Back in early 2021, we had a late cancellation for the second week of March. I sent an email to Pastor James Wooten at Westgate Baptist Church in Spartanburg, SC. Although our team had been at Westgate before, we had not yet been with Pastor Wooten. Pastor Wooten graciously asked the team to come at the “last minute”. In fact, the final decision was made with less than a week to go. When we arrived, things were ready to go and we had a wonderful week. Although there was little response until Friday, the Lord’s work was manifest in many ways during the testimony service we had on Friday afternoon. Testimony after testimony indicated God was working all week long! We also were encouraged with young people who were saved in the community.

Janna, the Seal team co-captain, was out recruiting and invited a young man in Dollar Tree. He came out to the rally, but was too shy to respond even after someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was a big step just for him to raise his hand! Brendan, the Seal captain, went to talk to him afterward. He prayed to get saved and had a huge smile on his face!

Jon, the Marine team captain, recruited three guys in a neighborhood. Two came out on the first night and a third came out on the final night. One our final rally night, the guys raised their hands, went back, and all three were gloriously saved! 

Rebekah, the Marine team co-captain, recruited one girl after school on Monday. She came out on Thursday night with her sister. They had walked outside afterward to leave, but Rebekah caught up to them and asked if they knew for sure that they were saved. The girl’s sister said she wasn’t sure, and the girls were willing to come back in to talk. Rebekah was able to go through the gospel with them, and the girl received assurance that she was saved! 

One upperclassman who was respected by his peers had a serious fear of man. The Lord started working in his heart, and by the end of the week he was done being affected by peer pressure. He shared in a testimony:

“I cared about what other people thought of me [more] than what God thought of me. So, I’d make bad jokes or talk about other people. A lot of jokes that I’ve made people laugh at are cutting at people who maybe, might not be, ya’ know, not be the smallest person or not be the biggest person, or somebody who might not be good at something, or someone who might have bad grades. It hurts now to realize what I was doing because while they might not hear it, God hears it and God knows what’s going on…. I can’t do it any more! I’ve made a decision to stay away from it.” 

One young man wanted a relationship with God. He felt at times that God wasn’t real, but the messages started working in his heart. He realized that he needed to get right with someone that he had bullied when he was in public school. He called him and found out that he was actually contemplating suicide. Because the young man listened to the Lord about getting right, he was able to get the young man help. 

One young man got right about sin he was hiding. Zach, the Ranger team captain, was able to walk him through a plan for victory including starting to meet with God and getting open with his parents. 

One young person who had had a porn addiction shared: 

“I didn’t tell my parents about it ‘til this week….I guess I just want to say that if any of you guys struggle with that, it’s not worth it to hide it; just like, go talk to someone about it.…Once it’s out in the open it’s just so much better. I’m really scared right now because this might hurt my reputation but God is worth more than that… And also just, I want to tell you what God can do because I tried to quit by myself — I just couldn’t and then one day I just stopped and it was all God, I don’t even know really how it happened; just the desire went away: that’s how powerful God is! He can break an addiction like that. 

Below are a couple more testimonies shared this week: 

“I’ve struggled with…lust and I still do at times, and I just want to tell you guys that it’s not worth it, I mean, it’s so much better to live in satisfaction of Christ rather than of the flesh. This past month I’ve kind of been able to get victory over this that I never thought I’d be able to, and it’s mainly from Psalm 51:13…”

“…Even leaders struggle with peer pressure. For a while, I haven’t thought of myself as a people pleaser, I haven’t been one to sit back in the crowd and follow where the crowd goes and just go with the flow; but there has been one area in which I have been lax and I know several others have as well, and that is the area of inappropriate comments and dirty jokes. I am not the one who makes the dirty jokes but I will sit back, silently, and listen to them to my shame…I don’t do anything about them either and I know that many of you don’t as well…. We are Christians! We are followers of Jesus Christ and it is high time we start acting like it.”