Pastor Brad Harbaugh loves working with his hands. When he attended high school in Wellington, Ohio, he decided to enter a trade program to become a tool and die maker. "It's a great job," said Pastor Harbaugh. "Every product we use today uses a tool and die maker to build a die to be manufactured.” It's a job he would have loved. However, his career outlook took a turn when he graduated from high school and a youth group leader encouraged him to go to Bible college for a year. "I decided it would be good to step away from the trade industry and took a year off to study God's Word." He attended Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. 

About halfway through that year, during one of his devotions, he felt God leading him toward full-time ministry. The very next day, his home church called to ask him to preach a message during his Christmas break. "I was scared to death and tried to figure out every way I could to say no," said Pastor Harbaugh. However, he remembered what had happened during his devotion the day before and decided to follow in faith. After preaching that Sunday, he decided to complete his four-year Bachelor's degree in Pastoral Ministry at BBC. Later he would complete his master’s degree from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary in Michigan. 

During his first five years of ministry, Pastor Harbaugh served as youth pastor in Fostoria, Ohio. While there, during a practice for the youth football league he had organized, he earned his most embarrassing claim-to-fame when he accidentally kicked a football through a stained glass window in the church.

Later, he became the worship pastor at a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served for five years. Just before coming to Colonial, he served as senior pastor at a church in Evart, Michigan for ten years. 

Pastor Harbaugh said the road from being a senior pastor in Michigan to becoming the singles' pastor at Colonial was quite unexpected, but God made it very clear that it was the right move. "God moved in such a way in my heart and my wife's heart, as well as moving mountains to get us down here. I never experienced such a clear call to a church.” 

First, he was interviewed at Colonial for singles' ministry because he was named on another pastor's resume. Also, months earlier, without his knowledge, Colonial had heard of Pastor Harbaugh’s ministry from Cedarville University students who call Colonial home. Another connection to Colonial was established when his youngest daughter attended camp and was assigned to the same cabin as Adrienne Frank, whose family had just started attending Colonial. Adrienne promised to tell her new friend all about her church [Colonial]. This happened the day after Pastor Harbaugh had told his Michigan church of God’s leading to Colonial. God used these seemingly disconnected encounters to clearly lead and affirm Pastor Harbaugh’s decision to follow God’s next step for his life—to come to Colonial. 

For the past seven years, Pastor Harbaugh has been serving as Colonial’s Singles Pastor. More recently, he also assumed responsibility for Women’s and Senior Adult Ministries. A few years ago, he also started taking groups of Colonial’s men on work trips for the national group, Carpenters for Christ. His work with Carpenters has allowed him to incorporate his love for hands-on work into ministry. "Carpenters for Christ is a great way to reach out to men. We build ministry buildings, such as churches or Christian camp buildings, but it's really a ruse for building up people." 

In his ministry, Pastor Harbaugh keeps his passion for encouraging fellow believers to be fruit bearers front and center. "We are most interested in people knowing and walking with Jesus and what it takes for them to do this." Currently he's working to increase the number of home Bible studies in Women's ministries, as well as helping those involved in the PrimeTimers Ministry (the ministry for adults 55 and up) become more connected. "We encourage them [PrimeTimers] to use their giftedness in serving the Lord and building friendships," said Pastor Harbaugh. One of the ways he has encouraged PrimeTimers to connect with others has been to encourage them to join a Special Interest Group (SIG). SIGs range from groups who go bowling and have a book club, to those who get together to ride motorcycles or meet at Chik-Fil-A for a breakfast Bible study. 

No matter the age of the people or the location of the ministry, Pastor Harbaugh keeps busy, rolling up his sleeves, serving the way he knows best—hands-on.