It was good to be back at Trinity Christian School. As always it was great to be with Pastor Ken Cash. I am always encouraged when I am around him. Years ago our team was with him when he was a youth pastor in Kinston, NC. This year he told me about the aftermath of that meeting. I was stunned with all the Lord did after the team left. His youth group greatly increased numerically, but most importantly was the spiritual work done in many hearts. Hearing about this over 20 years later really encouraged my heart!
Aaron, the Seal team captain, was walking back to the church after doing afternoon recruiting. He noticed a young man standing near the apartments right by the church. Aaron went over to recruit him and got his number. The young man couldn’t make it on Wednesday because of work, but came early on Thursday. This gave Aaron some time to talk with him. He had been through a lot in life, including getting shot and struggling with suicidal thoughts. He admitted that he wasn’t sure why he was alive. After the preaching on Thursday night, the young man came to Christ.
Rebekah was recruiting near the middle school when she talked to two girls walking through their neighborhood. As she invited them to the War nights, both showed interest. They came out on Wednesday night and got involved in the competition. Only one of the girls raised her hand indicating that she was saved, so Rebekah talked to the girls as they were leaving. The other girl admitted that she wasn’t saved, but when asked if she wanted to talk about it said that she was scared. Rebekah encouraged her to just take a minute to listen and make sure, and she agreed. As they reviewed the gospel, it became clear what the young lady needed to do. She prayed to receive Christ as her Savior that night, and was so thankful that she had! The next night, she came back with three young men (one being her brother). Ironically, Aaron had recruited these three young men as well. All three responded to the invitation that night and were saved!
One young man had just moved back into the area and raised his hand for salvation on Wednesday night. He didn’t respond however, so Joshua, the Marine team captain, asked him if he was saved. The young man’s question was if he could even know. Joshua led him through the gospel, and he was saved that night! Joshua was also able to encourage him to start taking steps in his Christian life.
A young man from the Christian school took some steps to completely get right about sin that God had worked in his heart about two years when the team had been at his school. He gave a testimony on Friday night:
“I’ve dealt with…sin hiding in my life, hiding it from parents and from people that really love me. And it caused me to be bitter and caused me to not really have a good relationship with my parents which tore me up inside. I didn’t know why I was so angry all the time. I just had a root of bitterness in my heart. And I thought, you know, if I told my parents it’d be…terrible because I’d be in so much trouble…when I told my parents, man, it was just a relief. The burden of the world was lifted off my shoulders. It was the most freeing feeling that I’ve ever felt in a while. It was honestly amazing – I can’t even really describe it to you what I felt… And now I’m free and I have victory in Christ.”
One young lady in the Christian school responded to the invitation after chapel on Friday. She confessed that she had been holding on to bitterness against her dad. As she talked through the situation with a counselor, she realized that getting angry was hurting her relationship with God. She was able to forgive her dad and let go of her bitterness. She gave a testimony on Friday evening:
“…I hated him. I just never even wanted to see him ever again in my life. I was fine if he died. I didn’t care what happened to him I was just like ‘I’m over it. I done with him.’ And then the preacher kept talking about bitterness, and I was just like ‘God, please don’t make me get rid of this. I don’t want to have to let go of this. I really am fine with not having to deal with it.’ And just realizing it more and more hurt me more. And I was like my dad doesn’t talk to me anymore and doesn’t see me anymore. So it’s not affecting him that his daughter hates him. It’s affecting me. It’s affecting my life. And like the preacher said earlier, ‘It’s like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.’ And I realized that I just have to let go of it and give up and give it to God.”
Another young man in the Christian school got involved with recruiting early in the week. He recruited one young man himself and gave a testimony on Friday of how God was growing his faith:
“It…encouraged me to be a leader instead of a follower…Whenever you step up in a leader role, you can help more people in the spiritual way. And a couple of people off my team went recruiting, we saw a kid in one of aisles…at first, I really didn’t want to talk to him. But God encouraged me, kind of helped me to go and talk to him. And we invited him, and I asked him.”
Praise the Lord for decisions made this week!
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