This summer my wife and I were out on the road in a journey of faith. The Lord had opened up a couple of weeks of ministry, and I had a week open after those meetings and before another opportunity. Pastor Matt Phillips had asked me in the past to come to his church in Ohio, but we could never work it out. I decided to call him and we ended up coming there for a Sunday.
Pastor Phillips was saved at The War in April of 1992. I remember the night he was saved. Needless to say, it was great to connect with him again. We had a brief, but wonderful time. After our time there later in summer, Pastor Matt called me and asked me to come his way for a full week this fall if something cancelled. Well, that happened! God gave both of us some Divine optimism that God was working and was going to work.
We came for a tent meeting and a three night teen outreach called Flashpoint Revolution. During the revival meeting, God began a work in hearts. It was a thrill! We had a wonderful crowd each night of the teen rallies topping out with over 60 on the final night. There were 25 salvation decisions!
The team had the opportunity to get a lunchtime recruiting opportunity in the local public school. One young man from the church also went out with the team and helped in recruiting. Three of his recruits came this week and got saved. One of the recruits was a young lady who said she was going to come on the second night, but changed her mind at the last minute. On Monday, she said she would come, but at the last minute said that she had volleyball practice. Rebekah was texting her and asked when practice would be over. She said she couldn’t come, but then later asked where the church was and showed up. She showed up just a few minutes before the scoring happened. After sitting through the message, she responded to the invitation and one of the counselors was able to lead her to the Lord!
Several young people from teen youth group responded this week to the preaching. The Lord was clearly doing a work in their hearts, and they were saved on Sunday! There were also three siblings that came out who had been invited during public school lunch. All three accepted Christ as their Savior on Monday night!
Another young man came out on Sunday night to the rally brought by a friend from the youth group. He did not respond to the invitation and when one of the team members asked him what he thought about the message, he did not give any indication of being under conviction. His friend that brought him was also seriously upset that he had not responded! Interestingly though, the young man’s mom texted the friend and thanked him for inviting him. Although the mom also was not a believer, she said that her son indicated that he was thinking about the message. Well, the young man had football practice on Monday, and it didn’t seem like he would be able to make it out for the rally. He said he would try to come late, and he did! He walked in in time for the preaching, but again did not respond. Ryan was able to find the young man and his friend from the youth group. He went through the gospel with the young man and after a time, the young man wanted to be saved and prayed to accept the Lord as His Savior!
A couple teens from the church worked at a local Dunkin’. They invited their co-workers and two came out. One young lady was saved on Sunday night, and began taking steps in her Christian life. The young man invited came out actually to the Sunday morning tent meeting. He was not ready to make any sort of decision, but finally indicated that he would likely make it out for the rally that night. That night, he talked to Ryan afterward. It was a long conversation, but at the end he also came to know the Lord! Praise the Lord for the harvest of souls this week!
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