A few months ago Pastor Warren Brown contacted me because of a burden he had to reach the young people in his county. As a result the team came to conduct a three night rally in Floyd County, Virginia. We held the rallies right after school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the town of Floyd near the high school. There were four area churches who got behind the effort. Several men came to the field on Wednesday and pitched a tent for us to meet in for the Gospel meeting after the competition. On Monday and Tuesday the team captains recruited a good amount of teens to come.
The very first night a young man who was a leader on the football team responded to the invitation and was struggling with the assurance of his salvation. While he was settling his salvation, the Army team captain stopped four guys after the invitation. All had raised their hands indicating their concern about their souls and eternity. Matt, the Army captain, began to give them the Gospel. They were all ready to be saved and called on the Lord standing right there in the tent. One of them helped us pack up on Wednesday and Thursday. He also texted Matt later on Wednesday and asked some Bible questions.
On Thursday one girl came forward. Elisha, one of our team members, went through the Gospel, but when before they finished the young lady said, “I need to think about this.” She came back on Friday afternoon and Elisha went to her and asked, “Did you think about it?” This young lady then asked, “Is it true that God forgives all your sins past, present, future?” When Elisha answered, “Yes,” she wanted to get saved!
One young man came on the last night. During the message I noticed that he was not really listening to the message but seemed distracted by his girlfriend. As I preached, several times in the message I dealt with moral issues. I noticed that he began to listen and seemed less distracted. During the invitation, he raised his hand that he was concerned about his soul. He responded when I gave the invitation to do so, but when he was counselled he did not put his faith in Christ. He left the personal worker. When I saw him and found he was not yet saved, I told him I wanted him to leave knowing exactly what his condition was. I asked him, “If you died on the way home, where would you go?” he would not answer. It seemed he clearly knew the answer. I them mentioned “’Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.’ The reason you are rejecting the Gospel is because there is some sin you don’t want Jesus to wash out of your life. Am I shooting straight with you? Am I telling you the truth?” He acknowledged that I was. I then asked, “Wouldn’t you like to get saved now?” He responded that he would. I got down on my knees and asked him to do the same. He did. One of my team members joined me as did an area Pastor. This young man prayed. We only had a few minutes to talk with him and he had to go. It was a battle, but I believe the Lord did get the victory.
The week was challenging in that we did not have a large number come to the rallies, but we are thankful for those that did and for the souls that were saved.
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