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!