Anita Harrison was born in Tuscumbia, Missouri, to Larry and Diana Neal. She is the youngest of three daughters and is an eighth-generation mid-Missourian. She began following Jesus as a pre-schooler and is grateful for a lifetime of memories demonstrating God’s faithfulness.
Anita began dating her husband, Jay, when they were teenagers. They were married after her sophomore year at the University of Missouri – Columbia, in 2001. She graduated from the MU School of Journalism in 2002, and she and Jay moved back to Miller County. She began a freelance writing and editing career and was blessed to work from home until both of the Harrison children — Jaelyn, born in 2004, and Blake, born in 2007 — were in school. In 2014, Anita began working at Lake Regional Health System in the Public Relations department, where she is currently the assistant manager. She also leads Lake Regional’s Culture of One initiative to ensure staff commit to each other, encourage excellence and care more than expected.
Jay and Anita became members of Riverview Baptist Church in 2017, and they have served in children’s ministry together and been active Life Group and Discipleship Group members. Anita’s favorite prayer to pray over others — from her children to her pastors — is Ephesians 3:14-21. As Women’s Ministry director, she understands that any true, lasting good that comes from her ministry will be the working of “him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”