Sumter Christian School was the second school to have War of Special Forces on our very first tour in 1996. The Lord encouraged our hearts during that week for what He could do in a Christian school. On a previous visit, someone at the SCS told me that they had run across a man who testified as to being saved during that very first War of Special Forces. The amazing thing is that I remember that happening. I could take you to almost the spot he got saved! I also found out this fall that another young man, who had gotten right with the Lord that week in 1996, has gone to heaven. That was a sobering reminder of how short life is. Also, this year, I got to hear some of the students testify of getting saved at previous War of Special Forces meetings. That was an encouragement!

This week we saw several students in the school get saved along, with several visitors. One young lady who came from a Catholic background had heard a lot about salvation. This week, she realized that this was a decision that she needed to make for herself. She placed her trust in Jesus alone!

Another young lady in the Christian school responded to the invitation on Friday night. She had pushed off making the decision for years, but finally realized this week that she needed to make sure of where she would spend eternity. She clearly understood the gospel and was saved!

Hunter, the Seal team captain got his last two recruits while driving on some back roads on the way back to church in hopes of seeing some teens in the neighborhood. These two young men were walking the streets when Hunter approached them. They were into the competition as soon as they heard about it. They didn’t have working phones, so they gave their Instagram information. On Thursday night, the two young men were picked up along with a friend. They got into the competitions and cheering. When it came to the invitation, all three of the young men raised their hands, but none of them went back. Hunter asked them a few questions, and they clearly wanted to get saved. So Hunter brought them back to the counseling room and recapped the preaching to them. All three bowed their heads and got saved that night!   

A young lady was asked about her salvation after one of the evening rallies. At first, she was not taking it seriously because of her friends. Eventually, she admitted that she had never heard anything like it before and got serious about her sin. When asked if she wanted to pray, she burst into tears. The joy of her salvation was evident in her eyes!

Joshua, the Marine team captain recruited a young man at McDonald’s. This young man came to the rally night. He realized that he was a sinner that night and was saved!

Another young lady came on Wednesday night, but seemed to be very disconnected from the preaching service. The main reason for her distraction was that she had a project for school that involved “caring” for a baby doll. The doll started crying to be fed during the preaching service, and she quickly ran to the back of the room to give a bottle. When the invitation was given, she raised her hand, but did not respond. After the invitation ended, she was with two other girls. Jessica asked her if she wanted to get saved. She said yes, but explained that she was busy with the baby. Jessica offered to get her some information. The two other girls were also interested and went to the counseling room as well. The girl with the baby began to talk to Jessica and told the story of how she had come that night. She came home from school that day and told her mom that she had had a really bad day. Her mom had driven by the church and had seen the church sign with the information about a teen activity. Her mom asked her if she wanted to go. She said, “Yes, I really need that.” She wanted the distraction from her very bad day. She had also just gotten the project doll that morning, but came anyway. The entire time Jessica was talking to her and sharing the gospel with her, they were passing the baby back and forth with the bottle. Finally, the young lady bowed her head to pray. In the middle of the prayer, she had to change the baby’s diaper so it would stop screaming. Then, she continued her prayer just like nothing had happened. Praise the Lord for the way He worked in bringing this young lady to Himself!

Matthew, the Ranger team captain, counseled a young man from the Christian school on Wednesday. He didn’t come clean about his sin to Matthew or to his mom. Matthew encouraged him to talk to his youth pastor. The next morning when he came to school, it was clear that he had no peace. On Friday morning, he again talked to Matthew. He admitted that his sin was a lot deeper than he had admitted, and he desperately wanted to come clean. He texted his mom right then to get right. On Friday evening, he shared this testimony:

“…I know people want to bury their sins and hide it…and hide behind it…and maybe burying it and hiding away, it might go away. It won’t. It will come back stronger and harder than ever. It will never go away until you tell your parents…tell God, anyone…it helps talk about it…..it’s…it’s honestly probably the best thing in the world. Because I actually did that this week. I actually just feel so much better. I probably have never felt so happy in my life until…this week!”

Below are a few other testimonies that were shared on Friday evening:

“…I got saved at the War of Special Forces three years ago when they came here the last time and…they’ve been the best three years of my life.”

“One of the things that really touched my heart this week was the thing about bitterness…because that’s something that I didn’t really realize that I struggled with….People have done some bad things, and I’ve been letting it affect my relationship with Christ. And I realized this week that you can’t control what other people do. And so you shouldn’t let them drag down your faith and your feelings and stuff. So it was just really relieving….to let all that go.”

“I just wanted to say I thank God for saving me…last night, and how when I’m at school, I don’t laugh at dirty jokes…and I feel relief on my heart.”

“My testimony is about that you can overcome anything with Christ…And when I was twelve years old….I got saved three years ago with the War of Special Forces, and I wasn’t doing so good, I wasn’t the best Christian. I would still play like the bad video games, and watch the bad videos, and all that junk. And with the preaching this week, it has helped me get away from that…and you guys can have it too.”