blog posts: leadership team
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By Abbie Hackett Doug Grant was homeless and moved from park bench to park bench in downtown Portsmouth, NH, trying to stay invisible. The loss of Grant’s license in the fall of 2008, after a minor car accident and a major insurance dispute, was quickly followed by the erosion of everything else in his life: his job, his savings, his apartment, and his family. Always a proud man who clung to his convictions, sometimes to a fault, Grant embraced the one thing he had left—his physical and mental strength. That was until, all of a sudden, he lost that, too.
It was January 16, 2010, and Grant’s untouched bowl of steaming soup, served to him at Restore 61’s Community Table, gradually cooled down to match the chilly temperature. He was recounting the evening, a couple months before, when he was huddled under a tarp to block the wind on a bench in Prescott Park, and a young couple timidly approached him, expecting to find a dead body.
Grant abruptly paused his story as his blue eyes filled with tears and his voice started to shake. This raw display of emotion was not his style, but his efforts to stop crying were futile. Massaging his weakened right hand that so recently rung the Salvation Army bell, and glancing at the cane he now required to walk, the 55-year old reflected on the ways his body was being betrayed by the stroke he suffered the day after Christmas. “When someone has a disability like me, I look like I’m holding it all together, but I’m not,” Grant, a North Hampton, NH, native, admitted. “What you do is a benefit for me just by being there…; it’s not a hand-out,” he added to his friend, a Restore 61 volunteer who brought Grant to lunch at The Community Table, drove him to the pharmacy, and helped him organize his prescriptions.
Four days later, on January 20th, Grant was lying in a park again, on Pierce Island, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
Grant considered himself tough enough to bear the streets, and he had caring friends, including The Salvation Army and Restore 61, who helped him as much as they could. Fiercely committed to his job ringing the Salvation Army bell through the Christmas season, Grant found himself unable to contribute after his stroke, and Portsmouth was, tragically, ill-equipped to serve him.
“He never wanted to be a burden,” explained Donna Knowles, Grant’s sister. Knowles strongly cautioned against judging people who require community support at any given moment in time, and pointed out Grant wanted to return to his family when he was back on his feet. “He didn’t want his family to see him down and out; for a number of reasons transitional housing for Doug would have worked.” She said. Restore 61, a non profit organization started by members of Harbor Church is actively seeking to provide transitional housing to people, like Doug Grant, who need a helping hand. The housing, designed to bridge the gap between emergency shelter and completely self-supported living, will focus on aiding four to five people at a time. By providing low rent, paperwork help, counseling, transportation when needed, skills training, and support, the housing will require accountability and will be available to each person for a year.
“It’s housing that is designed for people in need of extra support to get back on their feet,” explains Restore 61 board member, Frank Laratonda. “Our goal is to help prevent a tragedy, like Doug’s death, from ever happening again here in Portsmouth.” Read more about Restore 61 here |
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Written by Steve Bowden
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A young woman recently asked God to give her dreams. He did. She had 2 dreams within days about tornadoes coming. One towards her family and another towards the young adults at church. She asked me, “What’s it mean?”
Frankly, I’ve never seen so many warning dreams as at this present time. Dreams in this season are significant and a large percentage involve a warning. Put simply, warning dreams mean that trouble is brewing. They are given to highlight a situation, an attitude, or the plan of the enemy. Often they come to get our attention so that we can gain insight, correction, or awareness of a particular situation or circumstance.
I find it best to not over or under react. Some of us will react in paranoia and fear. Others will dismiss the dream as unimportant, weird, and pass it off as such. The best reaction is to pray it over, discuss it with mature folks in the body, and then pray it over together.
Again, I encourage you to write down your dreams in a journal. Keep track of the lessons you are learning in night school. Warning dreams are often reoccurring in nature. The dream will be repeated in an attempt to get your undivided attention. This adds ‘weight’ to the dream and establishes the seriousness of it. At other times you may have a wild ride of weird, but the themes – the basic meanings of these weird dreams will be the same. Some of us have very graphic dramatic dreams. Others of us find that our dreams are fairly straight- forward and easy to understand. Look for the overall focus and lesson of the dream.
I recall having a dream about smoking cigars. That was strange because I don’t smoke and really don’t enjoy cigar smoke in the least. I laughed it off in the morning as a weird dream. A friend in our local body here at Harbor was praying for me and told me what she sensed God was saying. In this season of freedom and grace which God has brought me into, “don’t overindulge.” In other words, “don’t take your freedom lightly, God has much in store for you.” In a few weeks time, to add insult to injury, my youngest daughter had a dream about me. In the dream I was fat, very fat, and kept stuffing my face with food. She had no idea about my cigar dream or the words spoken to me. In this symbolic, vivid, embarrassing way the Holy Spirit was warning me to be careful in this season. Much more is at stake than I realize and my personal freedom is not to be abused. Warning dreams often come to provide correction and help.
I’ve experienced many warning dreams for local church bodies to which we have belonged. How sweet to be in a body where these are appreciated, prayed over, and seen as the protection and blessing of God.
