Week 3

Hey guys!
This week marks the end of our training and the beginning of the ministry nightly at the chapel. There's so much exciting stuff going on thank you so much for praying for us! We are growing as a staff closer to each other and the Lord daily by His grace. Today is the first day the chapel has been open during the day. It is so neat to see the types of people and situations that God brings into the chapel. Our team has been really focused on preparing for the evangelism that we'll be doing. This week we will start going out nightly to share the message of the Gospel with folks on the boardwalk and that is definitely something you could pray for us about. It is easy to lose our joy and love for the lost in the midst of all the work going on, but these things are so vital. You could also pray for our nightly programs at 8 PM and that God would use them to glorify Himself in the salvation of His people. Our God is great. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement

Here's a little bit of Scripture to meditate on:
Psalm 73

¹ Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
³ For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.^[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity^[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.^[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.

¹⁵ If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
²² I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Thank you for your prayers! Please pray for sustained strength for the staff. Love for each other and the lost. Unity and purpose. And that many would turn to Christ. Thank you all!
In Christ,
andrew

Week 1

Week 2

Greetings in Jesus' Name,
I hope you are doing well. I am so thankful to report that every aspect of the ministry here in Wildwood has been more fruitful than I could have thought. The last week has been full of growth, work, fellowship, discipleship, and fruitfulness in a way that only God can manage. The unity of the staff here has been through the roof even in this first week. The guys and girls on staff this Summer, many of whom have never laid eyes on each other, have been greatly blessed by your prayers and God's grace so much that it feels as if we've already spent a Summer ministering together. We are off to a great start.

We spent much of the week in various training seminars learning about God's sovereignty, evangelism, and discipleship in order to prepare for the coming months of labor. I can speak for myself that I have been stretched and challenged to re-think and consider the application of these vital truths. We have also spent a large portion of time in work projects on the property in which we live, maintaining, cleaning, and serving while enjoying each others company all the while. It is so neat to see and appreciate the differences and similiarities between God's people. Thank you for your prayers.

We held a program at the Chapel Saturday night and all went extremely well. God's Word went out through the mediums of songs, skits, testimony, and preaching. How important it is to remember that His Word never returns void and always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent out. Some off the staff were also able to witness to several different sets of individuals who were drawn to the Chapel. In particular, some individuals were witnessed to for at least an hour by a couple of staff members.

The individuals that the Gospel was shared with held many common objections to the Bible and Christianity. Throughout the Summer, we share the Gospel with loads of people like these who are captive to the kingdom of darkness and are virtually trusting in themselves. One particular question that the individuals raised was "Why do you Christians accept God's authority?" Blinded by sin, they had suppressed the reality that they unquestioningly accepted their own authority and were living as slaves to their own desires(as we all once were before "...the kindness and love of God our Savior towards man appeared, not through works of righteousness that we have done but according to His mercy He has saved us.") The individuals left challenged and the conversation ended well as they drifted on down the boardwalk with Gospel tracts in their hands, as well as pocket sized Gospels of John.

Thank you so much for your prayers. In order to have the awesome fellowship and community among the staff that we have already experienced, we must be pro-active in discipleship and watchful in our prayers. Satan doesn't want this. A good thing to pray for would be that all of the staff would be faithful to spend time in the pray closet and in the Word each day. Without these sustaining and spiritually healthy habits those working in the ministry will certainly be dry and joyless before too long. Pray for the lost and our love of them. Pray for the staff to be humble and servant like with each other as well as with the individuals that we minister to. Pray for the Chapel Director who labors tirelessly to facilitate and manage the Chapel. Pray for the 3 Summer Assistants who lead and minister to the staff. Pray for safety for the staff as Wildwood is not the safest area. Pray for our physical and spiritual health preservation. Your prayers are more appreciated than you know and are evident in the blessings that we have experienced.

Thank you so much. Let me know how this blog can best serve you in assisting you in understanding the work in which we are involved.

In Christ,

Andrew Gordon

Week 1
Hey!
Well the Summer has started here in Wildwood New Jersey as several other staff members and I arrived on Friday June 3rd to begin preparation for the Summer's ministry. So far about half of the staff members have arrived here and the rest are expected over the course of the next three days or so. The first two weeks of the chapel ministry are unique in that they consist of staff training and are especially formative in regards to the unity of the staff. Almost half of the staff this Summer will be new faces which is really exciting. During the staff training we learn and re-learn various topics such as boardwalk evangelism, doctrines from Scripture, apologetics, and other tools necessary for the work throughout the Summer.

Last night(Saturday night), we held our first program at the chapel at 8PM. Programs don't officially start until after the first two weeks of training, but we will be having them on Saturday nights regardless. The program consisted of 5 songs, 1 skit, 1 testimony, and 1 excellent preaching segment from Pastor Jim Zozzaro who is the pastor at Calvary OPC here on the island.

Please pray for the safe arrival of the rest of the staff and the formation of unity among us as well as the continuation of that unity throughout the Summer. Pray for boldness for us. It's easy for me to rely on myself in evangelism and ministry so pray that our boldness, strength, and motivation for the ministry be soundly rooted in the Lord. Also, pray for the staff to learn a lot during these training sessions. I will be leading some of them and I just really pray that they will be informational, but more than that, that they would be edifying and foundational for what is ahead of us.

If anyone who reads this has any questions or topics they would like me to address in the next blog update please let me know! I'm not an experienced blogger and I'd really like this to be informative and useful for you in regards to what to pray about and also about what were up to.

I love you all!
Grace and Peace in Christ,
Andrew

Less Than A Week...

Greetings!
Over the next 3 months I will be updating this blog in an effort inform family and friends and anyone interested about the ministry of the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, New Jersey(http://www.chapelopc.org/chapel.htm) For those of you that don't know or haven't heard, the BWC ministry is owned and operated by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and has been active since its being built in 1945. It has been my great joy and pleasure to take part in the ministry at the Chapel during the summers of 2009, 2010, and in the next 3 months, 2011. The Chapel exists to glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel so that people are brought to Christ and added to the church. Specific goals include:

To train 25 people in the work of evangelism

To distribute 30,000 tracts

To distribute Bibles and Christian books

To present the Gospel through personal contact to a least 2,000 people

To have our home missionaries follow-up meaningful contacts

Needless to say, the last 2 summers of sharing the Gospel through music, skits, testimonies, and personal street evangelism have been used by God to transform, stretch, and grow me in ways I really never would have imagined. I have seen people repent from their sins and turn to Christ by His grace and I have witnessed thousands listening intently to the Gospel message as it is proclaimed on the Jersey shore. At times it is a hard job, and always an impossible job unless done with and through the strength that God provides.(I Peter 4:11)

Please pray for us.

Pray that we would not tire in the work that is before us. Pray that God would provide great unity among the staff, many of us who will be meeting for the first time in the next week. Pray for sinners to turn from their sins and to the merciful Savior who's yoke is easy and burden is light indeed. Pray for the staff to be filled with a great and genuine love for the lost as individuals created in God's image. Pray for continual and sustained joy for the staff throughout the Summer who labor tirelessly, many of whom work day jobs in addition to the work at the Chapel. Please pray for holiness, wisdom, love, growth, and joy as all of these things are consistently under attack and in danger of being compromised during the work of the ministry.

I look forward to updating you all when the time permits. Thank you so much for your prayer. Let me know if you have any questions or anything! I would love for this blog to be as informational as possible and allow for you to really be in touch with the work of the Chapel as the Summer progresses.

With a lot of love and in Christ,

Andrew Gordon