The US military is tracking a 58-foot yacht, which Somali pirates reportedly hijacked three days ago, whose owners have spent the better part of a decade sailing the world on a mission to distribute Bibles.
The Quest, launched in December 2001 under the command of Scott and Jean Adam, had just sailed west from Mumbai, India with an ocean-borne support community called the Blue Water Rally before they broke off early last week en route to Salalah, Oman. Another couple participating in the Rally, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, were also aboard for that leg of the trip.
The Adams have spent the past nine years distributing copies of Scripture, including both “Catholic Bibles” from the American Bible Society and NIV Bibles from the International Bible Society, to spots across the world as far-flung as New Zealand, El Salvador, the Cook Islands, British Columbia, and Fiji.
“We seek fertile ground for the Word and homes for our Bibles,” the Adams wrote on their website. “Often, the ultimate homes are best found by people who are already living locally and seeking and cultivating that fertile ground. AND even more extraordinary are the times when people have been praying for Bibles for their group or their schools and when we arrive we are often greeted by the attitude of, ‘We were expecting you.'”
Scott Adam is a Master of Divinity graduate from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He also received a Master of Theology from the school in 2010, says Fred Messick, Fuller’s Associate Vice President of Public Affairs.
“The Fuller community is urgently praying for Scott and his wife and their friends, and we obviously encourage others to keep them in their thoughts and prayers,” Messick told Christianity Today.
Reports from Somali officials suggest that the yacht is now headed toward Puntland, a well-known pirate haven. The US military is monitoring the situation and is prepared to intercept the ship before it makes landfall—at which time, prospects for a simple resolution would grow much smaller.
