As the five ports at Barbours Cut, Beaumont, Galveston, Houston, Port Arthur, and soon Bayport keep increasing in size and the number of ships and tonnage, the needs of their seafarer’s also increases. The International Seafarer’s ministry is a cooperative, inter-denominational Christian ministry. The ministry serves and aids more than 200,000 men and women annually – not in some foreign land, but right here in the Presbytery of New Covenant.
Our chaplains minister to these men and women aboard ships in port and at our Seafarers’ Centers. They are a welcoming and guiding hand that provides comfort and friendship in the lives of so many men and women.
During the Christmas season, the International Seafarers’ Ministry spreads the grace of hospitality and caring in the guise of colorfully wrapped cardboard boxes. These boxes are part of the Seafarer’s Christmas Box project. Each box is filled with practical gifts – socks, soap, shoelaces, razors, toothpaste, and the like; as well as the whimsical – miniature puzzles, games, greeting cards…
In 2003, congregations donated more than 10,600 boxes – worth an estimated quarter of a million dollars; all with an administrative cost of only $250. The Rev. Ben Stewart, one of New Covenant’s Seafarers’ Chaplains, encourages all of our congregations to participate! The project continues as long as there are boxes to deliver.
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| Chaplains David Wells and Ben Stewart load up Christmas gift boxes for delivery to ships in port. |
"We’ll deliver as many boxes as you can send," says Rev. Stewart.
For more information, contact the Howard T. Tellepsen Seafarer’s Center at 713.672.0511.
