A Church on Morse Reservoir
Harbour Shores Church stands at 8011 East 216th Street in Cicero, Indiana, on the south shore of Morse Reservoir in Hamilton County. Tucked into a stretch of wooded lots west of Noblesville, the church building has been the home of an independent Baptist congregation since the early 1980s, incorporated as Harbour Shores Church, Inc. on May 5, 1980. The congregation takes its motto from the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16: "Let your light shine before others." The body adopts the language of a lighthouse, calling each home in the church "Our House a Lighthouse" and challenging members to pray for, care for, and share the Gospel with their actual neighbors.
Sunday at Harbour Shores
A typical Sunday at Harbour Shores layers three distinct rhythms on top of one another. The day begins at 9:00 a.m. with Adult Bible Fellowships (ABFs), the church's main small-group Bible-study hour, and children's Sunday School for ages 2 through 6th grade. Eight ABFs run simultaneously around the building: the C.L.A.S.S. ABF in the Family Life Center; the Mountain Climbers ABF working through Romans; a prayer-focused ABF in Room #2; Neos, the young-adults group; the Fellowship ABF studying "Praying the Psalms"; the Seekers ABF working through "Worship: The Ultimate Priority"; the Alpha ABF in Proverbs; and other elective gatherings.
At 10:30 a.m. the congregation gathers for Corporate Worship in the main sanctuary. Children ages 2 through 4th grade are dismissed to Children's Church about 30 minutes into the service, where they participate in a parallel program of Bible teaching, songs, crafts, puppets, and Scripture memory that lasts until noon. The worship service itself blends ancient hymns and contemporary songs, accompanied at different times by a cappella singing, the worship band, or the adult choir with full orchestra.
Sunday evenings light up the building from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. with three parallel ministries that share the hallways and classrooms. AWANA runs the Awana game circle and Scripture-memory clubs for children from preschool through 6th grade. The Shore, the student ministry for junior high and senior high students, gathers in its own space. Adults can attend PM Elective Classes, a Sunday-evening semester of topical electives ranging from biblical studies to parenting, technology, and biblical counseling.
A Family Ministry From Crib to Senior Year
Children's Ministry at Harbour Shores is built around a partnership with parents. Every paid or volunteer worker is trained, qualified, and screened through an application and background check under the church's "Safe and Sound" policy. Nursery care is offered during all Sunday morning and evening services for two distinct rooms: an infant nursery for newborns through age 1, and a toddler nursery for walkers through about 2 1/2. A separate nursing-mothers' room with sofa seating and soft lighting sits adjacent to the infant nursery.
Sunday School carries the gospel-shaped teaching up through the grades. Preschool classes (2s and 3s and pre-K) use Gospel Light curriculum and run from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. Elementary classes from kindergarten through 6th grade use Truth 78, organized for K through 2nd and 3rd through 6th. Children's Church for ages 2 through 4th grade meets during the second half of the morning worship service, with children joining their families for the opening portion of the service before being dismissed. Vacation Bible School runs the last week of June each summer, drawing children ages 4 through incoming 6th grade for an outreach-themed week; nursery and toddler care are provided for the children of volunteers. AWANA operates as a Sunday-evening program through the school year, with four clubs: Puggles for older 2s and younger 3s, Cubbies for preschoolers, Sparks for K through 2nd grade, and T&T (Truth & Training) for 3rd through 6th grade.
The Shore, the student ministry for junior and senior high students, gathers on Sunday evenings during the school year and runs additional retreats, mission trips, service projects, and a youth worship band. Students come from a mix of public schools, Christian schools, and homeschool families. The ministry points to John 14:6 and Jude 1:3 as its anchors and walks students through KNOW Jesus, LOVE Jesus, LIVE Jesus.
Men Walking Side by Side
Men's Ministry at Harbour Shores aims to prepare men to learn, love, and live more like Christ so they will better represent Jesus wherever God sends them. The ministry offers four overlapping tracks. M2M (Man-to-Man) breakfasts gather four times a year on Saturday mornings for a full hot breakfast and a testimony from a guest speaker, with dates typically spread across March, June, September, and November. The Field is a calendar of one-time adventures - hunting, breakout rooms, woodworking, fishing trips, and similar hands-on "crops" - in which eight to twelve men share an interest, hobby, or life skill shoulder-to-shoulder. Special Forces is the ministry's discipleship track: squads of three to five men meeting in different times and locations across six to eight weeks, working through identity, character, roles, and goals for a man of God, with the program open to junior high and older.
Men's Bible Study groups run throughout the week in addition to the ABF hour, including a Zoom meeting hosted by Hank Caskey every Saturday morning from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. The ministry also organizes three men's retreats each year, drawing on a mix of conferences (such as the 1613 Conference in Cincinnati), off-the-grid camping (Man Camp), and longer trips like the six-day Men of Gettysburg itinerary, each with its own cost, group size, and travel requirements.
Women of the Word
Women's Ministry offers a Tuesday Bible Study each week with both a 9:30 a.m. morning and 7:00 p.m. evening session; childcare is provided for the morning study. An Oasis Bible Study gathers mothers of children from infancy through 6th grade. The Titus 2 Mentoring Ministry pairs a woman of mature faith with a younger woman each January for a season of walking through life together.
The ministry runs additional seasons: Hands for Missions puts together craft projects for missionaries; Hearts for Missions offers evenings with a missionary to hear what God is doing in her life; the Funeral Meals Ministry provides meals to members and regular attenders after the death of a spouse, child, sibling, or parent; and a Christmas Card Exchange sorts cards for Harbour Shores families, with donations in lieu of postage going to designated missionary families. Sweet Aroma (also called Coffee Chats) is a women's outreach team that trains and equips women to text at-risk and vulnerable women from church computers on Sunday nights. Special celebration events run throughout the year on the church Facebook page.
