This was our fourth time at First Baptist Church in Clute, TX. We have watched the church grow in many key ways over the last eight years, so it was a joy to join with them again to reach the youth of their community. Their Pastor, Josh McGee, has had us three of the four times we were here. Both he and his wife are big fans of our ministry. Their new Youth Pastor, Christopher St. Clair, previously served as an assistant pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Canoga Park, CA. They were all very excited about what God would do through the week, as were we.
The first day of recruiting had many challenges. We had trouble finding teens, and many of the ones we found weren’t interested. We did get permission to promote the event in JROTC classes on Friday, which turned out to be a very key opportunity. Otherwise, the recruits were sparse, and we ended the day with 65 recruits.
On Friday, however, God began to mightily deliver. Between the 5 class periods, the team captains got over 60 recruits. At school dismissal until supper, the team captains cleared another 50. In fact, a police officer stopped the Army team captain and told him that he probably shouldn’t be on school property, but gave him some big tips for where to find teens that evening. In the evening, the mall was the place to be. The team captains were able to clear another 50 recruits basically from the mall alone. By the time we were done recruiting on Friday, we went from 65 to 243 recruits! What an amazing deliverance!!
On the first night, we were thrilled that God had brought out 50 teens, and it was an exciting night. We had a very large number of young people come from the JROTC groups we had invited. In fact, well over 50% of those that we invited from there attended the event over the three nights.
During the preaching that night, God moved in hearts, and 17 responded in the invitation. In the counseling room, most of the men counselors had 3 teens each. I had to go around and assist with several of the groups.
One group had two young men who understood the gospel, but were shy and quiet. The counselor didn’t know how to handle this, so he was going to send them home to think about it. I came over and found that they were ready; they just needed some coaching. After a few minutes, both bowed their heads and trusted Christ. As I was wrapping things up, I showed them both John 3:16, and the older of the two began weeping as it began to sink in what had just happened to him.
There was another group where the counselor was struggling to handle three very different situations. When I began asking questions, I found the one had been previously saved, another had trusted Christ on his own during the preaching, and the third still needed to make the decision. After a few clarifications, he bowed his head and called on the Lord to save him!
During registration earlier that night, one young man was walking through the parking lot and wasn’t planning to attend the event. One of the team captains spotted him and invited him to stay. He was a bit uneasy at first because he didn’t think he knew anyone there, but he got plugged in and enjoyed himself. At the invitation, he stood to his feet and went back in the invitation. The same team captain who invited him got to lead him to Christ!
By the time everything was said and done on Saturday, 14 young people had trusted Christ. Praise the Lord!!
The first night was exciting and had its battles for sure, but the second night had so many battles, it was getting ridiculous!
To start, the night began with a general spirit of oppression. The sky was gray, and everything just felt wrong. Then, as teens began arriving, many of them began to tell us that they had to leave before the preaching. It was obviously a bunch of lies.
At one point during registration, the Navy captain came to me with a concerned expression on his face. Apparently, there were two younger teens who said they had been assaulted on their way to the event by someone in the park. Their dad was on his way and was calling the police. I told the guys to cooperate, but that they couldn’t be absent from their responsibilities in doing so. I felt like things were spinning out of control.
Even though things seemed bad, our size was steadily building up until Spoke Tackle when we had 64 teens in attendance. Shortly before we came inside, my wife told me that the pizza was late, but that it should arrive any minute. They would give the teens a drink and an empty plate and would serve them when it arrived. Everyone came inside, and I carried on the program hoping that the pizza would arrive at any moment. It didn’t arrive until we had posted the final score and were about to transition to the preaching—45 minutes later. I had the workers hand out the slices as we were turning to the gospel message—not ideal.
As I began preaching, I was praying for God to work. I knew that the battle had been raging all night not because Satan had the upper hand, but because he was desperate and he was losing—and he knew it. As soon as I stood to preach, I had liberty. Though the crowd heckled and fumed at times, God worked so strongly that we had more people respond in the invitation than we did on the first night!
The battle raged in the counseling room here, too. We had a mom rip four young people right out of the counseling room. Another entire family came into the counseling room to get their son, but respectfully waited until he was done before they left with him.
It wasn’t all battles, though. We had some amazing stories happen in there, too! Two of the young men in that counseling room had come because their friend from the JROTC had invited them to come. They had come wearing their letter jackets and big smiles. After the preaching, they both had responded in the invitation and trusted Christ. One of them, after they had made the decision, smiled once again, turned around, and pointed me to the back of his letter jacket. It had the reference “Revelation 21:8” written on it, which I had preached on that night: “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” For the life of me, I still have no idea why he chose to put that verse reference on the back of his letter jacket. All in all, 12 young people ended up trusting Christ on Sunday night!
