Celebration & Anticipation

As we celebrate Dad’s 96th birthday, we are so proud of him for the legacy he has given with his heart for the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Update: June 2024

Bill recently had the opportunity to teach for three days all the Bible classes that juniors at Charlotte Christian School were taking.

Back from Ethiopia 2024

Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee( 75 years) of the birth of the Gedeo church where we served for years in Yiragacheffe, Ethiopia

In Yirgachffe, where we served for years, there will be the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the birth of the church in that area among the Gedeo people. Tens of thousands expected to gather February 17-18.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!

During this season of focusing on family and special relationships, we want you to know how much your friendship and involvement in our lives have meant to us.

DECEMBER 2023

Great News to share with you about Grace!

September 2023

Expansion, family, celebration & new beginnings. To God BE ALL glory!

ETHIOPIA REPORT MARCH 2023

Enjoy these latest photos of the Harding legacy. Our family has grown to four children and 12 grandchildren. We are truly blessed.

Harding Bible School Anniversary

Enjoy these latest photos of the Harding legacy. Our family has grown to four children and 12 grandchildren. We are truly blessed.

Dealing With the Unexpected

Looking back over the year 2022, we are reminded of God’s wonderful protection through all the changes.

ETHIOPIA /NOVEMBER 2022

At this thanksgiving time, we wanted to share with you some of the heroes that moved us and have blazed a trail for us. We thank God for their great influence and inspiration in our lives.

ETHIOPIA /AUGUST 2022

GRADUATION FROM THE HARDING BIBLE SCHOOL REJOICE! On July 31, 2022 in Yirgacheffe , Ethiopia, 78 students graduated! During their ministry internships, 2,094 souls came to Jesus and are now being discipled in their local churches! PRAY: For these precious students as...

ETHIOPIA – PART 2 : FEBRUARY 2022

In our last letter, we shared about the tens of thousands who gathered where we had served for years in Ethiopia to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ and to visually witness the fruit of ministry. Now, here is the rest of the story of my visit. Three generations of...

ETHIOPIA : FEBRUARY 2022 REPORT

How wonderful to see the fruit of ministry and God's gathering of His people in Ethiopia! Hungry hearts for the Word of God To witness 20,000 people sitting on the ground for three days in a pasture in front of our old house in Yirgacheffe was astounding! My Amharic...

ETHIOPIA : FEBRUARY 2022

Tomorrow, February 8, Bill will board a plane and head to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via Chicago and we desire your prayer for the Lord's blessing on the items below: Bill will meet up with Drew, our son from South Africa, and travel south to Yirgacheffe where we served...

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BILL AND GRACE

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR from THE HARDING "TRIBE"! As you can imagine, it has been a doozy of a year but also full of blessings. KYLE AND MARGARET Kyle, our youngest son, his wife, Margaret and their four little ones, William, Maggie Grace, and twins...

Thanks For Praying

YOU ARE A VITAL PART OF OUR MINISTRY!Thank you for praying! The Ambassador of Ethiopia to the United States, Fitsum Arega What an honor to have the privilege to take the Ambassador through the Billy Graham Library at his request! We had time to pray for him and the...

URGENT PRAYER NEEDED FOR ETHIOPIA!!!

A STATE OF EMERGENCY HASBEEN DECLARED IN ETHIOPIA! Rebel forces are within 120 miles of the capital city, Addis Ababa. Various other rebel groups are uniting. The US embassy has advised all Americans to evacuate. Our SIM colleagues have been advised to gather their...

REACHING THE LEAST REACHED

WORLDWIDE INITIATIVES TO REACH THE LEAST REACHED: THE TUAREG AND THE FULANI INHABITING MUCH OF NORTH AFRICA SIM REACHING OUT TO THE REMOTE TRIBES OF ETHIOPIA WITH THE LIFE-SAVING MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL... CHILDREN INCLUDED! SIM BRINGING GOOD NEWS TO HARD...

