By the very name Beaver, WV, many would think we were in the middle of nowhere, but actually we were quite close to Beckley, WV. Our team has been to Victory Baptist Academy many times and has always been encouraged by what the Lord does in hearts. The students at Victory are all in from the moment the week begins! This year was no exception!

Rebekah was at Walmart on Wednesday and saw a mom with two teens. She told them about the event, but wasn’t even able to get contact information from them. One of the teens came out on Wednesday night. He raised his hand acknowledging his need to be saved, but didn’t move from his seat. Matthew, the Marine team captain, was able to talk to him afterward and review the gospel with him. He accepted the Lord as his Savior that night. 

A young lady gave the following testimony on Friday:

“My whole life I’ve struggled with wanting acceptance from people and just doing things that I shouldn’t do so that they’ll accept me. And I learned that this week, God accepts me and that should be enough.”

A young man from the Christian school who was on the Marine Team, brought a friend on Thursday with a great concern about his spiritual state. The friend came forward in that first invitation, with tears streaming down his face clearly under conviction. The Marine Captain was able to show him from the Bible what God said about salvation and he was gloriously saved. As he came back out of the counseling room, his friend from the school was waiting for him and was so excited that God had used him to bring his friend to Christ. They both embraced right there in the hallway and thanked God for what He had done. After the embrace, the young man from the school said to his friend, “We came here as friends tonight, but now we are brothers in Christ!”

Isaac, the Ranger Captain, met a young man on the soccer field while out recruiting. He almost passed him up, thinking he was too old, but ended up talking to him anyway. As it turned out, he was only 18, and ended up coming all three rally nights. Although he was already saved, he opened up on Friday and said that he had been contemplating suicide when he was invited on that Monday due to feeling unaccepted by others. However, he left on Friday night realizing that God had accepted him, and nothing would ever change that fact. 

A young lady struggling with bitterness talked about how she was saved as a young child and called into missions, but her parents had divorced several years later. Her dad had given her a lot of spiritual wisdom in the past, but now she felt his counsel was about the worst she could get. Because of these trials in her family, she had become bitter against God, blaming Him for everything that wasn’t His fault. She shared:

“…I was blaming [God] when He did nothing wrong. And I still had bitterness towards my dad, but I see him next Friday and I will tell you that I will apologize to my dad for getting mad at him and blaming him. And I tell you, if you have bitterness at somebody…it just attacks your heart. The longer you keep it the longer it will stay, but God can get rid of it in one second.”

A young lady from the school that was a part of the Seal Team invited a friend to come to the evening rallies. He ended up coming that first night and God worked in his heart about his need for salvation. He responded in the invitation and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. The friend that invited him had no idea that he had not made that decision yet, and was overwhelmed that God had used her to bring him to Christ. 

Isaac found a young man out on the basketball courts while recruiting and invited him to attend the evening rallies. It turns out that Hannah, the co-captain of the Rangers had talked to his mom at Walmart about his siblings coming as well. The whole family ended up coming and even ended up bringing their cousin with them. All three of the family members ended up responding at the invitation and accepted Christ as their Savior. All three of them ended up being a part of the Youth Group there at the church the following Sunday.

A young man from the school who was part of the Marine Team responded on Thursday to the invitation and received assurance of salvation. However, God was still working in his heart and during the testimony time on Friday night God completely broke him over some sin that he had been hiding from his authorities. God enabled him to come completely clean and to go and confess his sin to those who needed to know and to begin the process of restoration.

A young lady from the school that was a part of the Seal Team was dealing with bitterness from different family situations that had happened. Those who knew her said that she was always angry due to all that she had been through. Although she held out until Friday, she finally responded to what God was telling her to do and responded during the invitation. Janna, the Seal Team co-captain was able to counsel her, and the young lady finally gave her whole past into God’s hands. She made the decision to forgive those who had hurt her and trust that God could work it out for good in her life. She left that time with the first smile she had worn in a long time and was finally free from bitterness. 

A young man from the Christian school who was part of the Seal Team responded to the invitation after the message on bitterness and made the decision to let go of the bitterness that he had been harboring. He gave it all to God and was set free.

A young man from the school that was on the Ranger team responded during the Friday invitation. He had been struggling with viewing issues, but was afraid of the consequences if he took the steps to make things right with his parents. God clearly showed him that complete victory was worth it, and he went home that night and told his parents all that he had been doing behind their back. 

Another young man from the school that was a part of the Seal Team responded during an invitation and confessed some viewing issues that he had been having, as well as being disrespectful to some of the teachers there. He ended up making things right with those who needed to know, and gave the following testimony on Friday:

“This week the Lord talked to me about how I don’t live my life as an example for God. I treat my parents very badly on a normal day-to-day basis. I disrespect my teachers in class; I would like to apologize to all of them for that. I struggle with pride. I’m not a great Christian, but I want to make it better in my walk with the Lord.”