Bringing "JESUS" to Those Who Sail the Seas

The “JESUS” film has been widely distributed to tens of thousands of people traveling through the major seaports of the world. But when you think of these exotic places, Duluth, Minnesota, probably does not come to mind!

Yet, at the Duluth-Superior deepwater port on Lake Superior (the westernmost stop on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system), a group of faithful men from the Duluth Gospel Tabernacle Foreign Ship Ministry have been sharing the gospel, most recently using the “JESUS” film, with saltwater sailors for almost 40 years.

Rollin Norman, Roger Nelson, and his brother Bob Nelson, were young men when they first volunteered to go with their pastor to board the freighters and offer evangelistic meetings. Now retired, all three men continue to financially support the ministry, and volunteer hundreds of hours. They and others visit between 150 and 180 ships from Poland, Greece, Russia, the Philippines, Scandinavia, South America, etc. during each nine month shipping season.

“What made sense about using the ‘JESUS’ film is that it is in the languages of the crews. Many of the younger sailors speak some English, but when you’re away at sea for up to nine months, it’s good to watch a film in your own language,” said Rollin Norman. “Some European ships come back here three to four times a year. There may be one or two Christians on board, so they are excited to see us, and we get the chance to encourage them in their faith,” Roger Nelson added.

“When I was young,” said Norman, “I thought about being a missionary. Then one day I realized that God was bringing the mission field to me, via the ships! I count it a privilege to be down on the docks at night.” The men agreed, “Shame on us if we don’t preach Christ. We get tears in our eyes. It’s a supernatural love God puts there.”

Once, the men visited five ships in one day. Afterwards they all exclaimed, “Gosh! We’ve been to five countries today!”

If you’d like to learn more about this ministry or volunteer to help, call the Duluth Gospel Tabernacle at: (218) 722-1928, and ask about the Foreign Ship ministry.

Small World Story:

In a telephone conversation with the Duluth Gospel Tabernacle’s pastor, a fellow pastor who lived miles away in southern Minnesota revealed that he had just received a newsletter from a missionary pastor in the Philippines. The missionary told the story of a Filipino sailor who walked into his church, saying he wanted to become a Christian and get involved, because some men in Duluth, Minnesota, had come on board his freighter and shared the gospel and the “JESUS” film with him!

Factoid:
Over the years the men have found favor in the eyes of the ship captains and dock stevedores. Even with the heightened security at all ports since September 11; they’ve rarely had trouble boarding the ships.