ians blogposts
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By Ian Ashby On Friday January 22nd the body of a man was found on Peirce Island, Portsmouth. I was there to walk my dog when the police arrived and I was asked to leave. I later found out that a man had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. I was saddened to hear the news. I was then shocked when I received a call from the Salvation Army to tell me it was someone I knew, someone who had attended our church, someone we and the Salvation Army had tried to help.
Doug Grant was a sweet man. He was homeless, down on his luck and we met him at our Saturday lunches just before Christmas. He was grateful for the food, but most of all for the friendship. A couple of our volunteers invited him to church the next day. They sat with him all through the meeting and at the end, with tears in his eyes he asked if we could pray with him to receive Christ as his Savior. He was very happy.
The day after Christmas, Doug suffered a stroke. He was in hospital for a week and then in a rehabilitation center for a while. When he came out he was confused and emotionally unstable because of the stroke. I helped him get the medication he needed; The Salvation Army managed to get him a bed; Crossroads Shelter did all they could to help; but sadly none of our help was enough. Doug ended it all. Could this have been prevented? I don't know.
I thank God that he saves us even in spite of ourselves. Taking your life is wrong, our lives are not ours to take, they are a gift from God. But thank God, because of His grace and mercy, Doug’s salvation did not depend on what he did or didn’t do, but on what Christ had already done on his behalf by dying in his place. I thank God that he has received Doug into his arms because Doug surrendered his life to Jesus. Doug is now in paradise. Because of Jesus, Doug is now a free man, he is no longer homeless.
I am grateful to my friends at Harbor Church for making Doug welcome, for reaching out to him, befriending him and leading him to Christ. I am grateful to the Salvation Army for the support they provided and for working tirelessly on his behalf.
I wish we could have done more, and one day we will. It’s been our aim for a while to get transitional housing for people like Doug and to provide the kind of support and encouragement that is needed to get people off the streets and integrated back into society. It’s why we started www.restore61.com (formerly Acorn Foundation). May the memory of Douglas Grant serve to remind us why we are here and to spur us on to love and good works. May God grant us the grace and resources to do everything we can do to help prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future. |
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by: Audrianna Powell (Harbor Church Intern) I was thinking the other day about Harbor Express, our service for the elderly that we do once a month at the Clipper Harbor Homes, and I found myself asking, “Why is this important?” Most of the residents fell asleep the first time I went this service. Some of them didn’t even seem to know where they were or what was going on. Honestly sometimes I think if we never came back they wouldn’t notice. So why do I keep going back? I would love to say, “Well it is a God given love for people, and the desire to see His kingdom come in Portsmouth.” But the truth is it is one of my responsibilities of my internship. I can’t say that I have a heart for serving the elderly. I have a hard time making myself go see my grandmother, and I find it difficult spending time with people I don’t even know. Recently what has helped me is reading a series of blogs by Nigel Ring on serving the poor. He wrote, “If you aim at nothing you are sure to hit nothing.” It would be very easy for me to slack off with Harbor Express and not make it everything God wants it to be. I believe God has given us two goals for this ministry. The first one is to build relationships with the residents. God has been showing me what a difference we can make in people’s lives just by talking with them, asking questions and showing them that we care about what is going on in their lives. This has really helped us to build relationships at Clipper Homes. Our second goal is to pray with every resident. As we talk to the residents I want us to be listening for things that we can in turn ask if they need prayer for. Prayer has a way of quickly establishing relationships. There is one lady that I pray with every time we go, and I have seen how each time her prayer requests have become more personal. At our last service I asked another lady what her name was and she began to open up about how she felt so lost and lonely. Her family had not been to see her very often and they live down the road. I was encouraged when she then allowed me to pray for her. Elderly people are some of the most neglected and lonely people in our community. Many of them wonder if their families care for them because they don’t get to see them often. You can tell when you talk to them that many of them feel they no longer have something to contribute. Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters; you were doing it to me!” Society labels the elderly as some of the least, but that is not how God sees them. They are still his magnificent creation and he still has purposes for their lives. Nigel Ring also said that we need to see it as a privilege to serve the disadvantage. God has been very good to show me what a privilege it is to bless the residents of Clipper Homes. He has been faithful in changing my heart towards them, and giving me love for each of them. If you are interested in getting involved with Harbor Express please let me know. You can read Nigel's blogs by clicking here. |
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by: Arlee Riggs (Harbor Church Intern) I've only been living in Portsmouth, NH for about two months, but already I can see what a diverse city this is. It is overflowing with talent, art, good food and wine, great shopping and beautiful scenery. It’s a very unique place, and it’s filled with unique and wonderful people to make it this way. Portsmouth is very different from my home town in Missouri, one of the reasons would be the homeless population. Sure, there are disadvantaged people in Missouri, but it’s difficult to get to know them or even see them on a daily basis unless you work or live in a certain part of town. As part of my internship at Harbor Church, I was invited to help serve with the Community Table lunchtimes on Saturdays in downtown Portsmouth, right in the heart of the city. Here, there are always people around and sharing a meal with someone is a great way to make a friend, so I’ve had the opportunity to meet many interesting people. Some of them just need a hot meal, some live in a shelter, others are completely homeless and sleep on streets, park benches or in the woods. All of them are different and it’s been wonderful getting to know them. Listening to their stories and learning about their lives has changed the way I think about my own. 
