Martinsville Baptist Tabernacle is a thriving church south of Indianapolis. Pastor David Zempel has been there for several years and the church has grown under his leadership. Our team considered it a privilege to be there for a week of ministry in the Christian school. Although there was a spiritual battle in lives, the Lord gave us a marvelous week! All of us were touched with what the Lord did in many hearts. There was definitely a spirit of revival that came on Friday.

While Hannah, the Ranger team co-captain, was recruiting outside the high school, she started describing the competition to a young man walking down the street. He got excited as he heard about the competition. He came out on the field and got all in to the competition. At the invitation, Isaac, the Ranger team captain, tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he wanted to go talk. With tears, he gloriously received Christ as his Savior! 

Another young man in the Christian school responded to the invitation on Wednesday night. His family was from a different religious background, but the gospel became clear to him. Matthew, the Marine team captain, was able to lead him to the Lord. A young man who responded on Thursday evening told Zeb, the Seal team captain, that he had heard the gospel before, but had never responded. He felt that that night was his final opportunity to be saved and was saved that night! 

One girl in the Christian school came up to Janna, the Seal team co-captain, at lunch on Friday. She said that she needed to get saved. She had resisted every invitation all week. After Janna reviewed the gospel with her and she prayed to get saved, Janna asked why she came back right then. She said that she had been sitting in class when the fire alarm went off, and all she could think about was that she was going to burn in hell.

One young lady had gone through some traumatic situations in her home situation and definitely needed God’s healing touch. She responded to the first invitation saying she didn’t really know what God was doing. After the first War night, she made sure of her salvation.

One young lady was all in to the program of the week, but had been struggling for several years in believing God and in prayer. She was moved by the Wednesday message, but pushed it off. Later, she told herself that if it happened again on Thursday that maybe she would respond. The message on Thursday was exactly what she needed, and so she responded. Still unsure of all God was doing, she went home that day. After Friday chapel though, she responded to the invitation and spoke with Rebekah, the Marine team co-captain. She shared in her testimony that night: 

“For the past 5 years I didn’t believe in God. I didn’t believe in heaven; I didn’t believe in any of it. I didn’t say it because I’ve been in church my whole life, I’ve been in this school my whole life, and how can you believe it’s not real? But the past year I know God has been working and I always rejected it I guess because I always thought it was me being emotional in the moment and when I went home and thought about it, it would be like I would understand why it’s not real. I guess God showed me this week that it is real and I chose to respond because I know what I felt was real. There is no other way to explain it. I even went home and thought about it Thursday night trying to convince myself that I was just being emotional about it, like there was some other explanation. But I realize that what we have is real. There is no way that what happened today would happen if it’s not real.”

A young man in the Christian school responded after chapel on Thursday. He had hidden sin in his life that he needed to deal with. He talked to one of the staff members and then went home and got clean with his parents. On Friday night, he stood and gave a broken testimony: 

“…most of my friends would say that I am a pretty proud person and man, this is humbling for me, for sure…on Thursday when pastor Jim preached on the fear of man, it really spoke to me, I felt like I was the only one in the room with him. And it wasn’t the fear of man of my friends or what others think of me; it was a fear of what I thought my parents would say to me because of sin in my life. See, I’ve been dealing with viewing addictions and hiding it from my parents.  And Isaac actually gave his testimony and it broke me. Because he said, “I was tired of hiding from my parents.”…And what Pastor Jim said about talking to your parents it is WAY better than you think it’s going to be. Because they love and they don’t want the worst for you they want the best for you. So I talked to my parents and I talked to my youth pastor and praise God, the Lord He forgave me. And I know I have a long way back but I just praise God for His forgiveness.”

Then he stood back up later on in the testimony service and shared how he was going to take a stand for right in the school. As this young man shared his testimonies, another student came out weeping to Janna. She had been hiding her viewing habits and wanted to get right because she saw the freedom in this young man’s face. 

One young man talked to Matt about bitterness he was dealing with. He talked to Matt again on Friday and there was really a breakthrough. He stood up in class on Monday and gave a testimony saying:

“God has showed me who He is and I am giving Him full control.” 

A young man was struggling with bitterness. His dad had left their family and it was hard for him to forgive. Along with the bitterness, he had other struggles as well. He shared in his testimony: 

“…he just walked out the door and left and never said goodbye. So I tried calling him this week, he never answered my calls, I texted him once and he never answered that. When he walked out and I got so mad at him, I just wanted to break everything I saw. But on Wednesday when he was talking about bitterness, I can say it doesn’t help at all. It only makes the situation 10x’s worse. And I was staying far away from my [other family members]…we are going to start building that relationship back up and getting closer and I let all the bitterness go against my dad.”

A young lady struggling with bitterness towards God. There were several people that she had looked up to that had failed her. As God started working in her life and she was able to let go of bitterness, she got a burden for her family who had stopped going to church. She shared in a testimony: 

“I felt a lot of bitterness towards God [for] the things that have happened. A lot of the people that I look up to in my life aren’t in church any more. My family isn’t in church anymore. So, I just wanted to work on things that are a testimony to my family and to the school as well.”

Another young lady shared how God was doing a reviving work in her heart:

“I have literally met with Him every single morning and He has filled me with just so much joy and so much love that I can’t even explain. Like, people I thought that I could never love and He has literally filled my heart with love.”

The week really was amazing. On Friday there were a lot of tears, broken prayers and then triumphant testimonies. We are thankful for the wonderful staff at MBT, the important prayer together and the moving of God in hearts. What a blessing to see the Lord work!