A new ship has been purchased for Operation Mobilization outreach

By April 2, 2004

International (MNN/OM) — Operation Mobilization , an international Christian mission agency known for its innovative ship ministry, purchased the Norrona I on March 29. This vessel will be refitted for service and launched in 2005 as the OM ship LOGOS HOPE.

Bernd Guelker, Director of OM’s ship ministry, explained: “Hundreds of thousands of Christians in more than 85 nations have been praying for the purchase of OM’s new ship. On Monday, March 29, at 5:15 p.m., after prayer at our office in Germany, a memorandum of agreement was signed for the purchase of Norrona I for 3.6 million Euros [$4.43 million in today’s currency]. The Norrona I will become the LOGOS HOPE!”

The Norrona I is presently in Copenhagen, Denmark. For the past 20 years, the 12,000-ton ferry has sailed between the Faroe Islands and Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Shetland Islands.

After the signing, the Director of the LOGOS HOPE Project, Lloyd Nicholas, from Australia, said, “This is the culmination of two years’ planning for the replacement of our present ship LOGOS II. With more than one million visitors every year to OM’s ships, the vessel has simply outlived her ability to meet the increasing needs and opportunities we face every day in ports around the world. LOGOS HOPE, a much bigger ship, will allow us to do so much more.”

Onboard seminars on topics such as HIV/AIDS, as well as teams visiting schools, prisons and orphanages, are some of the many activities in the different ports the ships visit. Daily, thousands of people line up to visit the book shops onboard the ships.

OM plans to launch LOGOS HOPE in 2005. Significant renovation and refitting to equip her for her new role will take place in a shipyard over the coming months. Conference facilities for 500 people will be equipped with specially designed sound, lighting and projection systems. The newly designed indoor book fair will be the largest floating bookshop in the world. Quality cabins will be fitted for 350 crew and 150 guests. Air-conditioning, telephone, fire alarm and sprinkler systems will be fitted or upgraded.

Since launching the LOGOS in 1970, more than 33 million people have visited OM’s ships in over 140 nations. The ship ministry is one feature of OM’s international mission work in 110 countries. OM has nearly 3,700 workers from 89 nations, with more than 50% being from non-Western countries. The USA office is in the Atlanta area.

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