I remember coming to Victory Baptist Academy for the first time in 1997. The school was much smaller then. Since that time, we have come to VBA on a regular basis. Pastor Rollan Roberts is still here and so is his son in law, Donald Thomas. Pastor Thomas’s wife was a student in the first War of Special Forces in 1997. We have some great memories over the years here, and this year was no exception.

On Monday, the Seal team went to recruit at a public high school. Unfortunately, there were hardly any walkers that were able to be invited. As they were driving to another location, they passed a group of four or five teen guys walking down the road. Nathan, the Seal team captain, recruited them and they were pumped. They attended on Wednesday and brought more friends on Thursday. They didn’t respond to the invitation, but Alex caught them afterwards. They knew they would go straight to hell if they died that night. They all were saved that night!

Alex, the Ranger team captain, used his membership at Planet Fitness to recruit on Tuesday. He recruited a young man who came with two friends on Wednesday night. Those two friends got saved. While at the gym, the tennis coach allowed Alex to talk to the guys and the girls’ teams. One of the tennis girls came on Thursday. During the message, she was glued and was so anxious to respond. Sydney, the Ranger co-captain, had the privilege of leading her to the Lord. 

On Tuesday, several students came back for purity counseling even though there was not a formal invitation. One particular young man came back broken about his need for victory. He had already been open and honest with his parents, but had not been able to see sustained victory. Jeremiah, the Marine team captain, was able to counsel him and give him practical steps for victory. Throughout the week, Jeremiah was able to challenge and encourage him. 

A young man on the Ranger team responded to the invitation on Thursday. He was convicted about his angry home, his cheating, and his purity. Alex counseled him and helped him find a pathway to victory. On Friday, he approached Alex again. He knew there were more steps God wanted him to take. He realized he had never fully confessed and asked forgiveness from God. He bowed his head and prayed. When he finished, he was beaming and gave Alex a big hug,

On Tuesday during recruiting, Carissa, the Marine co-captain, spotted a girl swinging by herself at a park. Carissa invited her, and she came on Thursday night. She didn’t raise her hand in the invitation, but after dismissal, she asked Carissa to help her find her keys. Carissa asked her if she’d ever heard a message like that before. She said she had, but had a lot of questions. The Lord gave Carissa wisdom for exactly which verses to use to answer each question. Meanwhile the rest of the team met together and prayed for deliverance and understanding for this teen girl. It was a battle, but Christ’s victory was manifested when it all clicked for the girl. She was gloriously saved that night!

One of the young ladies on the Seal team brought a friend on Thursday. She was all in! During the invitation, she responded and Annaleese, the Seal co-captain, had the privilege of leading her to the Lord. She came back the next day and gave her testimony. Her story of God preserving and protecting her was incredible:

“I’ve realized that God has really pulled me out of…a bad situation…I’m gonna try to keep it together while I tell this story…I am a sex [trafficking] survivor…my parents had sold me for drugs…I saw so many girls and boys just die because of it and I somehow…made it. I’ve realized that that was God. God pulled me out of that situation and placed me in a good home and good environment. I suffered from addiction with marijuana and nicotine for about three years of my life. And God has helped me realize that I do not need to depend on that anymore….All I need to do is depend on Him and lay every burden down at his feet because He has paid the ultimate sacrifice—His life. I hated my family…but the Lord says to forgive, not for them, but for yourself…and I forgive them…[God’s] just so amazing; He can pull you out of anything. You just have to trust Him. He’s so great!”

While out recruiting on Tuesday, one of the Christian school girls spotted two girls in Qdoba. She went in and recruited them both. One of the girls came on Thursday, enjoyed the competitions and was tracking during the message. She responded right away in the invitation, and the Christian school young lady was able to assist in leading her to the Lord. 

Nathan, was able to counsel two senior guys on the Seal team. They were burdened about their emotional purity and Nathan gave them practical tools for victory. They realized their need to be honest and take off their mask. Both young men were encouraged and testified on Friday:

“I’m a student here at Victory. And we had the opportunity to hear Brother Van Gelderen preach in chapels…. He talked about our purity and how important it was. But then he got through his points and then he hit emotional purity. And how we are supposed to save our love and our heart for our spouse and for God…I’ve been in a few relationships and because of that it’s messed me up inside, but this week God showed me that I need to get over those attachments. I need to focus on my love for God. It caused my thoughts to go wrong…God can show me how to focus more on His love and save my love for my future spouse instead of constantly thinking about these past relationships I’ve had… I praise God that He can give me the victory and He has helped me each and every day so far.”

“I came into this week thinking ‘hey it’s my last War; we’re gonna have fun.’ I didn’t really have a desire to get anything right with God because I didn’t want to…I was loving living with my sin, just doing what I enjoyed and living for myself. And it really hit when he was talking about purity with your viewing, your music…your emotional purity…But then when he said ‘What are you gonna do when those dirty jokes come up? What are you gonna do when you’re in the locker and the guys start talking about stuff? What are you gonna do when you’re with your friends and you start talking about stuff?’ I was never the kid who was the strong enough Christian…I wasn’t showing Christianity in any walk of my life…Then he talked about zero percent me, [one] hundred percent God…I realized everything in my Christian life that I would get a small victory for a little bit…I would be so happy and then fall right back in sin. I would wear a mask, show up to church, walk around acting like I was this perfect kid…I was just miserable inside cause I was living in sin, and God just spoke to my heart this week about taking that mask off and becoming a real Christian.”