I’ve never told you the full story about Global Maritime Ministries. Our friends who read this blog live literally all over the world and I think you will find this fascinating.

Forty-five years ago John Vandercook saw a need in New Orleans no one was addressing. Here we had one of the busiest ports in America, with hundreds of ships a year arriving from all over the world, bringing thousands of foreign workers who would spend a few hours in this country and leave without ever knowing the first thing about us. What an opportunity if someone were to meet them, befriend them, show them some hospitality, and if possible, tell them about the Savior. Many seafarers live in countries hostile to the Christian faith, nations that not only bar Christian missionaries but forbid their own people from converting to Christianity.

This could be an opportunity staring us in the faith, John thought.* If someone had the faith–and gumption–to begin the process. First, he would have to find out how to board the ships. He would have to be credentialed as a chaplain. Figure out a means to bridge the language gap. Secure a vehicle for driving the crewmembers into town or to a church service. Line up volunteers to help. Find the time for this. And the energy. And of course, the finances. (*That really was a typo. I meant to say “staring us in the face.” But “staring us in the faith” really says it, doesn’t it?)

The sheer scope of beginning such a ministry would have frightened away many a lesser person. But in 1963, Rev. John Vandercook organized the New Orleans Baptist Seamen’s Service in the downstairs of his home and began visiting ships’ crews on a regular basis. One year later, John went full-time in this ministry, a tremendous step of faith for a one-armed preacher with a wife and a full set of children.

When I arrived on campus at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1964 I heard stories of this man and his ministry. You’d have thought the work had been around for years. Seminary students spoke of driving church buses to pick up seamen at the docks and take to their worship services. Churches would welcome them and provide lunch. At times, the student volunteers would drive the visitors to a a mall or a grocery store just so they could see how blessed Americans are. As far as they were available, they gave Christian literature and sometimes Bibles in the person’s language. Occasionally, they engaged them in conversations about Jesus and even led some of the seafarers to know Jesus Christ.

In 1976, the center moved out of Brother John’s home into an empty church building in East New Orleans. That was better, but it was still miles from the docks. John retired in 1991 and the executive board asked his son Philip to succeed him. In 1999, the name of the ministry was officially changed to Global Maritime Ministries to reflect the changes in its scope: both men and women, both shipworkers and dockworkers, foreign and local.

A second center was opened upriver in LaPlace in 1994. Since that time, it moved a few miles further up to Reserve, Louisiana, and a wonderful building has been purchased, within walking distance of where many ships dock. At the dedication, Philip Vandercook announced that the building debt was paid in full. Jared Walley serves as chaplain there, and Mission Service Corps workers Steve and Ann Corbin assist him. (An MSC worker is unpaid, yet still has to be approved by our North American Mission Board and work under the supervision of assigned leaders. Steve and Ann are South Carolinians and live in a Global Maritime-owned mobile home parked at the First Baptist Church of St. Rose.)

In May of 2000, GMM sold the ministry center in New Orleans East and began looking for a site for a new port ministry center close to the docks. The board purchased a large lot at 3635 Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, directly across the street from the busiest part of the port. Ground was broken on January 24, 2004, for the building projected to cost a million dollars. A little storm named Katrina interrupted the process, but soon leaders and volunteer workers moved back in and resumed work on the center. Church workers from all over America have labored on the construction of this building.

The port ministry center–officially named The Rev. John P. Vandercook Center for Maritime Ministry and Education–was dedicated last Saturday, January 13, 2007.

That’s the bare bones of the story. But it doesn’t begin to tell the wonderful truth about this incredible ministry. Imagine a poor family in the Philippines missing their father for a year or more at a time. He works on a ship because the money is better than he could make at home. He’s lonely and he worries about his wife and children. His ship docks in America and he meets a friendly face inviting him to visit a center where he can phone his family or email them. Inside the center, he finds a warm atmosphere and a comfortable room where he can relax and a kitchen where he can eat some American food. Bookcases line the walls offering Bibles and Christian literature in his language, all free of charge. No pressures, no gimmicks, nothing but kindness and hospitality.

The new center will be providing group Bible studies and prayer times during lunch breaks for port workers. It will make counselors available. Philip says the great need now is for volunteers, Christians from local churches who will just come and hang out, visit with the guests, chat with them, make them comfortable.

