[2] After completing seminary, Harvey was ordained, and served as associate pastor of the Foundry United Methodist Church, in Houston, Texas, from 1992 to 1996.
[2] When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, Harvey organized Memorial Drive Church's outreach efforts to help people who had fled from Louisiana amid the storm's devastation.
[3] By 2009, Harvey was serving as director of missional excellence for the Texas Conference, United Methodist Church.
[4] She was then appointed as deputy general secretary of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), a position she held for two years, from 2010 to 2012.
[5][6] She was appointed to the Louisiana Conference, succeeding Bishop William W. Hutchinson, and began her first four-year term on September 1, 2012.
She served as a board member for the Louisiana United Methodist Children and Family Services, beginning in 2012.
[9] After her four-year term as secretary, she was elected president designate of the Council of Bishops, serving for two years, from May 2018 to May 2020.
[25][26][27] In 2019, Harvey participated in discussions with fifteen other UMC leaders from across the globe, including both liberals and conservatives, about a possible division within the United Methodist Church.
[28] The group decided to meet in the aftermath of the 2019 defeat of the One Church plan, which revealed the depth of the divisions on this issue.