VISION/PURPOSE
Today’s world is a difficult and often frightening place for everyone. Many find themselves seeking shelter from the storms of life, whether economic, political, or relational. We believe that the only lasting source of inner peace is found in knowing and walking with God through Jesus Christ. The purpose of Harbor Life Ministries is to provide a secure and safe platform for helping anyone struggling within the storms to gain that peace in knowing Jesus Christ through teaching ministry and discipling others. We believe that those joining us in this mission will become safe harbors and refuge to those around them that need Christ—living a “Harbor Life”.
MISSION STATEMENT
I was on a short trip away from home to spend some alone time with God. My heart had been sensing He had a new direction for my life but I had no idea what. As I drove to my destination—a little Lake Huron resort town—I stopped here and there at roadside rest stops to walk around and pray for His direction.
I came upon one of those Chamber of Commerce signs as I entered yet another little town—this one called Harbor Beach, Michigan. The sign said “The World’s Greatest Man-Made Harbor”. I chuckled to myself, thinking “If it’s the ‘world’s greatest’, how come I’ve never heard of it before?”
Entering the town, there was a sign pointing to one of those roadside stops, so I turned off the main road, only to discover this stop was the one to commemorate that “World’s Greatest”. As before, I got out of the car and walked around praying. There were a series of placards in this parklike area describing the history of the harbor.
I learned from reading these placards that the geography of this area had rendered water traffic in Lake Huron quite dangerous. Many shipwrecks had occurred due to sudden storms at the conjoining of the lake and Saginaw Bay. The decision was made for the Army Corps of Engineers to build a harbor there to provide a safe refuge for ships that found themselves in trouble. They located a quarry for heavy stone, dug it up, transported it to the shore, and built a jetty hundreds of yards out into the lake to provide a sheltered place for ships under duress, along with a lighthouse to invite them in.
It was then I had a powerful impression of direction from the Lord, saying to me “I want you to build harbors”. At that point, it wasn’t clear to me what that meant. Was that to be a church? Some evangelistic outreach? The only further sense of direction I got was “You have to build harbors where the danger is.” As much as I asked of the Lord what these things might mean, the rest of my getaway time with the Lord provided no further clarity.
It was only a number of years later that this became more clear, when Harbor Life Ministries was about to come into being. My wife and I felt I should begin teaching Bible classes somewhat along lines I had taught many years earlier at a Bible school. As we began to prepare for this we realized that the classes themselves weren’t to be “the harbors” we were building, but rather it was those attending the classes who would become “harbors”. THEY were the ones who were out “where the danger was”, meeting people that needed the Lord, and who would become “safe harbors” that could draw in people being tossed about in the storms of life, and provide help based on a deeper knowledge of Christ through God’s Word.
In the years following, we have seen this come to pass, as our class attendees have shared with us some beautiful narratives of how God had used them in the lives of their neighbors, their co-workers, their family members to bring them closer to God through a warm personal relationship with Christ.
Our prayer is that as you explore God’s Word with us that you will find Him working in you to make you more and more into a safe harbor; that those around you may be drawn to you as one representing the grace, mercy and power of God as you walk with Christ in His Word.
