SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2024 – The New York Staff Band kicked off its 137th season on the New Jersey Shore in partnership with the Asbury Park Corps and the Ocean Grove Meeting Association. The Asbury Park Corps is only blocks from the beach and just steps away from legendary venues like the Stone Pony and Convention Hall, where famous rockers Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi launched their careers.
Every year, thousands of people visit the Jersey Shore town of 15,000 residents, and its population soars to over 100,000 during the summer months. This provides The Salvation Army with a unique opportunity in Asbury Park to make new connections, as it has a captive audience on the famous boardwalk. Many young Salvationists spend their summers doing beach ministry with their musical talents, art, dramatic performances, and evangelistic efforts. For years, the corps band marched from the corps hall to the boardwalk on Sunday evenings to offer ministry services.
Hurricane Sandy and COVID caused significant damage to this region, but one entity that found a way to carry on was the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. Founded in 1869 by a group of Methodist ministers, this ‘camp meeting location’ is situated on the New Jersey coast, just next to Asbury Park. Since then, it has been a destination for Methodists and other Christians to vacation and has become a yearly pilgrimage for many, including Salvationists. There is no question that you’re in Ocean Grove, with the large, illuminated cross that stands atop the 6,250-seat Great Auditorium.
The Great Auditorium has hosted several USA Eastern Territory Commissioning events, and a couple of Generals have spoken from its pulpit. Every season, the Ocean Grove Meeting Association partners with The Salvation Army in Asbury Park to close their summer season together, calling it “Salvation Army Day.”
This year, Salvation Army Day included a Saturday evening concert by The New York Staff Band on the boardwalk. Adjacent to the popular cross-shaped pier in Ocean Grove, the band provided an outdoor concert in the band shell. Three hundred people packed the small space for a lively program of spirituals and marches, concluding with Richard Phillips’ arrangement of ‘Amazing Grace.’
On Sunday, the New York Staff Band served as the musical guest, with Commissioner Ralph Bukiewicz as the guest preacher at The Great Auditorium. The band led worship for the 2,000 people in attendance with Gavin Whitehouse’s ‘Come Thou Fount’ and offered Andrew Wainwright’s ‘And Can It Be’ as the selection.
A highlight of the annual event is the band leading the singing of ‘O Boundless Salvation,’ with the large pipe organ in The Great Auditorium lifting the roof off the building for the final verse!
