Years ago my father was a pastor in Miami, FL. As I remember, he has some part in helping a church get started named First Baptist Church of Westwood Lake. That church started a Christian school over 50 years ago. Our team has had the privilege many times to come to this school. This year was a wonderful time of ministry!
Pastor Mortenson, the principal, Bill Thomson, and the Westwood Christian School staff are a blessing. I could tell many were excited about the week and supportive of the burden.
This year as the week progressed, the junior high was responsive to the chapels. One young man asked me to pray for him as he was going to tell his mother some things he had done behind her back. I told him I would pray for him and to tell me how it went. The next time I saw him, you could tell a load was lifted and he was so glad he had gotten right with his mom.
The high school definitely were listening, but the response was not as visible (although later we found that the Lord was working). On Friday, we had a wonderful response from the junior high and it was evident the Lord was working there. In the high school, a few responded and they were definitely touched. One girls expressed to all of us her burden for some of her classmates. She was so burdened, I was helped by her perspective.
That Friday night when it came time for the testimony service, it began to rain. The decision was made to go inside. This took time and I was wondering how this would affect things. When we got inside and the testimonies got going, there was growing sense that the Lord was working. Several gave broken testimonies of the Lord’s working in their lives about bitterness and other issues. One upperclassmen said, “I have friends and people who in front of me, curse. And I never stand up for God. I just let them curse. And I am done with that. I am not letting anybody talk bad about God because I am not showing them that I am a Christian and I am not showing them that I take the things of God serious when I do that.” That night when the invitation was given, several responded to get right with the Lord and get saved. There were tears and God was working everywhere!
One young man had raised his hand the night before, but did not respond. That Friday night he responded and with tears was wonderfully saved. I wish you could have seen it!
Another young man responded to the invitation on Thursday and was saved that night. On Friday evening, he gave testimony of being saved. The young man said of his counselor, “He told me about Jesus. And so, I didn’t know Jesus before. I just came last night. So, when I was going to sleep last night I was talking to Jesus because He can save me.” He was from a restricted access nation and had never heard the Gospel before, but he had been searching. What a blessing to see the ready harvest harvested!
The next day on Saturday, I was standing in line with my daughters at a nearby McDonalds when a young lady in front of me said, “You were at Westwood Christian School.” She was a student there and we began a conversation. I asked her, “Are you saved?” “Yes” was her immediate reply. “When did you get saved?” She replied, “This week . . . I think.” She told me she had just said words before and was not sure that she had gotten saved, but God had worked in her heart this week. It was a blessing to hear her talk of God’s working in her life. That is what it is all about!
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