My Life Since 1968 ~ Rich Harder

"My Life Since 1968 ~ Rich Harder

After leaving Berean I attended Grace University, graduating with a degree in Bible and Missions. I spent the following year in Manila, Philippines, teaching Bible studies and doing outreach on campuses. Bob Busenitz was also in the Philippines at the time, so we traveled home together, making many stops in Asia and Europe over a three month period. 

In 1975 I married Glenda Hemme. She had just graduated from KU Medical School of Nursing. We had met on a summer missions trip the summer of 1971 and wrote many letters those four years! We began farming together with my father. God has blessed us with four children. We enjoyed these years greatly, working together on the farm, 4-H, going to school events, taking trips to see Glenda’s family in Missouri, and camping in our National Parks. During these years I helped to start a Christian elementary school which met at Countryside. It had grades K-4 and operated for about ten years before joining with Berean Academy which had grades 5-12 at that time. Our family attended Emmaus Church which has been a great blessing in our lives. We have served in various leadership capacities and are active in teaching adult and children’s classes. Glenda and I also teach CEF Good News Club classes at our local elementary school in Potwin. As our children were “leaving the nest” we began to take in foster children. For the past 18 years we have been privileged to host dozens of kids in our home for a day or for a year or two. We found it to be a great opportunity to share the love of Jesus and to model a family that loves and enjoys being together. We occasionally get a call from one of our “kids” and it is good to re-connect.

Though we recently moved off of the farm we still are quite involved. We are enjoying a somewhat slower pace and the opportunity to travel places other than where the grandkids live. Later this month we plan to visit Israel. Dave, our oldest child, is an executive in the procurement branch of Kellogg’s Foods in Battle Creek, MI. He and wife Jill have 2 boys. Esther got her Masters of Family Therapy at Friends University and is busy applying it with her daughter and 2 sons. She and husband Jason Braithwaite live in Katy, TX. Dan, who spent his elementary and high school years building forts and cabins around the farm and in the woods, is applying that full time building new houses and also has several crews doing remodeling and room additions in the Newton area. He and wife Susan have two boys. Chris began farming with me but died in a farm accident ten years ago, leaving a wife of 2 and a half years, Jodi, and his 8 month old son. Jodi married our nephew Alan Braun four years later and he is farming with me. They have an additional son and daughter. 

We could never have imagined 50 years ago the varied directions our lives would take. Our Father has His plan in mind, and His ways are good. Knowing His love for us and His sovereignty in each detail of our lives gives us His peace for each day past and for the days to come. John 14:27

Rich & Glenda