Over the years I have had the privilege to labor at Providence Baptist Church and Christian School. I believe this time was the fourth pastor with whom I have labored. We have always loved coming to Providence, and this time was no exception. It was great to get to know Pastor Mark Duff. I so appreciated his heart and vision for the ministry there. Also, it was great to labor again with the youth pastor, Paul Patterson and the principal, Ron Sainsbury.

On Monday, our team went to one of the local public schools at the time of the let-out. Stephen, the Ranger team captain, recruited a young man who was very excited about the event. He came with his girlfriend on Wednesday night. During the preaching, it was clear these two had never heard anything like this before. When the invitation was given, they both went back clearly realizing their need to be saved. After a long counseling session for both of the young people, they both got saved. The young man came back the following two nights and made a good connection with the youth pastor.

There was a public park next to the church. The team captains went over there many times to recruit, as there were many events taking place there. Caleb, the Seal team captain, recruited a group of football guys. Four of them came on Wednesday night. They all responded to the invitation and were gloriously saved that night. It was exciting to see them all return on Thursday night, but this time with another friend. When it came time for the invitation, the four guys brought their friend back to the counseling room. As the friend was getting counseled for salvation, the four friends had a prayer meeting with Caleb – praying that their friend would understand the Gospel. At the end of the night on Thursday, all these young men expressed a sincere desire to come be a part of the church. 

There was a girl in the Christian school who displayed some deep spiritual needs. Abi, the Marine co-captain, talked to her after the War night on Wednesday. The girl wanted to do what is right, but did not want to trust God. Our team prayed for her throughout the week, and on Friday, she broke. As she chose to step out in faith and trust God for several specific areas in her life, her countenance changed and there was light in her face. She stood up and gave this testimony on Friday night:

“I’ve been a Christian now for about two years, and it was going really great with my relationship with God and everything until this School year…because of some things that have been happening. And I started to just see God as just He’s allowing all this stuff, all of this bad stuff into my life. How can I trust Him?…I started living life in my own strength and not relying on Him, and it was not going great at all. This week, I was fighting God so much. I kept getting convicted and feeling like I need to let go, trust Him, and let Him take care of this stuff. But my pride kept getting in the way and the fear of like what will happen…and we had a chapel this morning at my school and he preached. And it just really convicted me, and I went out and let me tell you, God really broke my heart. I have never felt that broken before and He just really [spoke to] me about…not trusting Him. He made each of us for a reason– why would I not trust Him with my life? He already owns it and…right after I made that decision I have not been able to stop smiling and I have been so happy, like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders.”

A couple of the girls in the school got burdened for one of the young men in their class. They knew he was hiding sin and holding on to some bitterness. These girls prayed together for God to break through in the young man’s heart. God answered their prayers and encouraged their faith when that young man went to Caleb, his team captain, to get more counsel, at the end of the testimony service. 

Here are some more testimonies of what God did:

“Pastor Jim was talking about strongholds in our life and I knew as soon as he said ‘stronghold’ I knew what the Lord was going to talk to me about…and I kept fighting Him…and I didn’t want to get rid of it because I know if I get rid of it, people will judge me. But then he started talking about when you get it into the light then you feel free so then that’s when the Lord really took a hold of my heart and I went out and talked to my leader and she helped me through it and that night I told my dad and everything and I finally felt free…this sin has been a stronghold in my life for awhile now so once I finally let it go, it was like a freedom in me like I can’t even explain….Another decision I made was…for awhile now I have had a stronghold in my life of anger and bitterness against people that have hurt me in my life and I was like…I don’t know how I’m going to forgive these people because they hurt me so bad…. also that night I got that settled…I got my anger and bitterness taken care of. I told my dad everything again and again. I felt free.”

“I am a very, very self-reliant person…and I hate asking other people for help. I’m always [like] ‘I’ve got this; I don’t need anyone to help me.’ And a lot of that comes from my pride which is one of my biggest issues in life. And this service, Dr. Van Gelderen said the key to the Christian life is dependence on God. We can’t do it on our own because we are nothing and He is infinitely more powerful than we are….today I made the decision that I am going to trust God and fully depend on Him for strength in every aspect of my life, and just fully trust Him.”

“This Thursday I got saved…”

Praise the Lord for all He did this week!