Morning Star
Morning Star Santa Cruz is an incredible vessel because of its versatility. It can host up to 16 people aboard (including crew) with an interior design that creates an excellent environment for mentoring and discipleship. Due to its classic style of rig it serves as a great sail training vessel.
The Morning Star is a large enough vessel for long distance trips but intimate enough to develop relationships. Because of its medium size draft it can enter numerous small ports.
Teams share their testimonies of what Christ has done in their lives with people throughout the islands according to their giftings. Distribution of evangelistic literature and New Testament Bibles written in modern Greek are a regular activity. The crews are greatly encouraged as they feel God working in and through them and many people have given their hearts to the Lord.
Evangelism and discipleship weekends take place during the winter season. During the summer, longer trips for evangelism are scheduled to the islands with different groups onboard. We also plan training weekends to attract youth and better equip them for service with Morning Star. One of our favorite events of the year is our annual Chritmas Boat celebration which allows us to celebrate the birth of Christ alongside the boardwalk at Halkida, Greece.
Vessel Stats
Year: 1976
L.O.A.: 65ft (19.8m)
Beam: 15ft (4.5m)
Draught: 6,3ft (1.9m)
Engine: Ford Sabre 135hp
Hull Material: Steel
Rig: Bermudan Schooner
History
The Morning Star has been used as a unique platform for discipleship and a floating pulpit for evangelism for four decades. This beautiful, steel-hulled schooner was originally built with the express intent and purpose of taking the gospel to the far-flung islands of the Pacific. For ten years, the Morning Star was used by Global Youth Evangelism to bring the gospel and aid to many islands in the South Pacific, Central America and as far as Hawaii.
Then, in July 1985, the Morning Star was graciously leased to Hellenic Ministries by Global Youth Evangelism under the leadership of brother Earl Meginson. Her new assignment would be the fulfillment of a vision to use a boat to reach out to the islands and coastline of Greece. The yacht was sailed from San Diego through the Panama Canal and up the East Coast where she underwent an overhaul, equipping her to meet the needs of ministry in Greece. With another brave crew she set sail across the Atlantic, arriving in Greece in August 1987. Since then the Morning Star has been fulfilling the vision of taking the gospel to the islands of Greece and beyond.
Click here to download the rest of the story.
Dawn Passage
Skipper Kenneth Overman, who sailed the Morning Star from the United States to Greece, tells another epic story of the schooner’s North Atlantic crossing in his book Dawn Passage.
Together we can
Multiply the impact
Your gift to Broad Reach Maritime helps expand the kingdom of God on the islands of Greece through the proclamation of the gospel and the discipleship and encouragement of believers.