Week 6 in Ocean City!

Well,  I want to let you know that I am finally getting to this post.  It took a few weeks to get back to normal after 6 weeks of Mission Possible.  It was an amazing summer and I am excited to share with you some of the great things that took place in Ocean City.  I have been home for two weeks and it has really been good to be back with my family after a long summer that was full of awesome ministry.  God truly blessed me this summer with a great team of teens that I was able to lead with the assistance of a great co-leader, Pamela Merritt.  Now as I share these pictures and complete this blog I also get to remember the great week of ministry we had in Ocean City!  I also want to thank Rebecca Williams for the use of her condo for the week which was a great blessing for the week.

Cameron preaching on the boardwalk

"Mission Possible was a very blessed experience.  I cannot believe how blessed I am to have experienced it.  God has taught me so much, whether it was how to share the gospel and defend my faith, or just how to love my fellow believer.  I was blessed to have gone with the group that God placed on the team."

      Christian Conway

Jonathan preaching to many that stopped to listen

"Mission Possible was a wonderful experience for me and I am sure for many of my teammates.  There may have been a couple of bumps in the road but all together it just made us family.  It is amazing to see how God works in all shapes and sizes and how he stays true no matter what.  I want to personally thank my leaders for sacrificing their summer to disciple us and help us grow in Christ.  Sharing the gospel with others really was not my strong suit, but during MP I learned some valuable things on sharing and defending my faith.  Overall, this was a great summer and I recommend it to anyone who wants to grow in faith, share the gospel, and grow closer with others on the team."

     Jonathan Kraus

Katie in a conversation after a message

This was one of the first conversations that Katie had on the boardwalk.  I remember as I look at this picture the excitement that Katie had after this conversation.  I was standing near by and she was able to go through the gospel with these girls and their need for a savior because of the sin in their lives.  She went through some of the 10 commandments and the girls realized that they had broken God's law.  It was truly a blessing to see this conversation take place and after this Katie was much quicker to get into conversations right after the messages were preached.  In fact, I would say this was one of the things that God used to give Katie the confidence in Him to want to share an adult message on the boardwalk.  She shared the message "If Only" later in the week and the picture is below.

" When I began working along with Zane as a leader of this year's Mission Possible 1 team I was a little unsure of what the days would bring; yet God brought precious gifts into my life each day in the form of 8 wonderful teens.  From my first day with the group I was amazed at their personal relationships with God and their individual drives to learn more about Him.  I was blessed to witness their growth day by day in their conversations about and applications of the Word as they engaged with each other and those they sought to minister to.  As the weeks progressed, watching these young ladies and gentleman invite fellow teens and adults into conversations about God and in some cases sharing the gospel with others was priceless.  Another experience that has stayed in my mind was working along side there young people as they selflessly worked to help Hurrricane Sandy victims continue to get back on their feet, returning to some sense of normal existence.  The work was not glamorous, in short is was really hard work.  There was no earthly audience and there was no one to give accolades, but the teens showed God's love to those who knew and did not know Christ as their Savior without bias and full of passion to bless the home owners.  The work was heavy  and exhausting; yet, when the team left the men and women knew they were respected and loved and most importantly they experienced the grace of God through the selfless service of these young ladies and gentlemen.   

There was  so much more to share; yet in short I wish to say I was honored to spend time with these wonderful teens.  They were blessed and were a blessing to all they met.  I know they blessed me.  I cannot wait to see them continue to grow in their relationship with the Lord and in their various ministry aspirations.  I am thankful to God for the experience.  I love this precious team."

Pamela Merritt

                                           Pam on the patio for video clip (MP 1 video coming soon)

Mission Possible is where God uses those who love Him to plant seeds in the lives of people who need it.  I enjoyed it because God was taking teenagers and giving them them the power of evangelism.

Max Keen

Max preaching at sand sculptures

There were three boys that took the opportunity to preach in front of the sand sculptures on the last night we were at Ocean City.  This really touched my heart because it shows a true love for the gospel and a boldness that only comes from the Holy Spirit working through them.  The reason this is type of preaching takes a boldness is because you are dependent on God to give you the words as you speak.  Praise God for the three young men who stepped out in obedience to share the gospel this night.

Another of the teeens preaching in front of the sketchboard to a large crowd that had gathered.  This is a reason why preaching at Ocean City is such a blessing.  We are able to share the gospel to groups like this multiple times per night and it is possible to share the gospel with over a thousand people during a week of ministry in Ocean City.

So, I want to thank each of you who supported the Mission Possible team as this will be the last blog post for MP2016.  Without your prayers and support the ministry would not have been able to occur.  I do have plans on putting together a Mission Possible 2016 summer video and please pray I am able to get this done in a timely manner.  Our team will be given our report out to the church on September the 18th and I hope to see you at Forcey that Sunday.  You will have an opportunity to sit with the team after service at a fellowship  lunch and hear stories and experiences from the teens.  God bless one and all!

Week 4/Week 5 Staten Island, NY and Western PA

This blog post will be a mega blog post.  I was unable to complete the blog last week because I did not have a wifi connection.  So now this week as I sit in Maryland with a wifi connection I am going to complete the last two weeks and instead of posting to times I am going to make it a mega post.

