Special Forces – Greenville, NC

Jim Van GelderenSpecial Forces Updates

This is the fourth time since 2010 the team has been at Trinity Christian School in Greenville, NC and the fifth time overall. The first time I met Pastor Ken Cash was when we conducted the War of Special Forces in the 90’s while he was a youth pastor in Kinston. He has since come to be the pastor of Trinity Free Will Baptist Church in Greenville, NC and is doing a great job! He is always a blessing to be around and this year was no exception.

On Sunday night, Pastor Cash had folks come to the front and pray for the team. A young man was at the front who Pastor Cash mentioned had come two years ago as a visitor and is now a part of the youth group. He gave a testimony on Friday night!

On Wednesday night after the War of Special Forces, the team was cleaning up the gym because moisture had caused grass to be tracked in during the activity. They also changed a tire on a team vehicle. About 9:45 six guys were walking through the parking lot and Wyatt, the Ranger captain, recruited them. Four of them came the next night, and they all got saved!


Sometimes at the testimony service, the young people say profound things. Below are a few things said that were encouraging!

“Stop talking yourself out of it! I know God’s speaking to you. I just want to see God move in our school. So don’t worry about the people beside you, because God is here and He’s the most important One.”

“So just trust in God for your salvation and forgiveness and for Him to speak through you when you’re speaking to others about the Gospel.”

“I decided I was going to read my Bible and pray every day, but . . . I just stopped. . . . I’d been doing it by myself and wondering like, ‘Why can’t I do it?’ and it was because I wasn’t trusting God and relying on Him. I was just relying on myself, so I’ve trusted God.”

“This is my second time having War of Special Forces. Every year they preach a message on getting over bitterness, but it wasn’t until this year that I really paid attention to the message that was being preached. . . . And after hearing that message, God just showed me how my bitterness is my problem. . . but then today I realized that I couldn’t get over my bitterness on my own because I was just going to fall back into the same path that I was already in. If you try to do things by yourself, you’re not going to get through it. You have to have God’s strength.”

“This week has helped me with disrespecting my parents and listening to the wrong music, and I’m just really happy that they came.”


Jeremy, the Marine team captain, had to leave on Friday afternoon to go on a Bible Lands trip. One of the teachers at Trinity, James Bradford, took over for Jeremy and led the Mighty Marines to a victory. We teased afterwards that he is the only team captain in history to be undefeated!

We thank the Lord for all He did in hearts in Greenville.

About the Author

Jim Van Gelderen

Dr. Jim Van Gelderen is president of Minutemen Ministries, vice-president of Baptist College of Ministry, and evangelist out of Falls Baptist Church. He and his wife, Rhonda, travel the country in evangelism. They have three daughters.