The Lion in a Disrupted World

In the Lion we discover the power of Christ as an eternal king, and in the Lamb we find the grace of Jesus as an eternal savior. Jesus Christ, as the Lion, conquered sin and death so that we could share in the glory of his eternal kingdom. This victory was made...

PRESSING ON

THREE AMIGOS STILL SHARING THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL WITH SIM. In God's providence, He has led each of us into the SIM world to be salt and light, proclaimers of the good news found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Dad served in active ministry in SIM for 42 years,...

Christmas 2020

THANKSGIVING 2020

Things we are thankful for: #1 What God has brought together: Bill and Grace Can you believe it? This year we celebrated 45 years of marriage and we still love each other! So, so blessed! Thank you Jesus! #2 Safety in Ethiopia and Here in America Do...

In Difficult Times, Things to Rejoice and Give Praise to God For:

#1 We rejoice that Dad has his 92nd Birthday! On September 13, dad will turn a young 92! He is a great dad, granddad and great-grand dad. He prizes...a good joke, a good laugh, tennis (now on TV) , church, morning devotions and prayer with Betty, his wife, teaching...

What Matters Most?

As you think globally, what matters most? In these uncertain times, we, SIM, are asking God to raise up workers for His global kingdom. Please click HERE Thanks for praying earnestly for this!Family is so vitally important especially with all the COVID-19...

CONTEXT: COVID-19

BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING In these turbulent times of global pandemic marked with uncertainty, anxiety, and darkness, we need hope. May we not TAP OUT because of feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and even grief. May gratitude trump our grief. God is...

South Africa 2020

Drew and Janna kids in South Africa 2020 (L-R) Kaiden, Kaia Kerani, Kelty and Kirsi

Coronavirus Impacts Ministry

Bill's Ethiopia trip cancelled! In a response to the growing global spread of the Corona virus, COVID-19, SIM's Management Team has asked us to cancel all international travel for a time. We have had a year of planning to take a team of 21 students and church leaders...

In Triumph and Tragedy…

Marvel at what God is doing in Ethiopia in triumph and tragedy! Bill returns to preach in Yirgacheffe to an estimated 30,000 Ethiopians who gathered to hear the Word of God and worship extravagantly. Unforgettable! Our team: L-R Tom Fulp from Charlotte, Hendrick...

The Youth of Ethiopia

41% of Ethiopia's 105 million population are under age 15, 15-29 are 28% = 72.4 million! These are amazing stats! SIM and the SIM related church, EKHC, are taking great initiatives in this area of mission. The challenge is to prioritize and mobilize the church for...

Ethiopia and Beyond

Ethiopia and Beyond... What is the compelling challenge? Launching another decade of accelerating evangelism and intentional discipleship through the proclamation of God's life-giving and life-changing Word in the context of political, religious, ethnic conflict with...

Harding Bible School Graduation

51 Graduate from the Harding Bible School in Yirgacheffe, EthiopiaAugust 2019 We wanted to share the news with you that came last week from where we have served for years. Seeing this line of Ethiopian students of the Word of God who are now more prepared to to take...

SOUTH SUDAN – APRIL 2019

Off to Africa to minister to our SIM S. Sudan team! We are excited and thrilled to have been invited to lead the Spiritual Life Conference for our SIM S. Sudan team. We leave on Easter Sunday afternoon to Nairobi, Kenya. After that, we board a train to Mombasa,...

ETHIOPIA 2019

KELTY, 12 YEARS, OLD SHARING HER LOVE FOR JESUS TO 35,000 ETHIOPIANS Earlier in June 2018, ethnic strife erupted in southern Ethiopia between two tribes internally displacing just under one million lives. This conference in Yirgacheffe was held where we had served for...

Launching Into 2019

They do grow up and we do grow old but we love it! Maybe not the "old" part! We give thanks today for all that God has provided for us and our family. As we launch into this new year with all the opportunities and challenges, we know that God is with us and He is...

Back from Ethiopia!

