{"id":24402,"date":"2017-03-14T09:30:36","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/?p=24402"},"modified":"2020-06-18T14:28:41","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T18:28:41","slug":"bread-found-a-seafarer-finds-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/storiesoffaith\/2017\/03\/14\/bread-found-a-seafarer-finds-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Bread Found: A Seafarer Finds Life – Lighthouse Harbour Ministries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submitted by Lighthouse Harbour Ministries<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.\u201d<\/em> (Ecc. 11:1)<\/p>\n

Lighthouse Harbour Ministries\u2019<\/em> workers cast lots and lots of bread upon waters.\u00a0 But, it is not the rye, multi-grain or even sourdough variety that is distributed freely by the Ministry.\u00a0 No, instead, it is a supernatural brand:\u00a0 \u201cbread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die\u201d (John 6:50); the type that Jesus spoke about.<\/p>\n

LHM was established in 1981 to minister God\u2019s wonderful Good News of Jesus to seafarers (the gender neutral term for sailors) who work aboard cargo ships that sail to the Port of Vancouver and vicinity.\u00a0 Since its inception, thousands and thousands of seafarers have heard about Jesus through one-to-one encounters with LHM volunteers and staff who, almost daily, board ships or serve at one of the Mission\u2019s two Lower Mainland seafarers centres.<\/p>\n

Those familiar with Lighthouse see the Mission\u2019s outreach as a real \u201coverseas\u201d mission.\u00a0 That is, the seafarers travel overseas<\/em> to reach the missionaries right here in Vancouver!\u00a0 Indeed the world is coming to Vancouver on a daily basis.\u00a0 Annually, over 3,000 ships sail to the port of Vancouver.\u00a0 The majority of these vessels have about twenty seafarers aboard who come from nations such as: Philippines, India, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Turkey, Indonesia, Russia and Ukraine.\u00a0 In fact, seafarers from more than 120 different nationalities have visited the Lighthouse centres over the past 35 years.<\/p>\n

Remaining in contact with crew members after their ships sail from Vancouver is a difficult task.\u00a0 Most of them are not heard from a second time because, even in our digital age, internet connections are not readily available to many seafarers aboard their ships and\/or the seafarers may not visit shore for months at a time.\u00a0 However, on occasion, contact is re-established; sometimes after decades have gone by.\u00a0 In the past year, the Mission received a letter (see following) from a Filipino seafarer who was contacted by a Lighthouse worker about twenty-five years ago!\u00a0 Through that contact the seafarer received a Lighthouse New Testament which the Lord then used to transform the seafarer\u2019s life.\u00a0 In fact, the seafarer left sea-life and is now involved as a Pastor in a fruitful local Church in the Philippines.\u00a0 The contents of the letter is reproduced here:<\/p>\n

From: Missionary Pastor Benedicto – Saving Grace Gospel Ministries<\/p>\n

Good Day Sirs,<\/em><\/p>\n

Peace and grace be unto you from our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just sending to your office my thanks and appreciation to Lighthouse Seamens Centre Vancouver.\u00a0 It was two decades ago I am a Seaman Officer which many times calling at Port Vancouver with my previous Marine Vessels.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor Benny as a seafarer<\/p><\/div>\n

Way back in 1991 during our discharging and loading at Vancouver, somebody visited our ship and\u00a0gave us a New Testament Bible and other tracts, Through frequent reading\u00a0the word of God, I was saved and accept Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I become a member of Baptist Christian Church in the Philippines. But it is not easy to be a Christian, I met an accident in our ship that would force me to retired earlier. (year 2002).<\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor Benny in ministry<\/p><\/div>\n

At first, I did not realized that God is calling me to be a Missionary Pastor. I spent 5 years in Bible School.(BS Theology) By the Grace of God, presently I’m working as Missionary Pastor in the province of Cavite, Philippines.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last time, I found my treasure, your given NT Bible on me with your address, that’s why I’m sending you this kind of letter to express my gratitude for your priceless missions to every Seafarers. For God’s glory you’ve\u00a0accomplished to obey Christ’s Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20, Mark 16:15)<\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor Benny<\/p><\/div>\n

In behalf of our church we will always pray your ministries for the seamen. If God’s willing, I will visit your office in Vancouver to help you as Missionary to every ship calling at Vancouver.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Lastly, Many thanks again, and GOD BLESS to all.<\/em><\/p>\n

Christ’s servant, Pastor Benny<\/em><\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

The bread<\/em> that was cast brought life and news of this returned via email!\u00a0 Praise the Lord.<\/p>\n

Lighthouse Harbour Ministries \u2013 www.sealight.org<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"This charity has been certified by the Canadian Council of Christian Charities. Charities that display our Seal of Accountability demonstrate ongoing compliance with high standards of financial and organizational integrity. To find out more about this charity or other Certified charities, visit <\/strong>giveconfidently.ca<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by Lighthouse Harbour Ministries \u201cCast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.\u201d (Ecc. 11:1) Lighthouse Harbour Ministries\u2019 workers cast lots and lots of bread upon waters.\u00a0 But, it is not the rye, multi-grain or even sourdough variety that is distributed freely by… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":24405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ts_fic_featured_image_caption":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[240,148],"series":[],"class_list":["post-24402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charities","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24402"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=24402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}