A new ministry takes a chapter from mission history and brings it to life. Back in 1896, renowned missionary Dr. David Livingstone launched a boat called Good News on Lake Tanganyika in Zambia. His steamboat took the gospel to shoreline villages until an epidemic of tsetse fever broke out in the region in 1908. Now in 2011, a new boat, Good News II has been launched to further that vision. The new version, referred to by team members as a life boat, will be bringing life to those same shoreline villages, this time in a motor boat.

Good News II began as a discarded hull found in a bay. OM team member Peter Syfert learned the boat used to belong to a president of Zambia. Though the boat was stripped and rusted after 20 years on a beach, the hull was fine. The team had been praying since 2000 for a boat ministry, and now the Lord was providing both the boat and the finances. So the hull was purchased. Its restoration took three years and required the skills of craftsmen from Australia, South Africa, and the U.S.

Finally, after 11 years of prayer (or maybe 103) the boat ministry of Lake Tanganyika has returned, this time to take medicine and healing to isolated people groups.

"This cruiser belongs to Jesus," says Peter. "He built it for Himself and He will maintain it for Himself until His task for it is completed, extending to all the countries surrounding Lake Tanganyika. We thank God for what He has done in this ministry and the team of people that He has brought together to serve and give the task of bearing fruit as disciples, so that our Father can be glorified."

Please pray for Good News II and the people its crew will reach. Praise God for His provision and ask for His continued guidance for this team.