We love Heritage Baptist Church in Woodbridge, Virginia. We have been going there now for over twenty five years. We have gotten to know the folks there and appreciate their love for the Lord. It was great to meet Pastor Carpenter. He is the new pastor there. We also loved working with Brian and Marianne Kosa. He is the administrator and has been there from the first time, in the spring of 1997, until now. We are thankful for the many things the Lord did in hearts this week!

The team got permission to be on school property at one of the local middle schools during the school let-out. On Monday, our entire team stood outside the doors of the middle school and made many connections. Over the course of the three War nights, we saw a few kids come from that middle school. It was a great beginning connection for the church to be able to continue having influence there. 

Early on in the week, the youth director challenged our team to pray for teens by name and to make a strong connection with just one teen. This seemed like a small step for such a big school, but our team members each took the challenge very seriously. Will, the Ranger team captain, got burdened for a senior guy on his team who was hardened to our team and to the Lord. We prayed for this young man all week. God answered our prayers on Friday night when this young man came to give a testimony, but he first had to forgive his dad. God broke him as Will walked him through forgiveness. He got up and gave this testimony: 

“I know not all of you know me personally, but I know you all recognize me. You see me walking through the hallways looking depressed, mad at people – something along those lines. This week God has spoken to me to finally share my story…trusting God, to find grace through God, to forgive…But you know, this week especially, I finally was able to let go of that resentment, that hatred—especially inside—all of that is God. I finally let God take that away…I finally let Him take control of my life, I stopped relying on myself, stopped relying on music, self harm. I finally let Him take control of my life. I can finally smile, can go home and find real joy…I can feel content.”

Because this young man, who was definitely a leader in the school, broke and stood up to give a testimony, another senior guy broke and got open about the sin he had been hiding. He gave a testimony Friday night, and then later that night, Jonathan, the Marine team captain, counseled him through his decision. 

“After hearing [my friend] speak…that is the last thing I expected to hear and that was the most moving thing I’ve ever heard in my life….I’ve hardened my heart this week and [the] messages were amazing, but I held out on God. I was like, I could do this on my own, I could do the Christian life and my worldly life with it, and I can do it on my own…His messages on addiction…it can be hard to admit that I am addicted, but after what had been said today, I really want to go home to my parents and tell them; this has got to stop…the example of the mirror, if you take a step towards God, He will take a step towards you…I just want to get right…and realize there is grace.”

Our team saw many key salvation decisions. Esther, the Seal co-captain, talked to one of the Christian school girls on Thursday. As they talked, it was clear the girl was not saved. Esther was able to go through the Gospel with her and see her get saved. She gave this testimony Friday night: 

“Something God really showed me this week was that I really wasn’t sure about my salvation. I wondered if I maybe was too young, if I didn’t understand it, if I was just doing it to do it – I wasn’t sure. So this week I was assured of my salvation.”

One of the teens on the Seal team invited his three cousins to the War nights. Caleb, the Seal team captain, was able to talk to the cousins at the end of the evening on Thursday. They were ripe fruit, ready to get saved, and all three got saved that night!  On Friday night, during the testimony service, Caleb confronted a friend of one of the Christian school kids about his need for salvation. While the testimony service was going on, that young man got saved. 

Here are some more testimonies of what God did:

“This afternoon…a group of guys…we ailed about our struggles and things that are kind of a little hard to admit, but we got it all out in the open and we prayed. This afternoon I prayed for the longest time I have ever prayed in my entire life. And it really helped.”

“Like many of you guys I walked in to the War of Special Forces really hard-hearted and I didn’t want to listen to any of the messages. I didn’t think I needed them. I thought I could work things out on my own and just come for all of the games and have fun…it’s when we went into our separate groups that Caleb was almost pleading with us, telling us to open our hearts and that he could see how hard-hearted everyone was. And God showed me just bitterness that I didn’t know I had toward other people.” 

“I used to think of myself as a girl everyone hated and was weird because I didn’t have any siblings…and today actually I realized that it’s not about what other people think, it’s not about what I think, it’s only about what God thinks. He made me perfectly and wonderfully, and I should work with that. That’s how He made me. He didn’t make me like someone else; He made me like me. I shouldn’t care if other people hate me, I should only care if God hates me- which He doesn’t, He loves me.”

“Pastor Van Gelderen…talked about bitterness and how when you’re bitter towards somebody you are going to become the person you are bitter towards, and I thought to myself, “I’m becoming my father.” Because I hated my father. I was bitter towards people, not just my father. People in my life who I thought were just a bother to me…just the thought of them stirred up so much anger. I remember when I went over to Will…and I got right with God. I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s just this flood of grace, just knowing that you’re free from sin, from what you were doing.”

“This week I’ve had some struggles with my salvation, I wasn’t really sure if I was saved and I remember each time someone would preach and it was on salvation I would pray to God again just to make sure I was saved. But this week, thanks to Abi and thanks to the preaching, I am sure that once I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, I will [now] be able to spend eternity with Him.”

“I like to put a good face on…I like to be a happy person that’s always…kind to everyone, who likes everyone, and everyone likes him. But you know that’s really not who I am. At one point in my life I liked hating my dad…I would take it out on the soccer field. I want to see that guy on the ground and…I don’t want to hate [my dad] anymore…and I encourage anyone else who has this kind of hate to let go and forgive.”