Recently I’ve been reading a series of blogs by Nigel Ring called “The Poor deserve the Best,” and it’s challenged me to change the way I think about people that are in different situations than myself. In his first blog Nigel talks about how the things we do should be motivated in a similar way to how God does things - with love. He wrote,“God’s love believes for the best and looks to see each person reach the potential for which he or she was created.” I think this is so true, because God created each of us individually and we’ve all made mistakes. Yet God longs for us to be restored to Him, regardless of our situations, because he loves us. I hope that as I continue to get involved with Harbor and meet more people in Portsmouth I can show them this same kind of love and encourage them to have hope in a God that loves them. You can read Nigel's blogs by clicking here. |
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Written by Ian Ashby
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By Ian Ashby
I’m sitting in an airport in St Louis, drinking my Starbucks after three days of meetings with John Lanferman and the Newfrontiers USA apostolic team. I hate traveling. I hate leaving my wife and family and being away from home. But the people I work with make it worthwhile. I feel profoundly grateful to be on a mission with such great individuals, not only working hard together, but at the same enjoying fun, friendship and food. I am so grateful that I am not only privileged to work in a team like that nationally, but also with a team of leaders in New England, and at my home church in Portsmouth. What a blessing to be in partnership with those who share the same values and passion and yet at the same time who I can be honest with, debate with and even be free to disagree with, because of the love and respect we have for one another.
This is what Newfrontiers is about. Newfrontiers is just a name given to a growing family of churches working together for mission in an increasing number of apostolic spheres around the world. We work on the basis that we can accomplish more together than apart. But our ‘working together’ is more than just a pooling of gifts and resources to serve a common cause. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul expresses great love for the churches that he was a ‘father’ to, even speaking of an ‘intense longing’ to be with them in person. He also writes with deep affection about his many co-workers who he refers to variously as, ‘brothers’, ‘sisters’ and ‘sons.’ This is our language. It's the language of the early church. It’s how our heavenly father intends us to relate to one another within the local church and as a ‘family’ of churches. This is biblical Christianity.
Sadly it is not the language and practice of many churches and denominations today. I am saddened when I listen to the loneliness of so many pastors and ministers in the USA who have been taught that they should have no friends within their congregations; who have no team to pray with or to help shoulder the pastoral burden; who speak more like CEO’s running a business, with staff that might be hired or fired depending on their performance; who have no one who cares enough to ask them, ‘how are you doing, how’s your family, is there anything I can do to help?’ Tragically, a corporate company like Starbucks seems to have a friendlier and more caring environment than many churches today
That’s why, as I sit here with my grande filtered coffee, served with a smile from someone who’s been paid to make me feel cared for, I feel very grateful for my friends at Harbor Church and for my friends in Newfrontiers. It is a joy to work with you and to be related to you. Thank you. |
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Written by Ian Ashby
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By Ian Ashby So, last Sunday during our evening meeting at North Church in Portsmouth, a young lady was walking past the building and spontaneously came inside and stayed for the whole meeting. It was her first time. Wherever she was going to, whatever she had to do was put on hold for an hour while she encountered God.
What caused her to come in? I asked her afterward how she came to be there. She said that as she was walking past she felt this “presence” and was drawn in by it!
What was she talking about. What is this ‘irresistible Presence?’
In his classic book, ‘In the Day of thy Power’, Arthur Wallis writes about the distinctive features of some of the great spiritual awakenings in scripture and in history. He comments ‘Wherever the Spirit of God is poured out saints and sinners alike are made acutely aware of the Presence of the Almighty.’ He says, ‘This strange sense of God may pervade a building, a community, or a district and those who come within its spell will be affected.’
In 1904 there was an amazing spiritual awakening in Wales, UK. Thousands were affected. In one town an all night meeting was in progress. A miner, a somewhat hardened, notorious case, was returning from his shift at 4am when he saw a light on in the chapel and decided to investigate. As soon as he opened the door he was overwhelmed by a sense of God’s Presence and exclaimed, “Oh, God is here!” Afraid to either enter or depart, right there on the threshold of the chapel a saving work began in his soul.
Similar stories were told during the 1858 awakening in America. It was said that as ships drew near the American ports, it was like they came into ‘a definite zone of heavenly influence.’ Ship after ship arrived with the same tale of sudden conviction and conversion. In one ship a captain and his entire crew of thirty men found Christ out at sea and entered the harbor rejoicing.
During the 1949 spiritual awakening on the Scottish Hebridean Islands, a minister, Duncan Campbell said that a feature was ‘the overwhelming sense of the Presence of God.’ He said, ‘His sacred Presence was everywhere. Sinners found themselves unable to escape it.’ At the beginning of the revival a prayer meeting was taking place in the village of Arnol. As one man was praying all present became aware that prayer had been heard, and that the Spirit of God was being poured out. They left the meeting to discover that the villagers were also leaving their cottages and making their way, as though drawn by some unseen force, to one point in the village. They gathered and waited until Campbell came and preached to them. In a few days that whole small community had been swept by the Spirit into the Kingdom of God.
What the strivings of man cannot achieve is but the work of a moment to the outpoured Spirit. People who may not be drawn by invitation or persuasion find themselves irresistibly drawn by the Presence of God.
What is our response to this? Here's mine: 'More of your divine Presence Lord! Pour out your Spirit again! More Lord, more!'
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