Michael Harshaw's Labors

I stumbled across this while wasting time doing Google searches. And what it mean, I wonder:

A document dated January 10, 1848, in the pos-
session of Miss Clara Mathews of Marissa, is of inter-
est. It reads as follows:

"We. the undersigners promise to pay the sums
next to our names for the ministerial labors of the Rev.
Mr. Harshaw at the Salem Meeting House on Mud
Creek: John R. Lyons $5.00; Henry L. McGuire $8.00;
Thomas Gillespie $5.00: a man named East. $3.00;
Arch McFie $3.00; James Mclntire $5.00; Anny Mc-
Guire $1.50: John Craig $2.00; William McKee $2.00,
H. L. McGuire for 1849, $5.50."

Washington county is north of Perry County, so my guess is Michael was acting as a temporary pastor for a congregation. (Marissa is a town in ST. Clair county, just north of Randolph and west of Washington, about 24 miles by road from Cutler. Mud Creek is close to the Perry/Washington boundary but I don't see the church location in Google maps.) William in "A Romance..." mentions his father's labors in establishing churches in southern Illinois, so this may be a bit of evidence of it.