OPERATION MOBILIZATION
LAUNCHES $18 MILLION CAMPAIGN
TO REPLACE SHIPBy Mark Ellis
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- One of their ships was built within two years of the Titanic, and holds a Guinness Book record for longevity. The other, a converted car-ferry christened in the '60s is too small and needs to be replaced. (Pictured: Logos II docked in San Diego).
“We’re bulging at the seams,” says John Seaman, chief engineer for Logos II, currently docked in San Diego until May 26. It is one of two vessels currently used by Operation Mobilization (OM) to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Since 1971 their ships have reached 30 million people in 140 countries, distributing tens of millions of Christian and educational books and spreading the Good News through outreach teams and onboard presentations. (Pictured: View of San Diego from Logos II).
The size of the Logos II has created limitations. “We need the space,” Seaman says. “We want to invite people to do more than look at books,” he says. “When they get onboard we want to be able to talk to them about Jesus.” The Logos II covers North and South America, the Caribbean, and shares Africa and Europe with OM’s second ship, the Doulos.
While Christian literature and other educational books are plentiful in most Western countries, in many ports they visit it’s a different story. “Most places we visit don’t have Borders or Barnes and Noble,” says Lane Powell, publications editor for OM. “In other countries literature is more highly valued and this can be the biggest thing in town,” Powell says. “People line up one to two miles in some parts of the world. We have 6,000 people coming on the Logos II in one day.”
“The size of the ship has limited the number of people we can serve, and the living space is not ideal for long-term missionaries or families,” Powell says. “We want everyone who comes onboard to hear a gospel presentation,” she says.
Visitors are usually amazed at the international flavor of OM’s ships. Among the 200 missionaries and crew aboard the Logos II, there are 45 nations represented. “This is an international ministry,” Powell says. “Some governments refer to us as a mini United Nations, and wonder why it works,” she says. “We’ve had nationalities who don’t usually get along with each other,” she notes. (Pictured: Visitors on tour of Logos II).
“Whey they ask, ‘Why do you get along?’ this sets the stage for presenting the gospel,” Powell says. “The common ground is Christ.”
Canadian Fraser Churchill was a management consultant in Newfoundland, earning $50 an hour, before he felt called to join the crew of the Logos II as a missionary in 1985. “God showed me this is what I should do,” Churchill says. Churchill married another Canadian from his home church in 1986 and the newlyweds readily adapted to shipboard life.
“It’s like a city-at-sea,” Churchill says. “When people come onboard they come into a different culture,” he says. “Everyone’s perspective on the world is different, but the unity is Christ.”
The average age of a missionary onboard is about 25-years-old, according to Churchill, and there are strict rules regarding dating. “They are not allowed to date for the first year on the ship,” Churchill says. After their first year on the ship, permission must be obtained from the personnel director, as well as the couple’s parents and pastor, before dating begins. Then the couple’s names are posted on a bulletin board identifying their status, to avoid the spread of gossip.
OM offers short-term missions of one week to six months, two-year service opportunities, and longer commitments for experienced or professional staff. “Most people come on and do something they don’t imagine,” Churchill says. “We had a brain surgeon come on and he became the postmaster of the ship. We also had a dentist who did photography for us.”
The OM ships often get involved in unplanned relief efforts. “We’ve had amazing coincidences where a natural disaster will strike right before our ship gets into port,” says Lane Powell. When a hurricane struck Acapulco, Mexico in the 90s, it was immediately before the Logos II arrived. “The crew cooked beans and rice and we did food distribution,” Powell recalls, with everyone pitching in the relief effort.
Some countries the Doulos visits in the Middle East or Asia place restrictions on the distribution or sale of Christian books. In these instances, the Christian literature is segregated from secular books, with a canvas divider between them. “If someone comes on and asks for a Bible we give it to him,” says Fraser Churchill. “Some countries will even send a guard to control access to the Christian books,” he notes. “But usually the guards get saved first,” he says, as they get bombarded by the youthful crew’s evangelical zeal.
The effort to replacement the Logos II has begun in earnest, with several ships being studied. “We’re researching a number of options, and hoping to move pretty quickly,” says Graham Wells, chief operating officer for OM USA. “It’s a worldwide campaign and we hope to get every country involved,” he says. “The opportunities are so great to share Jesus Christ throughout the world.”
Mark Ellis is a Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service. He is also an assistant pastor in Laguna Beach, CA. Contact Ellis at marsalis@fea.net ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA E-mail: assistcomm@cs.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net
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