Florence, South Carolina businessman Jahn Hultgren (Hultgren Tree Service) served onboard Logos II as a project worker on her last Caribbean tour, and he and his wife Colleen worked onboard Logos Hope as part of a short-term missions group in Ireland several months ago.

Jahn says that both times, he was touched at the overwhelming favor the "Book Ships" have with local residents in the ports they visit, a reflection of God's hand upon the amazing ministry of OM Ships.

Jahn Hultgren was born to a farming family in South Dakota and, along with his large extended family, attended the local Union Creek Lutheran Church. Just after he graduated from high school, Jahn made a commitment to Christ, and found with his new faith a heart-felt desire to share Christ with others – a desire that has never wavered. 

After high school Jahn attended the University of South Dakota, becoming involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. At college Jahn met and fell in love with Colleen, and the couple was married the summer following Jahn’s graduation. He graduated in 1984 with a major in Political Science. 

After sending a resume to Inter-Cristo, a computerized Christian job service, The Florence Wesleyan School in Florence, South Carolina offered him a teaching position in their Christian school, which he accepted. Jahn and Colleen left the family farm in South Dakota with all their possessions in a Plymouth Duster and small trailer made from a pickup truck bed. They moved 1,400 miles by faith, without knowing anything about the school or town they were moving to. Jahn imagined that they would be living in the Appalachian Mountains. Imagine his surprise when he saw first-hand that Florence is as flat as a pancake in the coastal plains, and that the high school was held in a double-wide mobile home!

The Hultgrens planned to stay for nine months and then return to their family in South Dakota. Although the school closed after teaching there one year, the couple liked the community and established roots in Florence due to their involvement with the believers there. Twenty-five years later, they believe that they are living in Florence by God’s appointment according to Acts 17:26 :  “…he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live…” They have one daughter, Amber, 23 years old. Colleen works as a nurse at the McLeod Hospice House.

From 1985 to 1987 Jahn was the lead singer for a Christian rock band, Fortress, a ministry of Cross Ministries, and became an active participant in the group’s prison ministry. In 1989 the couple began attending the Church at Sandhurst, where one-third of the budget is dedicated every year for missions and sharing the Gospel throughout the world.

After a year of teaching in the Christian school, Jahn enrolled at Francis Marion University and earned a Master’s degree in Education. He taught school for a total of six years, including four years at The King’s Academy and a year at West Florence High School. He also started Hultgren Tree Service in 1986. Their tree trucks can now be seen all over the city, where his crews specialize in hazardous tree removal, aesthetic pruning and tree preservation. After major storms such as hurricanes, Jahn and his crew may be called upon to travel as far as Florida to assist with clean-up operations. 

Despite the fact that he is not serving in full-time missions, the call to share his faith and to world missions is always on Jahn’s mind and heart. Over the years he has participated in a variety of short-term mission trips, doing construction work in Belize, Bolivia and Peru, and outreach in other countries including St. Petersburg, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine. Jahn has also defended the accuracy of the Bible in front of a crowd of skeptics at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London.

His favorite thing to do on mission trips has been teaching English as a second language, which opens a door to the power of the meaning of words within a relationship with students.  Back here at home, Jahn has taken groups of non-believing Russian scientists working in a local pharmaceutical plant on boating trips where he has had the opportunity to discuss his faith and answer their questions about what he believes and why. He remains active as a Hospice House volunteer and Bible teacher at the House of Hope homeless shelter for men.

Jahn first learned about George Verwer and Operation Mobilization in the 1970’s. When he heard that OM Ships was opening a Florence office, he was immediately intrigued and amazed. After meeting Hans van Baaren, Myles Toews, Harald Smit and others, he determined to visit one or more of the OM Ships, to serve onboard in whatever capacity he could.

And so he did. In 2008, at the invitation of OM Ships marine engineer Harald Smit, Jahn took time off from work to travel alone to Barbados to work onboard Logos II. The ship being on her final Caribbean voyage with a scaled-down crew, Jahn found himself assigned to a variety of chores, from cleaning the septic system to handing out gospel tracts and flyers on the streets of Barbados.

While doing that, Jahn also gave away coins displaying the Ten Commandments. One man named Fabian took a coin, took the time to read it, and then simply said, “I need to repent.” Jahn had the privilege of leading Fabian to the Lord that day, a highlight of his time in Barbados.

Early in 2009 Jahn and Colleen began praying about a short-term missions trip with OM Ships. In June they joined Greg and Cathy Buffkin, and Gary and Karen Nelson (also of Florence) and flew to Cork, Ireland to work onboard Logos Hope during its visit to Ireland. The couples worked in the book hold, sorting and pricing books for sale in the Book Fair. Jahn also parked cars in the quayside parking lot for a shift over two days, talking with people leaving the ship after their visit.

One afternoon Jahn and Colleen met an older couple at a local pub in downtown Cork. The couple had met on the internet and were there on a date. Jahn gave them a flyer about Logos Hope and invited them to visit the ship. While parking cars the next day, Jahn spied the couple – they had come looking for the new friends they had met at the pub the night before. Had Jahn been at work down in the book hold, they would have missed each other!

Working in the International Café on the Visitor Experience deck another day, Jahn met Brian, a new Christian. As they talked, Jahn mentioned that he and Colleen planned to stay in Cork a few days after Logos Hope left port. To Jahn’s amazement, Brian pulled a key out of his pocket and offered him the use of a house there in Cork, free of charge. Brian explained that although he rented the house, no-one lived in it; it was used only for a Bible study. He had been sitting in the International Café praying, “God, send me someone I can give this key to,” and God sent him Jahn Hultgren. Jahn and Colleen gratefully accepted this generous gift.

Jahn believes that his life is a testimony to the power of God’s Word to change the human heart. He considers it a privilege to play a part in reaching the world for Christ. He would rather be known as someone who Christ has saved than as a businessman or teacher.

What will be next for Jahn Hultgren? He would like to visit Asia later this year, perhaps on board Doulos, perhaps on land. Wherever it is, he will be sharing his faith, his skills and his talents to help build the kingdom.