Pastor Stacey Wilder was saved at Calvary Bible Church as a teenager. Shortly after his salvation, a family in the church took him under their wing as his “prayer parents” and mentored him into the ministry. He is now that family’s and that church’s pastor. You can hear more of his story here. It was a privilege to work with a man who exemplifies what we are praying for God to do in the churches we work with! On top of that, he is a very humble and considerate man of God!
One of Pastor’s burdens for the week, beyond the obvious evangelistic focus, was that his church would really get on board and help. Not realizing that burden, the Lord led me to challenge the church on Sunday with the fact that the single greatest factor that distinguishes amazing weeks from mediocre weeks is high church involvement. We had an amazing amount of participation, which was a thrill to Pastor’s heart!
But even more thrilling than willing hearts to serve were the stories of what God did in hearts to bring young people to Jesus:
When one of the team members was out recruiting, he came across two young men wasting time by a pond in town. He invited them both to come, and they did on the first night. At the invitation, they came back with a dozen others and clearly understood their sinful condition and what Christ had done for their salvation. Both young men humbly put their faith in Christ that night. They were both back all three nights!
While Hannah, the Coke co-captain, was out recruiting, she felt like she was wasting time following some leads she had received about teenagers in a particular apartment complex. She was about ready to leave, when a beat-up old white car rolled into the parking lot. In the passenger’s seat was a single twelve year old who signed up to come. Not only did she come, but she brought some friends with her. About half way through the first night’s gospel message, she and her friends were messing around and causing distraction, so I made some pointed applications obviously directed at them as a not-so-subtle rebuke. The girls not only settled down, but began to really listen and God began to clearly convict them. At the invitation, the whole group of them came back and trusted Christ!
Rodney wasn’t that excited when Trystan invited him to come, but after he attended on Thursday he was pumped about coming back for the final night! On Friday afternoon, however, he decided to take a quick nap before he came to the church for the Cola Clash. When he woke up, he saw that it was 8:00pm—he had overslept! He arrived just in time for the invitation of the message and didn’t go back, but when Garet encountered him in the parking lot, he was ready. In fact, he told Garet, “The only reason I came tonight was because I knew I needed the Gospel. I knew I needed to be saved.” Garet took him into the counseling room where he trusted Christ as his Savior!
One team member brought a young man into the counseling room from the parking lot who wanted to talk about his soul after one of the nights. God was obviously working in his heart. As the team member was talking to him about his sin and hell, tears rolled down the young man’s cheeks. When I talked to him afterward he had trusted Christ, the tears were still welling up in his eyes as he rejoiced in what Christ had done for him.
God gave us 97 teens who heard the gospel with a high night of 63. All in all, 21 of them trusted Christ as their savior!
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