STAR 99.1 salutes The Ocean Grove Camp
Meeting Association,
our Ministry of the Week!
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association was founded in 1869 as a part of the holiness movement of the mid-nineteenth century. We are a Christian seaside community that provides opportunities for spiritual birth, growth, and renewal. While we are proud of the ministry here over the past 140 years, we are even more excited about the future.
Our Camp Meeting has been the host to seven Presidents, countless statesmen, and great preachers such as Charles Stanley, Billy Graham, Tony Campolo, Michael Youseff, Franklin Graham, Lee Strobel, and Rick Warren. Many great hymns of the church were written in Ocean Grove and we have recently hosted Christian performers including Hillsong United, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, MercyMe, Third Day, and Jars of Clay.
Ocean Grove is strategically located on the New Jersey shore, approximately equidistant between the New York and Philadelphia markets. One of every six Americans, 50 million people – live within an easy day's drive of our historic Christian seaside community. And, our mission field is the most secular region in the country.
To serve that region, we have historically offered a full summer-long program of preaching, teaching, praise, and worship for people of all ages. In 2008, we launched The Ocean Grove Discipleship Training Center to become a year-round ministry and expand our service to the region. We are adding full-time ministry positions and partnering with organizations such as Willow Creek Association, Saddleback Church, and Asbury Theological Seminary. The goal is for people to come to Ocean Grove and draw closer to their Lord and Savior. After a period of physical refreshment and spiritual nourishment, they return home and take the message of Christ back to a world that desperately needs to hear it.
All Ocean Grove ministry programs benefit from multiple venues, many of which are unique:
The Great Auditorium (3 seasons w/worship & space for up to 6000)
The Boardwalk Pavilion (3 seasons with open air worship & meeting for 400)
The Beach (fully owned & operated by the Camp Meeting Association)
Grove Hall Conference Center (Accommodations & meeting space for 75-100)
The Youth Temple (Gymnasium & Meeting facility w/full stage for up to 400)
Thornley Chapel (Worship & meeting space for up to 100)
The Community Room (Full function meeting & classroom space for 100)
The Tabernacle (3 seasons with worship & meeting space for 400-500)
Additional boardwalk and other facilities coming online in the near future
The community of Ocean Grove began in a prayer meeting and those who attended pledged to keep God first in all that they did. We continue to honor that pledge today as we learn daily a bit more of what God envisions for us as a twenty-first century Camp Meeting. We look forward to learning how we can serve the STAR-99.1 listening audience by welcoming you as part of our community.
