In the fall of 2004, our team came to Juniata Baptist Church in Juniata, MI. There was a senior that year that clearly got right with the Lord. To make a long story short, he is now the pastor of Juniata Baptist Church. Also, the principal there is the son of the principal that was there in 2004. It was great to work with the next generation of leadership at this ministry.

The schedule for the week was different than usual, and the team was able to arrive in time to start recruiting on Saturday afternoon. We were encouraged to have a good group of teens from the Christian school go out recruiting with our team. Even in the middle of cornfields, Jesus answered prayer. On Saturday evening, as the team was heading back to church from recruiting, Abigail, the Ranger co-captain, prayed for just a couple more recruits. Then she saw two girls sitting on the side of the road under a stop sign, far from any town, and recruited them. The girls came to the final War night, which was another answer to prayer. As Abigail talked to these girls after the campfire service, God was working in their hearts. Although it was not clear if they got saved that night, we know that God was and will continue to work in their lives. 

On Monday, Abi, the Marine co-captain, was out recruiting before school started. She talked to two junior high boys who were very excited about the War. When she texted the dad of one of boys, he was not happy about her talking to his son, so she stopped contacting him. Halfway through the first War night, these two boys showed up! It was encouraging to see God work even when the communication was cut off. On the second War night, the boys came back and they brought a friend. During the invitation on Wednesday, Jonathan, the Marine team captain, talked to one of the young men, and he got saved.

Esther, the Seal co-captain, recruited one guy who had had some previous contact with the church. Early on in the week, the pastor mentioned a family who had some teens; he wanted one of our team members to go visit the family. Come to find out, it was the same guy that Esther recruited. On Wednesday, Caleb, the Seal team captain, went to visit the family. The two teen guys were very excited about the War of Special Forces, but due to football practices and games, they were not able to come. God led Caleb to share the Gospel with them right there. After only a short conversation, these two guys were gloriously saved. 

On Tuesday, Caleb counseled one of the young men on his team about cheating. After talking to Caleb, he went to the principal to confess his sin. On Friday night, this young man got up and gave this testimony:

“Well, I’ve had sin in my life that I didn’t know maybe how to deal with. Well, one of the messages, He showed me how to deal with it…well, I got that right. So, I’m really thankful for how the Lord is showing me things this week that I’ve needed to deal with…His message on failure today really helped me.”

As a team, we were burdened to see the leaders of the school respond. On Thursday, during the final in-school invitation, we saw God answer prayer as several of the specific teens we prayed for responded and were broken about their need to trust God. Here are several of their testimonies: 

“When they were here three years ago I made a decision to start making devotions more personal, start doing them more often. After the week, I started off strong, I was doing them every day and I felt like the Lord was talking to me and working in me. And then, the past three years, you know, I’ve wavered and struggled….so when Dr. Jim mentioned there was this girl who did her devotions everyday and got nothing out of it, that hit home to me. So I made a decision today to make devotions more personal and start making sure I get something out of them, not just reading it and saying, ‘ok, I read it. I’m done.’” 

“So it was about three years ago…Caleb Reed was speaking to the guys…and he spoke about…the call to being a pastor. And I really felt that call right then…but I [had] sin to deal with before I [could] go with that calling…So I got right with God, I got right with my parents, and I went all in for Christ. Brother Van Gelderen had a ‘0 to 100’ message, and it was about none of you and all of God – giving it all up. And I did that. And then, years, and months, and days, and weeks went on and I was like ‘man, I’m feel victory; I’ve got this’. And then right then I started to fall. I got complacent in my walk…And, it wasn’t until today, through Brother Van Gelderen’s message this morning…[I realized] I was falling because I was trusting myself and not God. 

“I realized that I had been harboring a lot of bitterness in my life toward someone, and, just to go to God and to see that He’s your strength and depend on Him, it’s so refreshing. He gives you a joy that you can’t even explain. It really does go beyond all understanding.”

Here are some more testimonies from the week:

“This week has been really great, and I’ve enjoyed all of the messages. But the one that really stood out to me was the one of bitterness…This summer, I was really bitter at someone…I was blaming them like, they just ruined my life…and then, I just realized that’s just wrong of me to blame someone for hurting my life. It was my fault because I made decisions so that everything happened. And so, I made a decision this week to let go of all that bitterness and also apologize to that person.”

“I’ve just realized I’ve been bitter at someone I never really realized until…Dr Van Gelderen came in this week…and…I gave that to God.”

“It was just yesterday that I got saved. Like, I hit some rocky roads…Like our Seals captain said, ‘if you’re struggling in water, you’re gonna want a lifeguard to save ya and he’s gonna eventually say to stop struggling.’ And, that’s what I did with the Lord – I stopped struggling, let Him save me…”