The plans of the enemy come as dark dreams, muted in color, often only in black and white. Colorless dreams are not God’s dreams, but the enemy’s. These dreams come as the intent of the enemy, and will leave you apprehensive, afraid, and under duress. Any dark dream absent or muted in color is not a good dream. When you experience this, do the opposite! Recognize this as the plan of the enemy and attack it with prayer and praise. Call the bluff…yes, be warned, but take the initiative and be and do the opposite of the dream.
“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:15-17
His kingdom is coming in great power! Warning dreams are part of His grace in this season to get us ready and prepared. Something significant awaits!
Dream on ! {Click on the title to read Steve's previous blogs about dreams: Sweet Dreams and When? 2010!} |
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Written by Steve Bowden
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Faith is an amazing experience. It simply comes into us and fills our sails so we can embark on the adventure God has for us. I am so looking forward to the adventure of this new year! Many are predicting that such and such a thing will occur this new year. I have listened to them and heard many words, but I’m struck by the fact that most of the time it is as we look back that we see the hand of the Lord upon our lives. I think 2010 will be a significant year for most of us as we look back. When did such and such occur? When did this new thing begin? When did you start in this direction? When did you change and think in this new light? “Grandpa, when did God begin to do the work he had promised to do in you?” “When? It was back in 2010!” Think for a moment of the relationships the Lord may have for you this year…the faith that may fill your sails and take you into new directions and destinies. Use your imagination for a moment – for God’s sake…use your imagination!
It is time to dream. That’s why the Holy Spirit is hovering over you during the night…giving you dreams, filling your sails. Perhaps you have been taught about God. The classroom or books have been your primary experience, but now in this dawning of a new season you are having dreams about yourself and you are baffled at what is happening. God wants to be found by you and He wants to see if you will pursue in discovering what He is showing you in your dreams. Yes, I know it is very different then what you have been taught, but God has never been comfortable being in a tightly wrapped box. He is unwrapping Himself as a most intimate gift to us by way of personal and corporate revelation in this season. Write down your dreams. Pay attention to where you are in the dream. Is it about you, or are you off to the side observing? Are the colors or numbers significant? Where is the dream occurring? In a house? What room? Are vehicles in the dream? What type? All of the details can be important clues that the Holy Spirit is using to communicate to us His thoughts, plans, and desires.
When I was a child, I had thrilling flying dreams. I remember them vividly to this day. Arms outstretched I’d fly over housetops and trees like Superman! It was so exciting…but at times in mid-air I’d start to lose faith and the treetops were coming closer and closer and I would lose altitude. I was sure I was going to crash! But as I trusted in God, lift would occur and I could actually feel my body gain altitude. I loved those dreams.
Little did I know at 9-12 years of age that the majority of my life would be spent rising above circumstances with a childlike faith in God. Adult faith has let me down a few times, but childlike faith causes me to soar like the wings of eagles. That’s what I’m feeling for 2010. When? 2010! It’s a time to soar! (You can read Steve's other post on dreams by clicking here.) |
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Written by Steve Bowden
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Harbor is being immersed by dreams! We have been hearing from many and I mean many, in the church body who are having unusual and significant dreams. In this season of busyness and stress we may fall exhausted in our beds and find that God is not exhausted and is communicating to us by way of dreams and visions. By the time you are 70 years old you will spend 23 years of your life in dreamland, and in this time guidance, instruction, encouragement, and revelation of kingdom plans can be communicated. The Holy Spirit speaks and will move upon us as we sleep. It's important to pay attention and write down your dreams. Many of us may say, "I had the craziest dream last night, it was weird..." but as we learn the language of dreams the significance can be astounding and of great encouragement.
We are approaching a new year. Ask the Lord to speak into you about 2010. Ask Him to give you dreams and visions and be prepared in this season to receive. Something significant awaits!
"For God does speak - now one way, now another - though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds..." Job 33;14 & 15.
Sweet Dreams! (You can read Steve's latest post on dreams by clicking here.) |
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Written by Seth Hoffman
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By: Seth Hoffman Have you ever met that guy that tells you faith in Christ is a bunch of do's and don'ts? You MUST not dress that way. You MUST not listen to that music. You MUST read so many chapters in your bible every day. You MUST be republican. You MUST not hang out in those places. You MUST give this much money every week to your church.
Is that obedience to Christ? NO. Jesus doesn't come to us with a list of "do's" and "don't do's". Walking with God is so much more than that. Walking with God is an adventure beyond all comparison. To walk with the Creator of the universe! To abide in His unending love and be the object of his great mercy while spreading the good news of His love to the ends of the earth. To hear His soft voice in your heart and to respond - whether is sharing your faith or serving your neighbor. To seek His face all your days, when the sun is shining and in the dark night of the soul. To trust in Him and walk in FAITH no matter what you see all around you. To trust in the things that are unseen because you know the things that are seen are just passing away anyway. To offer up a heart of love and worship and then to let your heart overflow into a journey with Jesus. That is obedience to Christ.
This hit me between the eyes at a prayer meeting the other night. God is not calling His people to some sort of moralistic lifestyle, but rather to throw off all the encumbrances of life and the sin that so easily entangles so that we can run this great race with Jesus. If you are trusting in Jesus, He did away with all your sin on the cross. Penalty paid for. Now He wants to run with you. Are you bold enough to say yes? It will be a wild ride... |
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