Phil (’67 MWC) and Betty Lou (’65 MWC) Harris have more than five decades of ministry service, but it all stems from their experience as students at Miltonvale Wesleyan College in the 1960s.
Although they each ended up at MWC, both took disparate paths to getting there. For Phil, who was a first-generation Wesleyan Methodist, the choice to attend Miltonvale came after he heard about the school from a traveling quartet at family camp. He packed his suitcase shortly after that to attend his senior year of high school at Miltonvale.
Betty Lou, on the other hand, always knew she was going to be at Miltonvale. Her grandmother was part of the first class at MWC and both of her parents attended. When the time came for her to go to college, MWC was the obvious choice for her.
“The most significant thing to me was the culture,” Phil said. “Being in a small community on a small campus, you had a lot of rapport with people.”
“To me, everything about Miltonvale was wonderful and positive. We have so many friends from those years,” Betty Lou added.
The couple met during their freshman year of school and began to date. They both invested themselves fully into their Miltonvale experience. Phil preached as part of the MWC Gospel teams, sometimes serving at one church for Sunday morning service and another for the Sunday evening services. Betty Lou was a member of a Gospel trio, traveling to different churches and singing in services.
Betty Lou earned her associate’s degree in two years before finishing at Marion College, and Phil earned his degree at Miltonvale. They both graduated in 1967 and were married that July.
Following the Call
Following their time at Miltonvale, they went on to Asbury. For the next three years, Phil earned his master’s degree and the couple worked at a church in Lexington. When that was completed, they moved to a suburb of Buffalo, New York, where Betty Lou pursued her master’s in library science and Phil planted a church on behalf of the district.
The couple’s time in Buffalo was crucial in several ways. They had two children, Kari Jo and Scott, during that period. On the ministry side, they were in a unique area. At the time, Buffalo was 95% Catholic. The Harrises developed small groups as part of their church and saw the fruits of their labor, sometimes having more people attend home groups during the week than they would have in Sunday morning services.
After their time in New York, the family moved back to Kansas. They pastored churches in Lakin and Kansas City before they ended up at a church plant in Overland Park.
During this time, the couple welcomed 70 or more children into their home every week for Kids’ Klub.
“We did everything we could possibly do to become a part of the community,” she said. They also served on the local PTA and with the Boy and Girl Scouts.
“Our motto was, let’s possess this land for God,” Phil said. “And it worked.”
A New Season of Ministry
Along the way, God opened the door for Phil to become the District Superintendent, first for Kansas and then for the Colorado-Nebraska District. He spent 19 years as the DS.
His focus during this season of ministry was on equipping churches in his district with the tools they needed to represent God well in their communities. This included a push to get projectors and computers in all the churches for services.
In addition to his ministry, Phil also has served as member of the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Board of Trustees for 35 years, including 20 years as the secretary. This position gave him a special honor: he signed diplomas for hundreds of OKWU graduates.
“It was important to me to help create a culture where God can equip kids to go upstream in their generation,” he said.
When the time came for Phil to step down as DS, he and Betty Lou returned to pastoral ministry for several years. All told, the couple has spent 57 years in ministry together, lives that have impacted countless others across thousands of miles.
Phil and Betty Lou Harris live in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They will be honored at Homecoming 2024.
