When I was in elementary school, I observed God move in a mighty way in our church’s youth group. Right in the middle of the unusual work of God was Bill Egerdahl. He was on fire for God, and I have never forgotten his zeal for the Lord. Pastor Bill now is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in West Columbia, SC.

This is the second time that I have been to Grace when Pastor Egerdahl was pastor. Our team really enjoyed working with Pastor Egerdahl and his staff. Every day we met with members of the pastoral staff to pray for an extended time. It was such a blessing! I am convinced that what God did this week was in answer to prayer.

During the week, we could tell there was a spiritual battle. On Friday morning in response to the invitation, about one third of the student body responded. We went into a corporate prayer meeting, and many of the students began to weep as they declared how much they needed the Lord. It was quite remarkable to see how God was working in their hearts. We went through a good amount of Kleenex before it was over!

One young lady from the Christian school listened to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and responded to the invitation during Friday chapel. She struggled with the fear of man. At the campfire service on Friday night, she gave a testimony of what God had done in her heart:

“He helped me realize I need to depend on Him fully, and that came in play tonight because I really did not want to come up here—I was afraid. And He just helped me with that tonight.”

This young lady saw God’s strength through her weakness!

One young man had been a part of a basketball outreach in the spring. The church had his contact information so he was called and invited to come for the War nights. He came out on Wednesday night. Joshua, the Marine team captain, talked to him after the service and asked him what he was trusting in to get to heaven. The young man said he needed to try to be better. Joshua told him that according the Bible, he would go to hell. Joshua then went through the whole gospel with him. The young man clearly understood and was saved!

Matthew, the Ranger team captain, recruited a young man at the high school. On Wednesday morning, this young man had a near car accident on his way to school. He found himself between an 18-wheeler and a stop sign, but thankfully was not injured. He was interested in coming on Wednesday night, but his ride fell through. He worked out a way though, and showed up that first night. He shared his testimony of what happened that night during the invitation:

“And I remember when we bowed our heads and we closed our eyes, and he was talking about “does anybody want to get saved?” And I remember that in my heart that I needed to raise my hand and I needed to do it. So that’s what I did Wednesday night. God told me that I needed to get saved, and I did. And I accepted Jesus and He took my sins away.”

Below are several other testimonies that were a blessing:

“I’ve really learned this week that there’s a lot of things…I can’t do it on my own. I can’t live life on my own; I can’t ….I need God. God knows that, and He’s just waiting for us to come to Him and admit that we need Him and let Him help us.”

“I can’t do it…I can’t do one day, I can’t do one minute without His prayer, without Him talking to me…personally. When I do these little things that God wants us to do to be faithful, I fall. And it’s not like I fall…and I can get back up. No. God takes me and makes me stay on the ground. So I get back up, and rely on Him to get back up.”

Praise the Lord for the work He did in hearts this week!