These workers may be the best representatives the United States of America has. I guarantee you visitors to our port who spend a few hours in this center will go away with a high impression of this country. Many will carry with them new insights into the Christian faith and literature and videos so they may learn more.

Philip Vandercook wants you to know the Port of New Orleans is considered the busiest port in the world. In the last 10 years, the PONO “has invested nearly $400 million in state-of-the-art facilities. Improved break bulk and container terminals feature new multipurpose cranes, expanded marshalling yards, and a new roadway to handle truck traffic. The port’s facilities include 22 million square feet of cargo handling area and more than 6 million square feet of covered storage area. More than 6,000 ocean vessels annually move through New Orleans on the Mississippi River. Maritime activity within the Port of New Orleans is responsible for more than 107,000 jobs. More than 700,000 passengers sail through the PONO each year. Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean cruise lines sail weekly to destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico. The Delta Queen Steamboat Company offers excursions along the nation’s inland river system. RiverBarge Excursions’ hotel-on-barge River Explorer features a New Orleans to Memphis itinerary.”

It might help to bear in mind that the Port of New Orleans actually stretches 54 miles along the Mississippi River, so we’re not just talking about the tiny portion inside our city limits. This port is said to be the largest tonnage port in the Western Hemisphere and to rank third in the world.

Global Maritime is a non-profit ministry. In 2007, its budget will call for $241,900.00. As you might expect, the great bulk of that is to cover salaries and expenses, operation of the two centers, and free materials to give to the seafarers.

So where does the money come from? Our association (BAGNO) will give around a thousand a month. The Louisiana Baptist Convention gives $16,800 annually. Almost all the rest of it–some $208,000–will come from the direct gifts of friends and supporting churches.

What about interest on investments? Smile. That is projected to be a whopping $350 this year.

Freddie Arnold from our office served as building committee chair for this new center. He reported Saturday that the original plans kept getting scaled down from a million dollars to $750,000. With the new reality Katrina forced on this city, the final cost is $910,695. The ministry borrowed $400,000 from Gulf Coast Bank last month, and paying that off has a high priority. The monthly payment is $3,568.16.

If you were to walk inside the center, you would find a large living area on your right with comfortable cushioned chairs, a large-screen television, and bookcases around the wall. Just behind, along the wall, are computers, perhaps six or eight, where visitors can send and receive e-mails from home. Down the hall are cubicles where seafarers can make personal phone calls. There’s a reception area and a kitchen and an office and an upstairs. Sort of.

The upstairs has not been completed yet. Freddie says it’s going to take another $200,000 or more to do that job. When it’s finished, we will have facilities for hosting church volunteer teams coming to minister on the river, and an apartment where a MSC couple can live. A ministry like this needs someone on duty all the time, and this will allow that.

At the board meeting Saturday morning, Global Maritime distributed booklets detailing the names of every church and organization contributing to this work in 2006. (114 entities gave $170,566.15.) That was followed by a list of individuals. I was so happy to see that more than one friend of mine who reads this blog were listed. The total amount given by 249 individuals comes to $163,407.42.

Here’s the contact information for more information, to send a contribution, or to volunteer.

Global Maritime Ministries, Inc.

P. O. Box 750787

New Orleans, LA 70175-0787

Phone: 504/895-2028

Toll Free: 800/413-4762

Fax: 504/895-2028

Website: www.PortMinistry.com

Email: info@PortMinistry.com

The new center is located at 3635 Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans. (Wondering how to pronounce that word? The “T” is silent. It’s “Chop-a-tool-us.” A hundred years ago when I was just out of college and working for a cast iron company in Birmingham, we would ship truckloads of pipe to this street where it would be loaded onto ships. No one told us how to pronounce it, so we called it “Tuh-pit-you-las”. Not even close.)

I wanted you to know about this ministry. In the early mornings when I’m walking on the levee beside the river, I often lift the workers on the ships to the Lord. Then I pray for Philip and Jared and the ministry of Global Maritime who are serving on the cutting edge of the gospel in this city.

After all, the world is flowing past our doorsteps. I’m so glad God has built a lighthouse here.