As we left two weeks ago to head to Staten Island, New York I really had no idea what was in store as we headed to work with Reach Global.  First of all before I forget to mention our transportation was provided by the Keen family.  Scott and Amy Keen allowed us to borrow the Keenmobile, as it was affectionately referred too.  Translation, there van.  So we drove to Staten Island, New York and had a great three days of working on houses that had been destroyed and damaged due to Hurricane Sandy.
Below are a few pictures of the work that we did during our time with Reach Global.

Driving to the job site of Day one.

We arrived at the job site ready to work.

A ladder by the shed that we helped construct.

Jonathan tying his shoe

Kathryn mudding the walls

Measuring Garrett apparently?

Taking a photo opportunity

Cameron in the basement cleaning

Preparing to move a tree

The team at the second work site

Walking through Central Park witnessing as we walked on Friday

waiting for Rob at the dumpster.

The group was split into two different locations while at Staten Island and some of the pictures are of the second group.   I do not know exactly what each of those pictures are of because I was not at that location but, I will do my best to comment and give you a good idea what the teens where doing at the second work site.

Cleaning out a basement of George's house

Christian holding old boards.

Lunchtime or breaktime

Moving the tree!

 Max in the basement

On Thursday in Staten Island we had an opportunity to go and help a church on the North side of the Island with there VBS program.  It was nice to get to get the Sketchboard out and paint again on paper instead of on trim.  Athough, God used the labor we did to teach me about the other gifts that can be used in service to the Lord.

   

           
                                                                                                                                                               

 

                                                                                                  Preaching a message to the children at the VBS

                         

                                                                                      The team after our dinner with the families we served! 

Week 4 was a great experience to have and we learned a lot about reaching people that are effected by a disaster.

Week 5 in Pennsylvania was great!
We started out the week with a kids club which turned out to be great by the third day.  God brought more children out to the third and last day of the club than I had ever had in this location at Willowbrook Trailer park.  Then we went to Pittsburgh on Thursday and State College on Friday for adult one to one ministry and blacklight ministry.

Sarah painting the hangman puzzle 

Katie and Kathryn doing there skit. 

The puppets and there skit.  The kids loved the puppets 

The kids waiting for snack 

A group picture of all the attendees with the teens. 

Counseling on the streets of Pittsburgh

Sarah painting up the hangman puzzle for the kids club.

More counseling in State College

Cameron preparing his sketch 

preaching in Pittsburgh 

 Skit at Kids club

Skit at Kids club 

Now as we prepare to go to Ocean City I am praying that the experience and practice of the last 5 weeks will really come together and that the gospel will be shared clearly and many will turn from sin and trust in Christ.  We have some of the biggest and best crowds of the summer in Ocean City so please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Week Three of Mission Possible

As I sit and type this blog for week three I am excited to share with you some of the twist and turns and aches and breaks that we experiences throughout this week.  It was challenging in many ways but also very rewarding in many ways.  So here we go...

As we started this week it was great to be able to celebrate our nation's independence by expressing  to others the freedom they can have from sin while we were in our nation's capital during an event called "Freedom Fest".  I have attended this event almost every year for the past 6 years and it has always been a great event to be participate in.  This year I was asked to share a message from the sketchboard in front of the main stage which was great.  Although, the attendance to the event was down due to the weather, many still heard the gospel being proclaimed as they walked by our tent.

Preaching at Freedom Fest in Washington D.C.

A team "selfie" outside of a museum after dinner.

Max doing the "Three ropes gospel illusion" on Day 1 of the kids club in Baltimore.

Mike Maslin to the rescue.  Our van broke down on the way back from Perkins Homes on Tuesday and Mike drove another van out to pick us up from the side of the road on Rte 95.  Praise God for cell phones and  for keeping us safe while waiting!

Garrett teaching the children a the memory verse while playing "hangman".

Sarah sharing the message of Day 2 of our club.  She did a great job!

Jonathan and Christian teaching some of the boys how to play frisbee. By the end of the week the boys really enjoyed playing frisbee. This was a great way to build relations with the kids.

We ate our lunch at Federal Hill Park and then did our daily group devotionals outside under a tree.  The weather this week was great for outdoor ministry.

Cameron did a great job with the message on Day 3 teaching the kids about how "Death came to All."

Jonathan preaching during lunchtime at Lexington Market and this older gentleman stopped to listen to the message.

Kathryn did a great job with her message to conclude the club on Friday.

We had flavored ice on last day and the kids love it as a treat to cool down.

Playing with the girls after club with sidewalk chalk.

It was great to see how the teens bonded with these children after just 4 days.  Katie showing the love of Christ to these two girls.

This is  a precious picture of reaching out with loving hands.

A few of the boys talking to a man and his daughter after a message at Inner Harbor.
Thank you for your continued prayers as wee will be going out of town for the next three weeks.
Next week we will be in New York, then Pennsylvania and then our last  week we will be in Ocean City.  Until our next blog have a blessed week.