Years ago our team had the privilege of coming to Vandalia Baptist Church. In 2006 our team returned for the War of Special Forces. The team returned in 2010 and now in 2015. In the past each of our meetings have been in the fall. This time it was spring and the beautiful blooms reminded me of how stunning spring can be, particularly in this part of the south.
The school has grown over the years. This week we were privileged to preach and minister to over 250 students. We appreciated Pastor Oates and the principal Mark Weatherford. They were a blessing to work with.
I was walking back to my RV one time while I was there and I began talking with a junior there at Vandalia. I asked him if he was saved and he said that he was. I then followed with the question, “When were you saved.” “Actually the last time you were here. I was in seventh grade. I came to one of the War night rallies and the message tore me up. I had actually been in the school for two years and was from an atheist home.” I then asked, “What do you believe the Lord wants you to do with your life?” He immediately answered, “Pastor.” Also on Friday, a young man knocked on my door and asked for some contact information. During the conversation he told that the last time we were there, he had gotten saved. It is always a blessing to hear of young people who got saved at the War of Special Forces.
Several students really got things right with the Lord. A seventh grader asked if he could talk with me. He told me how he had gotten some things right that week and he ended with the statement, “I’m happier in my heart now.” Another young man responded to invitation on the day the message was on bitterness. He had been bitter at his Dad for not being plugged to his life. He dealt with that and later on Friday responded to invitation to not be afraid to stand up for the Lord. Another young man texted his dad to get accountability for some things he was doing. One young man came to the Ranger team captain after lunch. He immediately began to weep as he expressed to the captain a very serious sin issue in his life. He did business with the Lord and got on the victory road. He told the captain afterwards, “I feel a lot better!” A young lady came up to John, the Marine captain, on Thursday night. Her lip was trembling. “God’s been working on me all day. Do you remember when I took God’s name in vain in your presence at lunch? I wanted to apologize to you for that.” John then dealt with her about her devotional life which, not surprisingly was non-existent. The next day she got up had devotions, wrote in her journal and got something out of it! Another young lady testified during the Friday testimony service, “I have been holding this grudge against my birth parents because I’m adopted and how they treated us and all this, and how my little brothers and sisters were treated in this different home. . . A couple days ago I forgave them, and right now I have no more bitterness towards them.”
One young man got assurance of salvation after Jonathan’s testimony. He came up to him and said, “I really appreciated your testimony. It helped me a lot.” Jonathan asked, “Have you been struggling with assurance of salvation?” After he replied to Jonathan, “Yes,” Jonathan asked, “Did you get things settled in your heart?” “Yes,” he replied with relief evident in his demeanor.
One young lady who had come from an area public school raised her hand during the invitation on the second night, but did not respond. The team captain, David, asked her about her salvation, but she said she was saved. David asked, “Tell me about it?” She began to relate an emotional experience and prayer she had prayed. David asked her if she was depending on Jesus or depending on the prayer and experience. She realized she was depending on a prayer and an experience, but not on Jesus. David asked her if she wanted to depend on Jesus to take away all of her sins. After she replied “yes”, David challenged her, “I would encourage you to do that now.” “I’m not sure what to say,” she countered. David simply described to her that sin is the problem and Jesus would take it away if she simply trusted Him to do so. She bowed her head and prayed as they stood on the basketball court. Friday night her sister was saved. David wrote later, “Words cannot describe the joy of witnessing those two girls later looking into each other’s eyes with a squinting smile as each revealed to the other that they had been saved. ‘I accepted Jesus as my Savior’ they each said to each other.” When their mom found out she was overjoyed!
John, the Recon team captain, preached a message about being light in the world. A young lady on his team came and showed the captain a note from a friend. The note read, “I got saved last night.” She said soberly, “I didn’t realize she was not saved.” After John’s message on being the light of the world, she was impacted that she did not know her friend’s lost condition. She said in the testimony service on Friday night, “I am heartbroken because I did not share that with my best friend, as she could have gone to hell.” She urged others to ask their friends, “Are you saved?”
We are thankful for all the Lord did in hearts. We trust that others will follow these who have taken steps of faith!
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