Hospital Ship

The Ship of Compassion was dedicated in San Pedro, California several decades ago. This was the beginning of a great missionary effort to reach hurting people in need of medical care and to share the love of Jesus with them.

The crowds started gathering early for this great day. The wife of the famous boxer Joe Louis spoke at the dedication. She expressed how happy she was about Saint Matthew’s Churches’ outreach of compassion to help people in need. One of the founders of Saint Matthew’s addressed the crowd from atop the ship as it was dockside; he spoke about how the program of compassion would be implemented. The famous singer and entertainer Lou Rawls told of how he had traveled extensively and had seen the sickness and poverty throughout the world. He expressed that he was going to help support Saint Matthew’s in their outreach with the Ship of Compassion. The ship was christened with a bottle of blessed water flown in from the Jordan River where Jesus Christ was baptized.

Saint Matthew’s Churches launched the dream of having a big, free, floating hospital ship to provide health and dental care for the poor, sick and dying without hesitation because the need was great. The vision came true when the first voyage into a foreign country proceeded. The country of Honduras was chosen because there were so many people in need. That voyage was a great success as doctors and dentists volunteered their services to the poor people, free of charge. We were blessed to be able to treat thousands of poor, sick, and dying people. God blessed our efforts in so many ways that we believe it touched the lives of generations to come. We not only provided much needed medical care, but we also shared the glorious life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.