We enjoy coming to Calvary Baptist Church in Fort Walton Beach pastored by Mark Stevens every two years! Each week has been a blessing, and this time was no exception. This year, we arrived a day early and went out on the water. The highlight was watching several dolphins. They are quite the creation of God!
Paul, the Navy Seals team captain, was recruiting at Fort Walton Beach High School and had walked quite a way down the street from the school. He met some guys who looked like gamers. They had chess stuff with them, and after being engaged in conversation, the guys said that all they did was gaming. After Paul described the evening activities, the guys said they had never really done anything quite like that. They came out that first night anyway, and they got saved. The next night, they brought more friends who also came to know Christ as their Savior. These guys were seeing Christ begin to use them right away, as one also brought his brother who got saved as well!
A girl who was recruited by Paul got saved the first night. Unfortunately, she broke her toe during one of the activities. However, that did not stop her from coming out the last night with her brother, who also got saved that last night!
Jeremy, the Marine captain, recruited some guys who were wrestlers. They came the first night with friends, and two of them were saved. The second night, one of the guys who got saved the first night, was trying to encourage his friend (who did not make a decision the first night) to go back and get saved. This guy was making excuses, including that he didn’t have his shoes on! His newly saved friend said, “Come on man, come on man, you want to go back and get saved. Go, just do it, man. I’ll go with you; I’ll go with you.” The young man he was urging responded, “No, no, no, I can’t do it. No, I can’t, I can’t.” That is when the Ranger captain walked up and urged, “Man, just do it.” Finally, he agreed, “Alright, I’ll go back and do it.” He put on his shoes, went back to talk to a counselor, and was gloriously saved!
Two teens showed up late and were put into the middle of the second competition. During the preaching time, they got up to leave. Joseph, the Ranger team captain, pleaded with them to stay, but they said their ride was there. Joseph told them to wait and went to talk to the guy who was picking them up. He said he wouldn’t wait until the end, but Joseph offered to work out a ride for the two teens on the church bus. Neither of the guys responded to the invitation, but Joseph sensed that God wanted him to talk to them afterwards. They both agreed to talk to a counselor. The counselor gave the guys the gospel, and the younger teen sat there trembling with conviction. He prayed to receive Christ right then. The older guy had been homeless most of his life and was struggling with bitterness toward God. Finally, he was able to let go of his bitterness and was saved!
There also were some great testimonies Friday night. Here are a few below:
“I’ve been raised in a Christian home. And I’ve been saved since I was really little, but…I came into this week with like sin hidden in my heart, just some stuff I’ve been doing behind my parents’ back. And I was really stubborn at the beginning, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to make a decision’. I pretty much decided that at the beginning. But…God has been convicting me all week long, and it took me ‘til yesterday after chapel and everything, when He really just told me, ‘Okay, like you need to get these things right’. So it took like a lot of courage, like I could not have done that on my own. It was God’s courage that like let me do it, and I went home and I told my parents everything. And it was really hard, like I was scared to death, but,… I haven’t had this much peace in my life for a long time, and now like my walk with God can get so much closer and please if you haven’t gotten it right yet, just do it now, like you won’t regret it.”
“I was raised in a Christian home. God convicted me that I was listening to music that my parents wouldn’t approve of. And so I confessed that to God and got it right with Him, and deleted the music and then went to my parents and confessed to them and they forgave me.”
After giving a testimony on the theme of 100% dependence on the Lord, this young man exhorted,
“I think that you should rely on him 100% like I’m planning on doing.”
We thank the Lord for a great week in Florida’s panhandle!
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