Full of thanksgiving for what God is doing in Ethiopia. Steve Olin and I had the privilege of meeting mission and national church leaders and sharing our hearts and the Word of God to thousands of Ethiopians who long for the truth of God's Word. Steve gave...

ETHIOPIA AND BEYOND

STEVE OLIN AND BILL OFF TO ETHIOPIA TAKING OFF THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 We would cherish your prayers for us as we believe God has prepared our hearts and the hearts on many Ethiopians for the Spirit of God to speak to them through the Word of God and the testimony...

HURRICANE FLORENCE VS THE CAROLINAS

Thanks for all the emails inquiring of the effect of the hurricane on us and our family. We had lots of rain but no issues. No flooding, no electricity lost, no trees down. We actually left the day before the rain started and headed to appointments in Washington DC....

THE HARDING GATHERING

THE BLUE RIDGE ASSEMBLY YMCA Black Mountain, NC It actually happened! After over a year of planning, 76 descended from around the world for the first Harding reunion in almost 20 years. Just one could not make it as Kirk Harding was taking final...

Milestones

As SIM is celebrating it's 125th anniversary this year, we are celebrating 35 years of: Responding to need Proclaiming the Gospel Equipping the church Rejoice and celebrate with us in the faithfulness of God and the incredible blessing it has been on this exciting and...

Serving a Week in Dallas

Humbled and privileged to share our hearts and God's Word in Dallas What a grand privilege, blessing and honor to be part of God's grand design and purpose! Nothing fulfills, satisfies or delights more than being involved consciously in that purpose...the consummation...

Around the World in 5 Weeks

A SYNOPSIS OF A FIVE WEEK JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD ETHIOPIA TENS OF THOUSANDS GATHER TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF THE FOUNDATION OF BIBLE SCHOOLS IN YIRGACHEFFE Bill, leading a team, Drew, Kaia, Lana, Steve, Tim, Stephen and Endeshaw, arrived at the old home place where...

2018 Adventure

Off to Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Australia One never knows what he will see in Africa! Always a surprise around the corner. You have got to have a great sense of humor! On February 6th Bill took off to Ethiopia for the annual conference in Yirgacheffe, where...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OUR WISH FOR YOU "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk...

EXALTATION IN ETHIOPIA

CHRISTMAS IN NOVEMBER? WHAT AN AMAZING GIFT! Thirty two years ago Grace and Bill, young zealous missionaries in their 2nd year in remote southern Ethiopia, were between the anvil and the hammer of ruthless, dominating Marxist-Leninist government...all for the sake of...

Dignity in Mission

Quenching the thirst for love. Like this little Ethiopian girl in southern Ethiopia, many are longing for a sense of dignity and love. To be a child of the King of Kings...that is dignity! We know this is found in the person and work of our...

Remember This Picture?

The Report of the One Month of Evangelism Outreach prior to Graduation. Before they had the graduation celebration, each student was assigned to spend one month in the most feared neighboring tribe who have homicide historically built right into the culture for...

32 Graduate from The Harding Bible School

Launching in to Mission During their final month of two years of Bible and church leadership training, these students in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia took on the big challenge of taking the gospel to one of the most feared tribes in Ethiopia. Definitely a cross-cultural...

A STORY OF RECLAMATION

https://vimeo.com/213098389 God can use the small things in life, even a summer job! Give it all to Jesus! A great big thanks to Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, TN who have supported us financially and in prayer for 34 years. Their staff put this video...

MY DAD: A MAN OF PRAYER

Every morning, in their daily devotions, Dad (89 in September) and his wife, Betty, pray for each of their kids and grand-kids by name. Betty needed a drink of water while dad was praying. She opened her eyes to reach for the glass and then could not resist taking...

Yirgacheffe Mission Conference 2017

What an amazing outpouring of the Spirit of God in worship in remote Yirgachefe, Ethiopia! God was glorified in the commissioning of 20 Ethiopian cross-cultural missionaries..to China, Pakistan and other regions of the world. Eighty-four Ethiopian missionaries brought...

