In 2013 our team had the privilege of coming to Calvary Baptist Church and Christian School in Greer, SC for the first time. Mrs. Gandy, the principal, had been exposed to our ministry back in the early days when we began in Chicago in the early 1980’s. It was good to again be back and see the Lord work in lives
One of our co-captains, Dana, commented that that Lord had put it on her heart to pray for someone to come like herself. Since she was saved in upper high school and had never heard the Gospel, she was praying that someone who was about her age when she got saved and someone who had never heard the Gospel would come and get saved. That prayer was answered when she recruited a young man after track practice. He came on Thursday night and after the message he responded to get saved. The Navy Seals captain led him to the Lord and received a text from him on Saturday. The text read, “I just wanted to thank you again for opening my eyes to God and Jesus and helping me on getting saved on Thursday.” This young man also brought a friend on Friday night who also was saved. Both of them were excited about telling others the Good News!
On Friday evening, there were some encouraging testimonies. One young man testified, “I’ve attended this school for four years. This week during the War of Special Forces, God convicted me of being bitter towards my parents and I didn’t even realize that I was bitter. But, God has convicted me and showed me that I need to get this right.” He then turned to his mother who was present and said, “And, Mom, I am sorry for being bitter towards you and I want to try and do better with God’s grace.” I looked back and saw a mother with tears accept her son’s heartfelt apology.
One teacher told me that a student had sent an email apology to her. Another student had talked to her in person to get something right and another student went to talk to the pastor to get right about what the Lord was dealing with him about. During the testimony service, one young lady said, “For a long time I had been struggling with listening to the wrong music and watching the wrong TV shows that my parents didn’t approve of. And I don’t know exactly what day it was but, pastor was talking about that and I realized that I needed to confess. So, I went to my parents and I talked to them that night and I was just shocked by their reaction. Like, they weren’t mad at me at all. Their facial expressions didn’t change at all and they just talked calmly and I could just tell that they were really glad that I had told them. I was just so relieved that I had told them.”
Several young people testified of settling the assurance of their salvation. One young lady put it this way during the testimony service, “I have always struggled with my assurance of salvation and just what pastor preached on Monday about knowing that Jesus is your foundation for being saved and it just really gave me the assurance that I needed.”
It was a blessing to see the Lord work in hearts. Join us in praying for young people like these to experience truth that sets them free!