Calvary Baptist Church of Midland has steadily grown over the years since I have been there. I believe my first visit was in the early 90s. The church has grown, and so has the school. The school is now over 150 in the 7th-12th grades. The Lord worked in so many remarkable ways. We all left the week rejoicing in what the Lord had done.

On Monday, Esther, the Seal team co-captain, was recruiting in the parking lot of a store near a local high school. Although there was police parked in that lot, she still had freedom and talked to a teen guy who was very excited about the War of Special Forces. It was thrilling to see that teen come to the first War night. 

Caleb, the Seal team captain, was recruiting on Tuesday with one of the teens from the church. They talked to many middle school students. One of the teens they recruited came to the first War night and quickly got plugged in. He responded to the invitation that night, and Caleb talked to him about salvation. The dad of the young man was not happy that their conversation was going long, so he interrupted Caleb. The dad agreed to let them talk for two more minutes. Caleb quickly finished counseling, and by the end of their time together that young man got saved. 

God used team meetings to do a work in many teens’ hearts, including the Seal team which saw about fifteen people respond. Jonathan, the Marine captain, preached to his team from the book of Daniel and about twelve people responded to the invitation. It was a good problem to have when we didn’t have enough counselors to help the teens. Our team counseled each of the teens and saw some incredible breakthroughs. Here are some of their testimonies:

“I…had to finally let go of not forgiving someone, my father, who had done so much in my life…and, I finally let it go Thursday.”

“Over this Special Forces thing, I learned that I could become saved and for all you thinking it’s hard, it’s not…”

“Some of you might know me as a fun-loving kid, but I may be like that at school – at home I’m not. I [sometimes] have problems with anxiety, depression, stuff like that. But sometime during this week…it just clicked in my head that if I ask God He would help me with…any of my sins.”

On Friday, God used the girls’ split session as Mrs. Van Gelderen and the three co-captains challenged the girls to have a close walk with God. Almost all of the teen girls committed to do the 20-minute challenge: spending twenty minutes with God for the next three weeks. Many of them stood up on Friday night to give bold testimonies:

“I’ve always been like a really insecure person about just who I am. And this week God showed me that He didn’t just make me how He wants me, He rejoices in who I am.”

“Ok, so, the War of Special Forces really just helped me realize how many lies I’ve been believing about myself, based on…recent circumstances or…things that have happened to me throughout my life. And I’m just super thankful because [they] helped me forgive the people who have wronged me…and they helped me to realize that I’m not defined by the people who have hurt me, and they helped me forgive my dad for everything he’s done to me and they helped me like realize that the stuff I’m believing about myself isn’t true. So [my friend] and I…wrote down [many] lies we believe about ourselves, and obviously they’re not true, and we wanted to cast them into the fire.”

“I’ve been dealing with bitterness for a really long time…but the way I deal with pain is just acting like it didn’t happen…but as many of you know, my parents split…and I have been holding on to a lot of bitterness since then. But a realization occurred this week…they don’t owe me anything…I owe God so much more and that should cover any wrong that anyone else has ever done to me.”