International Seafarers Ministry

International Seafarers Ministry ISM is a ministry to sailors from 136 nations & "the fastest way to the ends of the earth."

In the last 16 years, we have met and ministered to tens of thousands of people from 135 nations all around the world, and the best part is that they all speak English. You can run into people from Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America all on one ship. It is like going on multiple international mission trips without ever leaving home. We offer magazines, Bible study materials, Bibles/New Testame

nts, conversation, and free transportation as a way to meet their temporal needs always with an eye toward meeting their ONE eternal need. To support this ministry financially, click here: https://cba.churchcenter.com/giving/to/seafarer-s-ministry

I visited the 1 ship in port with crew from Philippines & Ukraine. At lunch time, a bunch of them came into the messroo...
09/10/2026

I visited the 1 ship in port with crew from Philippines & Ukraine. At lunch time, a bunch of them came into the messroom, and several of them were interested in the Bible study materials as you can see in the pic. The man in the middle (with the black cap) is the Filipino chief cook, Judyfel. He has been at sea for 10 years. He took several of the Bible study books including 2 Explore the Bible books that (between them) covered the whole Gospel of Matthew. He asked if I had a book on John, but I didn't. I showed him the Life Book Gospel of John, and he took that too. All told, I met 17 out of the 19 crew on the ship. I also found a couple of interesting posters on the ship. The first is a new poster for what used to be called the Asian Gypsy Moth. They have been giving posters out about the AGM like candy for years. Apparently it has now been renamed the "Flighted Spongy Moth Complex." I pointed this out to the crew and asked "was it not enough for Trump to rename a gulf and a lake? Now he's renaming moths?" They laughed. I then noticed the 2nd poster which is a safety poster about wearing the right protective gear when doing electrical work. The guy is getting electrocuted, and, as you can see, his teeth are flying out of his mouth. I told the guys that I have learned something new. I then pointed at the poster and said "apparently, when you get electrocuted, your teeth fly out of your mouth. They laughed at that quite a bit. I then took 3 of them ashore to Tanger.

I spoke at the lunch of the Screven Baptist church pastors. A couple of them are looking at their schedules to see if t...
09/09/2026

I spoke at the lunch of the Screven Baptist church pastors. A couple of them are looking at their schedules to see if they can go aboard a ship with me in the next couple of weeks. I then visited 2 ships with crew from India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Romania, Pakistan, Philippines, & Bangladesh. I spoke a bit with the superintendent on the 2ns ship. His name is Ashwan, and he is from "the very center of India." He has been working at sea for 20 years, and he can work as either the superintendent or as a ship's captain. He is Hindu, but he spent some time looking at a Life Book Gospel of John (see pic). He didn't take it with him, but perhaps his curiosity will get the better of him.

09/08/2026

Happy Labor Day to all. I will be meeting with a group of Screven Baptist Association church pastors tomorrow. Please be praying for God's will to be done.

09/05/2026

There was 1 ship with an all-American crew. I hoped to meet Chris and Colin again, but they weren't there. I spoke a bit with the cook and messman, but we didn't get into anything spiritual.

09/04/2026

I'm now back from our 2nd pastor search committee meeting. I visited 2 ships with crew from Philippines, India, & South Korea. Their departure times had both moved up such that they were not able to go ashore even though I got there at their lunch time. I then moved some stuff around at the office. I will be speaking at a meeting of the Screven Baptist Association's pastors on Tuesday.

09/03/2026

There were no ships today, so I read the pastor search committee handbook we're using to guide our search at my church. Our second committee meeting will be tomorrow evening. I also got a little ahead on the quarterly report.

I visited 2 ships before taking the 2 pastors to visit 2 more ships. The first 2 had crew from Philippines, Indonesia, ...
09/02/2026

I visited 2 ships before taking the 2 pastors to visit 2 more ships. The first 2 had crew from Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Poland, Ukraine, Vietnam, & the USA. On the 1st of those I met Pedro, the Venzuelan captain and Sun Michael, the Filipino cook. Pedro has been at sea for over 30 years. He was interested in the Bible study materials and asked if I had anything in Spanish. I said it was all in English, but that I have a Spanish Bible on the cd. He took it with him to copy to his computer before bringing it back. Sun Michael has been at sea for 9 years. He is married with 2 children aged 13 and 10. I said he realized he needed more money to raise 2 kids, and he agreed. He looked through the Bible study materials and picked out an Explore the Bible book on Mark (you can see him reading it in the pic). The 2nd ship was newly-arrived, so it was a quick visit. I went back to Highland Park to meet the 2 pastors. We went to the NCT where there were 2 ships. The first had crew from Philippines & Ukraine. It was about to sail, so we just gave them the materials and headed to the 2nd ship. That ship had crew from Croatia, Montenegro, Philippines, Indonesia, & Italy. We met a few of the Filipino crew including the bosun with whom we chatted a bit. They seemed to enjoy the visit, and the crew thanked us several times for visiting on our way out.

09/01/2026

I visited 4 ships with crew from Philippines, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Kenya, Germany, & Ethiopia. As I was walking down the dock structure to get to the 2nd ship, I saw 3 Filipinos coming off the ship to go ashore. I dropped off the materials at the ship and took them to Tanger. On the 4th ship I got into a conversation with the Ethiopian electrician, Abiyu, and the Ukrainian electrical cadet, Vasily. We talked about the languages of Ethiopia, the similarities of the Ukrainian and Russian languages, and the differences between the various versions of English in the world. Abiyu said that this is the only port out of the 4 they regularly hit in the US where seafarers ministry reps actually come aboard the ship. Tomorrow I'll be taking 2 pastors from a local church aboard a Panamanian-flagged ship. We haven't see the ship in almost 8 years, so it will likely be a surprise as to what nationalities are aboard.

08/31/2026

That ship that kept getting delayed finally came in today. It might still be there in the morning. We'll see.

08/29/2026

The 1 ship that was supposed to come in this morning got delayed. It got delayed again, and again. It's now not due into port until tomorrow afternoon, if then (they have it noted the way they do when they have no idea if it's a real time or not). I have been working on paper work, and I'm now up to date.

Address

P. O. Box 71486
North Charleston, SC
29415

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 8pm
Tuesday 10am - 8pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 10am - 8pm

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