Captain Dirk Colenbrander (Netherlands) welcomed attendees to the Official Opening in Barbados which featured a Parade of Nations that paired crewmembers of different countries together, such as Mexico and Chile, the USA and South Africa. This illustrated the thought expressed by Director Gian Walser (Switzerland) who said “there could be peace among individuals, there could be peace among families, communities and nations”. The Honourable Mr. Patrick Todd, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, who was the Guest of Honour, expressed his hopes. He said that the crew of Logos Hope will positively impact Barbados through literature, quality educational programmes and through providing assistance to persons in need while also setting an example. “Logos Hope represents a micro-community and is a clear picture of what a larger community should and can be,” he said in summary.
When I was in High School, I served on the NC district IMPACT team and we went to Bridgetown, Barbados for a summer missions trip. I would love to have been on the Logos Hope while she was there. I remember a young child named Iesha when we were ministering with the Nazarene church there. I would love to know how she is doing and what God has been doing in her life. Pray for the continued ministry of OM Ships as we sail into the ports of the wolrd to share the good news of Jesus.

I am currenty at Southern Weslean University for their 2 day Mission focus. Normally there are many mission organizaion at events such as these, so I am always excited to meet new people. Well, today I met the President of MTEE who was the boss of my Mother-in-law. She served with MTEE for many years and now I met her boss. Also, The Dean of Education here at SWU served with MTEE and went to one of our partnering churches. Hilarious!!! It has been great meeting these wonderful servants of the Lord.

Doulos has sailed from Vivo City, Singapore’s largest retail destination, to Drydock World for yearly repairs. The book fair closed and was converted to an out-door Dining Room for the hard-working crew. Electricians, welders, engineers, deck hands, and more, use their skills to help keep this old lady in shape. A new school and a more customer-friendly book fair lay-out are a few of the many projects being done during dry-dock in the next five weeks. Metal Fabricator Collin Diplock (Australia) who has worked in quality service and quality control commented, “I have been involved in ship-building for many decades and came to volunteer on Doulos during dry-dock for personal therapy. I can’t just sit around the house or I’d go crazy!”

Lynches River has become the place for biker baptisms. Tommy (guy in the red shorts) is a good friend and now the Pastor of Biker Church USA in FLorence. What a great blessing to be with him as he baptises some of the people he has been discipling and others that he is joining on their journey.

We should not work and strive so hard to be something God never intended us to be. His desire is for us to be conformed to the very likeness of Jesus. I think, because we have been taught so much about what it takes to be a Christian, that we put in front of our lives this false image of who God wants us to be. He desires that we accept His love for us, and then just reflect that to other people. God is love and we are created in His image. The only way that we can truly know we are saved is through accepting what Christ has done for us on the cross, dying for our sin and taking the punishment upon Himself, believing that it came from a loving God and then love others. I do not know where it says in he Bible about being “truely saved”. I do know that it does say that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved. It also says that the ‘works” of God is to believe upon Jesus. You can’t be any more saved than when you first make the decision to believe and accept His love for you. I do believe that we can grow in our knowledge of Him and through that the Holy Spirit begins to transform our lives and enable us to reflect the true nature of Christ. I think we just need to quit trying to be Chritians and just start accepting God’s love and then give it away. Know that today, you are deeply loved by God and He is capable of loving the unloveable areas in our lives!

“In Port of Spain we are expecting to receive 12 containers plus some deliveries,” said Book Fair Manager Daniel Vaupel (Germany). “It will be a lot of work to sort out everything but I think it is worth it.” He is confident in his team, now fully staffed with people moving from other departments and through new volunteers who joined the ship in Scarborough. The book fair will get three containers every week while in this port; one from extra stock that was on Doulos, two from the UK and 9 containers from the USA. Each container weighs between 20 to 30 tonnes and contains thousands of books. The team will unload and store this huge amount of material in preparation for what is expected to be the busiest port so far based on previous experience.

Jesus says in Matthew 10 to Preach this message: the kingdom of  heaven is near.

What do you think it means to preach the Kingdom? Is it about the spoken message or is there room for our lives to preach a message as well?
I believe that we need to be about proclaiming the good news. Our lives can be an overflow of the message that is in our hearts. When we are moved by the impact of the kingdom in our hearts, we will distinctively share that verbally. We also have to remember that it is the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. It is giving credit to the Lord for all He has done and is doing. The danger is to live a good life but never telling anyone why. Kinda like worshipping creation rather than the Creator. Anyway, what do you think?

What a joy to watch people from our city continue to be open to the leading of the Lord and then walk with them as they join the ships ministry. Please pray that the Lord of the harvest would continue to send out laborers into the field!

Talented artists came to Doulos on Monday to enter the Doulos’ Painting Competition. Just like Doulos’ last visit to Kota Kinabalu two years ago, Pastor Brandon Chin provided plywood and paint for the participants to work with the theme “Sabah Scenery”. A mixture of painters, including a skilled deaf group, entered into one of three categories: ages 12-15, 16-18, or 19 years old and above and did their best to capture the orange, yellow, and red hues of their tropical state. Event Organizer Jeff Matthies Breul (Paraguay) stated, “It’s good for the ship to offer something more which includes the local’s participation.” Prizes for the winners of the three categories will be handed out at the Doulos’ upcoming International Café.

ST VINCENT (ANS) — Following a highly successful tour of UK ports earlier this year, Logos Hope is currently making waves in the Caribbean. The vessel’s arrival in the region has been long anticipated after the retirement of Logos II, and residents of St. Vincent, were the first to welcome the ship across the Atlantic. Between July 28th and August 11th, over 40,000 islanders stepped on board, a figure that equates to more than one in three of St. Vincent’s population.

Crowds line up to board the Logos Hope in St Vincent on a busy Sunday evening

Besides welcoming people to the ship’s educational book fair, crewmembers also left the ship to serve communities inland. Orphans and special-needs children responded excitedly when Logos Hope teams performed fun and musical programmes at their centres. In very different surroundings, all 400 inmates at the island’s only prison were brought together so they could hear visiting crewmembers’ testimonies of God’s forgiveness. The number of islanders who gave their lives to Christ during the stay in St. Vincent exceeded a hundred, and those new believers are now in touch with churches.

Local Christians were also motivated by the crew’s example of brothers and sisters in Christ serving together in unity. They invited Logos Hope members to share in their Sunday church services and many of the congregations were challenged toward a closer walk with God. In addition, the island’s pastors were invited to a special conference on board the ship that emphasised interdenominational co-operation and prayer. By the end of the event, the church leaders were keenly discussing how their fellowships could actively participate in mission work.

The ship’s schedule includes stops in Grenada, Trinidad and Barbados, where crew will continue to serve needy communities. However, after the long Atlantic crossing the vessel’s fuel tanks are in urgent need of filling and an appeal for funds is being made. Donations can be given securely online at www.uk.om.org/fuel or by calling 01691 776711. Further details about Logos Hope’s ministry can also be found at www.omships.org.