Several years ago the team was at Victory Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL. It was a privilege to return. I was encouraged with the good spirit in the church. Their pastor, Marty Massito, just retired and you could tell the Lord used his ministry there. He was a former Army Ranger in Viet Nam so you know which team he was pulling for! He does now travel to churches and tell his story in Viet Nam so feel free to contact him.
The area was a wonderful area to find teens and invite them to the War of Special Forces evening rallies. The team worked hard and many teens were invited. About 100 different teens came to the evening rallies!
One of the students responded on Friday who was really bitter against parents. On Friday as he went home he talked to his mom in the car and asked his mom for forgiveness for being disrespectful. At the testimony service he said, “I’ve just been angry and bitter at my parents for multiple reasons and things like that, and not only that He’s just taken that burden off of me this week. I just feel SO much better. I just, I thank Him SO much now! He’s just brought me so much closer to Him!” His mom came up to one of our team members and said, “I don’t know what you guys did, but I have never heard a 16 year old apologize like that before.”
Other students responded to the Lord’s working in their lives as well. Also, many students assisted in the recruiting effort. One young man told his team captain that he didn’t think anyone would come. He had never seen so many get saved in his life!
A couple of teens were recruited at 6 AM on Monday morning. They both came every night, but got saved Wednesday. The Army captain came up to them after the War and asked, “What did you think about the message? Have you been saved?” They responded, “No!” Their captain followed with this question, “Does that concern you?” Quickly, they answered, “Yeah, it does a lot.” The captain dealt with them and they were ready to get saved. On Friday they gave testimonies at the campfire service. One said, “Before I came here I was on the verge of getting kicked out of my house. I was a bad kid. I had anger management. And when I came here, I found a family. I got saved and the blood of Jesus washed away all of my sins. And I’m thankful for that.” After the Friday night they got excited that God could use them. In fact they brought out 17 for Sunday School the next Sunday!
The Recon captain was a counsellor last summer at The Wilds Christian Camp this past summer. He met a young man at a bus stop in the morning who had come to The Wilds last summer. The young man came and at the registration table the team captain found out he had come to the Wilds. In fact, he knew his counselor. During the invitation after the message, the young man responded and the team captain asked him if ever had had done this before. He said at the Wilds he came to get saved because everyone else was doing it. That night he trusted the Lord because God was convicting him!
The Marine Recon team captain met four guys at the library and invited them out. When they came on Friday, they called out, “Warren!” At the end the service, Warren saw one of them raise their hand. Warren went up to them and said, “Do you know for sure you are going to heaven?” They gave ambiguous answers. Warren asked, “Would like to know for sure?” They all responded, “Yes.” All of them got saved!
Over 40 young people made salvation decisions. Here are a couple of salvation testimonies!
After I came here and got saved, I feel very cleansed, very cured of my sins and Jesus had done that for me. And now I feel like everything that I do now I know I can put it in Jesus’ name. If I need help, I can call on Him or if I’m havin’ trouble, I can call on Him and He will help me.
And last night when I got saved, I went home and talked with my sister….I wouldn’t be going Heaven, if I hadn’t got saved last night. If I were to die right now, I would go to Heaven.
It was a memorable week and the team is grateful for all the Lord did in hearts!
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