit and think, with this world, what a mess. In the name of Jesus, light a candle and make things work. James, thank you so much for being with us today. I pray blessing on The Harbor Church. Come and see us — we're just down the street from you, and if we can help you in any way we will be thrilled to help you.
James Coffey:For example, we can't take kids' clothes under three unless they're brand new and in packaging. We've got a whole bunch of that. We'd love to share that with you and bless you with that so you can use that to help other families. So we're just glad to have you with us today and we'll look forward to having a cup of coffee with you real soon.
Philip:Same here. Thank you for having us. Hey, God bless you. Thank you for watching Daily Faith today. We appreciate you. Please pray about the house in Ukraine, that God can help us save these kids' lives. Thank you.
For over 25 years the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova — from providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They championed the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons, and in the process orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus.
God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness. Now, no longer orphans, they want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in the Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and Ukraine. If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 833-DAILY-FAITH. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Topics
james coffeycommunity outreachchurch plantinghope centeraddiction recoveryunchurchedoutward-focused church