A two-inch stack of $5 international phone cards are always somewhere near Everett Tumblin. He passes them out like peppermint candies.

Tumblin is director of the Seafarer’s Ministry at the Georgia Ports Authority in Savannah. The phone cards – which he sells for his cost of $5 – are his ticket to conversations with men who arrive on ships from just about every port in the world.

Offering a $5 phone card also allows Tumblin to invite the men to the ministry house where there are phones and Internet available at no cost.

Many of them take him up on the offer. At the ministry house, located on the Ports Authority property, the men find not only ways to connect to family members a continent or two away, but also a way to connect to Jesus Christ.

Evangelistic tracts, Bible study, and volunteers ready to share God’s love are all part of the ministry. One entire wall is covered by boxes of tracts in languages for people from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, and dozens more.

The most common country represented is Philippines.

“About one out of every three ships have people from the Philippines,” Tumblin says. “I converse the best I can, but I don’t understand everything.”

But Tumblin does understand one important opportunity.

“They spend a lot of time on the blue water. It’s so important to get off the ship and go somewhere,” he says.

So he offers rides to and from Oglethorpe Mall and the Super Wal-Mart. It’s not uncommon for him to put 1,000 miles on his 15-passenger van transporting seafarers to and from the shopping trips.

“My wife says I’m just a glorified taxi driver,” he jokes. “But that’s when I get to share with them – up and down the roads.”

The Seafarer’s Ministry in Savannah has been around for more than 20 years. But in the last decade the ministry has taken an extreme change. Ten years ago a ship came into the port and stayed four or five days while it was unloaded and then reloaded with new cargo. But today, with new technology making the process much more efficient, ships dock for hours, not days.

“This is a container port,” Tumblin says. “The ships come in, unload and reload, and are back out in 14 to 18 hours. Sometimes it’s even less. We attempt to meet every ship, but we don’t always get to. Some of them come in late at night, so we meet them in the early morning. Then they’re gone by lunch time.” Homeland Security’s tighter restrictions since the Sept. 11 tragedy have also changed the face of the ministry. Before Sept. 11, the seamen were allowed off the ships and were free to go into town. Today, many are required to have passports. If they don’t have the proper paperwork, they can only stay on the Ports Authority property.

Even then, Tumblin and his band of volunteers are waiting at the docks to greet them.

“These seafarers traverse the globe, making ports-of-call in many nations. In the brief time they are here many seek spiritual truth, love, and friendship. That’s why we are there,” Tumblin says.

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Ditty Bags

Donated ditty bags are given to seamen through the Seafarer’s Ministry in Savannah.

“The bags have practical items they can use and it’s also a good witnessing tool. We often give them to seamen who aren’t allowed off the ship,” says Everett Tumblin, director of the ministry.

Tumblin welcomes donated bags from churches and mission groups across the state. He always adds evangelistic tracts in the men’s home language.

To make a bag, include the following items in a one-gallon plastic zipper bag:
Toothbrush Toothpaste Shaving cream
Deodorant Razor Pens and paper

 

For information on delivering the bags, call Joy Tumblin at (912) 353-8332.

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Did you know?

The Seafarer’s Ministry, a ministry of the Savannah Baptist Association, is supported through your gifts to the Cooperative Program through the North American Mission Board and

Georgia Baptist Convention. It is just one way your Cooperative Program gifts touch the world.

 

You and your church may send your Cooperative Program gifts to:
Dr. J. Robert White, Executive Director, GBC
6405 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, GA 30097