Off to Ethiopia: A time to celebrate and worship.

THEN...1983...the church underground, intense persecution...drilling for water. In 1983 at the height of famine and drought crippling the country along with a ruthless communist dictatorship in power, God miraculously makes provision for our family to arrive in...

OFF TO ETHIOPIA!

THE BIRTH PLACE OF COFFEE! Yes, it was in Kafa province where coffee was first discovered and eventually put on donkey backs down to the Nile River to be taken to the rest of the world. Now a premium coffee sold at Starbucks and other coffee-houses around the world!...

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BILL & GRACE

It is Christmas eve here in Waxhaw, NC and we wanted to wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS from our hearts to yours. Ours are so full of the blessing of rich friendships in you...children and grands who know the Jesus we celebrate this Christmas...and the joy of living on...

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016!

Kyle and Margaret increase Harding tribe with twins! L-R William 3 yrs, Elizabeth Anne, Meri Mae 2 months, Maggie Grace 20 months and St. Bernard Stella. All anticipating Christmas! As you can imagine, Kyle and Margaret have their hands full and sleep is a rare thing...

December 2016

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with gratitude and joy for all we have in HIM! We were reminded again so vividly of the absolute privilege that has been ours after recently returning for almost a month in Ethiopia and South...

WATER ! WATER! WATER! The cry of Ethiopia.

Something so basic, so vital for life, yet we take it all for granted. It was in 1983 that Bill and Grace headed to Ethiopia at the height of one of the worst drought and famines in Ethiopia's history. It was in that context, that Bill was able to drill wells and...

JUNE GUSTAFSON – DESTINATION HEAVEN

KISSED BY GRIEF AND GLORY AT THE SAME TIME What an awesome mom! We'll miss her dearly. The past two and one half weeks we have been in South Africa in ministry with SIM and also visiting our son, Drew, Janna and their five daughters. While there, so far away, we...

HEADING SOUTH

Opportunities afforded to us this spring in the USA.

WHAT IS OUR MISSION?

Opportunities afforded to us this spring in the USA.

The Ministry of Bill & Grace Harding

Residing in Waxhaw, NC, Bill and Grace have a deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ and have had the joy of serving Him with SIM for over four decades. They are committed to the local church and equipping the church for Great Commission impact. They are family people with a great love for life and laughter. Having raised four kids and now with 12 grand-kids, life is full and fun!

Bill is currently SIM USA Director of Public Affairs serving as a a special representative for SIM in North America. God is using Bill’s gifts and rich experience in Ethiopia as a conference speaker to challenge and reaffirm the priority of world missions.

His ministry focuses on mobilizing students, laymen, and churches to be part of God’s heartbeat for the nations.

The ministry began in Ethiopia in 1983. Because Ethiopia was a Soviet satellite under a communist dictatorship, Bill entered the country as a water engineer. Through drilling wells and capping springs in drought stricken Ethiopia, Bill was not only able to give clean physical water, but introduce many to the “Spring of Life” the Lord Jesus Christ. For nine years Bill and Grace served the Gedeo people of southern Ethiopia through a ministry of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

Later, as Outreach Administrator for SIM-Ethiopia in the capital city of Addis Ababa, his main goal was to serve the Lord in facilitating the development and expansion of SIM’s overall outreach in cooperation with the Kale Heywet Churches , KHC. (The SIM related churches now number over ten thousand and over ten million congregants.)

Bill’s responsibilities included developing strategy and mobilizing resources to reach the unreached people groups of Ethiopia. Bill was involved in an extensive conference ministry, speaking in Amharic. He continues his conference ministry in Ethiopia.

While raising four kids in Africa, Grace served in a rewarding ministry of outreach to the Ethiopian community through Bible studies and her gifts of hospitality. Her love for the Lord and for people has not diminished but continues to grow as she speaks to women groups across North America, leads Bible studies and is passionate about inspiring healthy living around the world.

Click for Bill’s Bio