Dan & Kathy

In 2014, a partnership was formed between Mid-Atlantic Christian University and Maritime Ministries: Maritime Ministries gained an operating base, and MACU gained a missions organization operating from its campus. Elizabeth City is well known as the “Harbor of Hospitality,” strategically located on the Dismal Swamp Canal section of the Intra Coastal Waterway. Each spring and fall, hundreds of boaters transit this section of the waterway, stopping in Elizabeth City where Dan and Kathy, supported by our Elizabeth City-based team members, meet cruisers’ needs with simple things like free dockage at the campus docks, a trip to the grocery store, marine hardware, or laundromat and oftentimes a warm shower.

Dan and Kathy regularly travel on their trawler “Waymaker” to local ports and river-front communities in the coastal waters of NC and VA, building friendships, serving people, and sharing Christ. The Smiths also serve local churches and MACU by facilitating mission trips and discipleship sails aboard Maritime Ministries vessels. Dan is leading the mission’s development of our outreach to the Port of Virginia.