After the dust had settled and as we were all debriefing, I found out the rest of the story about the pizza. Apparently, it wasn’t a matter of neglect, laziness, or incompetence; the pizza joint was in a spiritual battle of their own. Even though the youth pastor had called and placed the order at 1:30pm, they were extremely overbusy and crowded for a Sunday night. As they were cooking our pizzas, the oven stopped working. They switched our pizzas over to the other oven and IT stopped working as well. Finally, they were able to get a manager to temporarily fix one of the ovens, and they got our pizzas cooked. They loaded up the pizzas in the delivery vehicle, and it wouldn’t start. They had to contact someone else to bring a backup vehicle to finally deliver it to the church an hour late. They didn’t charge the church a dime for the pizza. When the delivery guy got there, he told Christopher, the Youth Pastor, “I’ve never had a night like tonight; it was unreal!” Christopher told him, “I know why it happened; the devil was fighting because we have a room full of teens who need to hear the gospel.” The driver stiffened and left a little bewildered by the response. Though it was a knock-down-drag-out fight, God was working through it all and brought more souls to Jesus!
On the final night, we had even more spiritual battles. We had well over 50 on the rope for Tug of War, but close to a dozen of them left after the competitions, and there was nothing we could do about it. Inside, the preaching was so overtly despised and heckled by some that I felt like I was street preaching. Though it was a rough crowd, God was working.
One of the young men that was there that night was one of the many who came from the JROTC and trusted Christ on the first night. Each night, he had returned and, on this final night, he had brought his girlfriend. She, unbeknownst to any of us, was a Wiccan—basically a witch. During the sermon that night, I told a story I don’t usually tell about a group of Wiccan girls and a Satan worshipper who got mad at me for preaching against the occult and how one of them got saved. At the conclusion of the sermon, she went back in the invitation and talked to the Youth Pastor’s wife. She was very broken over her sin and even told her counselor that she knew she needed to turn from Wicca to Jesus. She was gloriously saved!
On the final night, one of the two “letter jacket brothers” invited his friend to come with him to The War for the final night. His friend came, sat through the preaching, and didn’t respond. In the parking lot afterwards while they were waiting for their ride, the letter jacket brother asked his friend if he had made the decision. He said that he had not. So, the letter jacket brother confronted him with his need to be saved and told him to go to the counseling room. There, a counselor showed him the gospel. He told his counselor that he had so many sins. He asked if Jesus could really forgive them all. The counselor assured him through Scripture that He could. And He did as he trusted Christ to save him!
We were very glad for those that trusted Christ on the final night. In addition to souls saved, we had 21 young people stand to indicate their desire to be surrendered to God. Glory to God!
Though the War nights were over, we had the privilege of sticking around for a few more days. It turns out, God was still working in hearts in the community!
After the event was done, we visited one of the young men who trusted Christ on the first night. His older brother answered the door and told us that his brother would be there in a few minutes. I struck up a conversation with him and, after a few moments, turned the conversation to the gospel. Quickly, the Holy Spirit began convincing him of his sin and need for a Savior. After about 20 minutes, he bowed his head and trusted Christ on his doorstep!
There was another young man who came the first two nights of The War, but didn’t respond in either invitation. As we were visiting teens, we saw him walking home. The Army captain wanted to stop and talk to him about the gospel. We stopped and he launched into conversation. The young man told the team captain that he had been thinking a lot about the messages he heard. After going through the gospel with him, he was ready and he trusted Christ!
On Friday, there were two young men that the Navy captain had recruited at the mall. When he called up the one, the team captain asked him if he had any friends he could invite. He said, “Yeah, I’ve got one with me right now.” The three showed up on the first night and two of them got saved. The third, however, seemed very upset and distraught during the preaching and didn’t respond in the invitation. Afterwards, he talked to the Army Captain and seemed very genuine and searching, but not ready to trust Christ yet.
He came back on the second night, but it seemed that he might have to leave before the preaching. We prayed, and they were able to stay. However, during the preaching, he seemed to harden and react to much of what was said. On the final night, he and his friend returned and sat through the preaching once again. Throughout the sermon, the distressed young man seemed to despise and reject all of it. Afterward, the Army captain asked him where he was at, and he said he just needed time to think about it. The team captain asked if we could connect with him again before we had to leave. He was open to it, and he said, “As long as you buy me a cheeseburger!”
They met on Tuesday night at McDonald’s, and after a long discussion, the troubled young man asked if Jesus could really forgive all of his sins. The team showed him verses that showed that he really could. There, in McDonald’s, he bowed his head and trusted Christ as his Savior! It was a thrilling victory, to be sure.
The week was a very exciting one, and God is still working even as I assemble this update. Please pray for the 87 young people who attended and especially for the 31 young people who trusted Christ during and after the event. Pray that they follow God and get under the preaching of the Word at First Baptist, so that they can impact the world for Jesus Christ! Pray that their parents trust Christ and that they themselves boldly proclaim the gospel to everyone they can!
About the Author
