If you talk to any former Minutemen Evangelist who has done The War at Keystone Heights, no doubt you will see a look of excitement and nostalgia flash upon their face. In the 90’s, The War had great success in the community at Freedom Baptist Church when Mark Stevens was the Pastor. Hundreds of teens came during each of these meetings and many were saved. Because of these days of great opportunity and blessing, Jim Van Gelderen strongly encouraged me to find a way to get back. When Pastor Jason Stephens (no relation to Mark) called me to schedule a meeting, I was very excited about seeing for myself what God would do at this town in North-central Florida.
Soon after we arrived, we began to see what was so special about this little town—the word of mouth travels quickly. After a few mere hours of recruiting, the team captains began to hear from people that they had already heard about The War and were planning to attend. We were excited about what God was going to do.
Recruiting was not without its challenges, however. The school was not as open to our influence as it once had been years ago. We were limited in how much access we had to the students, however God gave opportunities in spite of the limitations.
One of the team captains saw a young man on campus and initially balked at speaking to him. He overcame his fear and took a step of faith. The young man was not only interested, but brought him to the weight room which was filled with the kind of guys you would expect to meet in a weight room! The team captain was able to get permission from the coach to speak to the whole room and invite them to come. Many were interested!
On the second night of The War, three of the young men from that weight room came. They played hard in the competitions and were locked in during the preaching. One of them raise his hand indicating his desire to be saved, but did not respond in the invitation because he had an early curfew. The other two young men did not raise their hand, but the team captain who invited them was able to talk to them before they left. They were very interested in talking because God had been working in their hearts. In a very short amount of time, the team captain shared a verse from Romans 3, the young men understood their lost condition, and they both bowed their heads in the parking lot and trusted Christ to save them!
There was young lady that the other team captain had recruited who said in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in church, God, or the Bible. She signed up with the team captain anyway, however. The team captain called her up on Saturday and she gave him excuses. The Lord laid this young lady on his heart to pray for. On Sunday, he texted her and she gave him another excuse. The team captain became more and more burdened for her soul. On Monday, he told her to cut the excuses and that she needed to come for the final night. Though it seemed impossible, she came. She got plugged in to the competitions and the preaching as well. The Holy Spirit convinced her of the truth and she was the first person to respond in the invitation. She trusted Christ in the counseling room and made a bee-line out to the team captain to talk to him. She said to him, “I got saved tonight. Thank you for not giving up on me.”
Overall, we had 95 teens in attendance with a high night of 70. Over the three nights, 18 young people put their trust in Jesus Christ alone to save them. On the following Wednesday, a good number of the newly saved teens were in attendance at the Youth Group gathering. We praise the Lord for the power of the gospel and for a growing work there in Keystone Heights. Pray for lasting fruit, effective followup, and further inroads into the lives of the families of these teens.
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