Counseling, Care, and Benevolent Help
The Counseling Ministry is led by Fritz Good, an elder with an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Faith Bible Seminary. Members and regular attenders can make an appointment for biblical counseling through the church office. Benevolent Help is administered by the Deacon Board and provides people, materials, and finances to meet the needs of those inside the church when those needs exceed what individuals, small groups, or ABFs can address on their own. Funeral meals are coordinated through the Women's Ministry; the Deacons coordinate the broader spectrum of practical care.
Local Outreach and the Food Pantry
Outreach is one of the six Core Values of Harbour Shores Church. The local outreach ministry encourages every believer at HSC to be a beacon of hope in their own neighborhood through the "Our House a Lighthouse" initiative. Specific opportunities offered through the outreach ministry include Prayer on the Porch, adopted neighborhoods, street ministry, and holiday box and cookie deliveries. A Food Pantry on the property serves neighbors in need; the church also operates a quarterly golf outing, the Ray Sr. Mission Memorial, to support area missions.
Alabaster Jar Indy is Harbour Shores' ministry among women and underage girls in the sex industry in Indianapolis. The team visits the streets weekly to build relationships and offer a simple, gospel-shaped message of grace and kindness. The team points to 2 Corinthians 5:21 - the great exchange of sin for righteousness - as the heart of its message.
A Church with a Global Footprint
Harbour Shores designates a meaningful portion of its annual operating budget to missions and supports a roster of sent missionaries and ministry partners around the world. Two members, Neil and Marge Horn, work with To the Jew First Society, a ministry reaching Jewish people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Shane and Kim Jones serve with Tri-Grace Ministries in Ephraim, Utah, while Josh and Toni Simos serve with Freedom International Ministries in the Dominican Republic. The church also supports missionaries with Fellowship International Mission (Rick and Carol Hudson, Allentown, Pennsylvania), ABWE (Bill Moore; Cal and Carol Clark in Porto Alegre, Brazil; Bill and Becky Petite in Isumi Shi, Japan; Randy and Cindy Richner in São Leopoldo, Brazil), Horizon Education Network (Brian and Lauri Dix in Grand Rapids, Michigan), IBM Global in Milan, Italy (Keith and Debby Jones), Cru - Indiana University (Blake and Taylor Campbell in Bloomington), Faith Global Missions (Michael and Ashley Emadi in County Louth, Ireland), and Baptist Mid-Missions in Cameroon (Bryan and Heather MacPhail-Faussey).
The missions ministry frames its work in Matthew 28:19 - 20, John 3:16, Romans 10:13 - 15, and 1 John 4:2 - 3, and identifies the Great Commission, Christ's heart for the world, ministry to the totality of human need, and disciple-making among every tribe and tongue as foundational motivations.
Music That Spans the Centuries
The Worship and Music Ministry draws on a cappella singing, the worship band, the adult choir, and a full orchestra, sometimes combining them across a single service. The team aims to be "God-centered, Christ-exalting, Scripture-directed, and Spirit-led." Amy and Patrick Fata have directed the music ministry since 2017; the music team invites vocalists, instrumentalists, special music contributors, and adult and children's choir members to join. Children's choir and youth band opportunities are listed on the Worship and Music Ministry page.
Six Core Values and the Doctrinal Foundation
Six Core Values give Harbour Shores its shape: God's Word as the exclusive foundation, worship as a passionate life priority, discipleship as a lifelong commitment, outreach as a joyful mission, fellowship as a collective responsibility, and prayer as a constant resource. The Statement of Faith affirms the inerrancy and authority of the 66 books of the Bible, the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the historicity of Adam and Eve and the literal Genesis account of creation, salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ, the believer's security in the Godhead, the ordinances of believer's baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper, the autonomy of the local church, the priesthood of all believers, and a Dispensational, Premillennial, Pretribulation Rapture view of end-times prophecy. The Beliefs and Practices document treats marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman and articulates a biblical sexual ethic that the church applies to its staff and volunteers. The Constitution, adopted April 30, 2018, governs membership, the Elder Board, the Deacon Board, finances, and church discipline.
Leadership and Governance
Three staff elders share the shepherding of the church. Stephen Schultze, who has served since 1999, holds an M.A. in Christian Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and serves as Pastor for Congregational Life; he chairs the local outreach ministry and serves as Senior Chaplain for the Noblesville Fire Department. Chris Fritz joined the staff in 2007 and leads preaching, worship, and music. A graduate of The Master's College and Liberty University, he oversees the pulpit and an ABF. Matt Vohwinkel, the Director of Student Ministries since 2018, graduated from Moody Bible Institute and previously served on staff at Northwest Chapel Grace Brethren Church in Columbus, Ohio.
A wider board of non-staff elders shares governance and teaching responsibilities: Rob Blair, Micah Clark, Fritz Good, Steve Kester, Jeremy Slate, Ries van den Heuvel, and Ray Vartanian. Music direction is shared by Patrick and Amy Fata. Grace Kaufman serves as Director of Children's Ministry, Fritz Good as Director of Counseling Ministry, Scott Lewis as Facilities Manager, Rebecca Radcliff as Financial Manager, and Amanda Hunt as the church's administrative support.
A Lighthouse on the Reservoir
Harbour Shores Church maintains a teaching archive online at the Sermon Resources page and on its YouTube channel. Services are livestreamed on YouTube and accessible through the Church Center mobile app. Giving is available online through Church Center, and members can join the directory, register for events, and follow the church calendar through the same platform.