This is the second time the team has been to Gospel Baptist Church to conduct the War of Special Forces. The first time was in 2006. The team also first came to this church and conducted The War in 1996.
The church is aptly named – Gospel Baptist Church. They really take the getting of the Gospel to their community seriously. They pass out tracks like few churches I know. They have a vibrant bus ministry as well. Pastor Lytell is a blessing to be around and his staff is as well.
The week was thrilling in two ways. The guys recruited over 100 teens and a lot of them came! Of the many who attended well over 30 responded to the salvation. There are many exciting stories. On the final night, one of the teens was putting the tug of war rope in my truck when I asked him his name. He responded, “Jimbo.” “Are you saved?” I then asked. “No,” he plainly answered. When I began to probe, he acted like God had worked in his heart, but he had resisted. I challenged him for a few moments and then felt like I had said all I needed to for the moment. Just a little while later I saw his team captain begin a conversation with him. Before long the team captain’s New Testament was out and the Gospel was given. A few minutes later, Jimbo was saved.
A thrilling thing was the following Sunday morning seven teens returned to Sunday School. One of our team captains texted one of the guys who came. “How did it go in church this morning?” Jerry, who had been saved the night before, texted back, “Wonderful.”
Also there was a group of girls who had been at odds with one another for quite some time. On Friday after we had met with those who had made a decision during the week, I offered the students the possibility to stay and pray alone or pray with others. This group of girls stayed and as one said later, “God broke us!” There was a brokenness and a sense of God’s presence about which each girl testified later. That night when they gave testimonies as a group you could sense God was using their testimony to touch others. One of the girls testified of sneaking music behind her parent’s backs and how God had convicted her. She had deleted the songs off her mp3 player and had then thrown it into the creek. There were some other powerful testimonies as well. When the invitation was given that night well over 10 teens responded to the Gospel. It was a great week. The report really is not sufficient to communicate the work the Lord did.
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