A couple of years ago, our team had the privilege of coming to Lewisburg Baptist Church in Lewisburg, WV for the first time. We had a wonderful week and were glad to return this year. We are thankful for the leadership at the church and school. We enjoyed working with them and the teens. We trust there will be lasting fruit in the days ahead!
There was a popular young man that was very cold towards the team on Sunday. However, on Wednesday, he responded to the invitation for bitterness and talked with Jeremiah, the Marine team captain. Due to his biological mom getting into drugs and being in prison, he and his siblings were put up for adoption. He had been bitter at his mom for years, but this week he chose to forgive her, pray for her salvation, and trust God for the restoration of his family. He was visibly changed! He testified on Friday:
“This week…really spoke to my heart when he was talking about bitterness and how you need to forgive others even if they don’t come to you and ask for forgiveness…there were people in my life who I needed to forgive…. Trust in God in all that you do.”
On Monday, a young lady went recruiting with Carissa, the Marine co-captain. Carissa was able to share some of her personal testimony. When the first invitation was given on Wednesday, this young lady responded and began to share how she knew she could trust Carissa because she would understand. That night she got things right with her parents.
While recruiting on Tuesday, Annaleese, the Seal co-captain, talked to two teen girls who had just hopped into their car at Dollar General. They seemed interested, but not very promising that they would come out. However, on Wednesday night, both girls came and even brought a friend. None of them responded in the invitation, but Sydney was able to fish them afterwards and go through the whole gospel. They had made professions of faith a couple years ago, but were a little confused. As she talked about baptism, it clicked with them that salvation was by faith alone. On Friday, one of them gave a testimony of her assurance that week:
“I just gave my life to Jesus about two years ago, but I don’t really think that I understood. Like…you have to…not only just believe in Him when you need Him, you have to believe in Him always.”
On Wednesday evening, a young man attended the evening rally. When the gospel invitation was given, he didn’t respond at first, but then came back and talked with Jeremiah. He was ready to be saved and clearly understood the gospel. With tears, he prayed out loud and then gave Jeremiah a big hug.
There was only one girl on the Ranger team that was able to go recruiting. Sydney, the Ranger co-captain, was able to connect with her during the recruiting times. On Wednesday, she responded to the invitation and talked with Sydney about her bitterness towards her parents. She gave her testimony on Friday:
“I…wanted to thank God for…working with me this week…working on bitterness to the people in my personal life…I don’t have to be alone through this and…God is with me.”
Nathan, the Seal team captain, talked with a young man on his team that was struggling with his relationship with his parents. He had been hiding things from them. He took some time and asked God to forgive him. Later that week, he told Nathan that he had written his parents a note, then talked with them, and was already experiencing a better relationship with them.
Alex, the Ranger team captain, recruited two guys at Walmart. They both came on Wednesday night and enjoyed the night. When the invitation was given, they both responded and were wondrously saved!
A young lady came Thursday evening with her boyfriend after Alex had invited them. This young lady raised her hand in the invitation, but didn’t respond. Sydney tapped her and asked if she wanted to come back. She said yes and was gloriously saved that night. Later, she mentioned to Sydney that she knew she needed to respond, but just needed a little more encouragement. When Sydney tapped her, she knew she needed to respond. When she came out of the counseling room, she found out that her boyfriend had also made the decision to trust Jesus as his Savior!
On Sunday, Annaleese was able to connect with a homeschooled young lady. She had attended the War a few years back and made it a point to be there for all the chapel services and evening rallies. She shared how her life had been transformed. Her friends were no longer in the school, and she didn’t feel like participating for any of it this year, but when Annaleese texted her on Wednesday, she decided she would come at least one night. She ended up coming all three nights and testifying on Friday night:
“I grew up in a Christian home…but a couple years ago when y’all came here there was something that I’d really been struggling with…I hadn’t gotten it settled and I did that week…that was really when God opened the door and showed me what He wanted me to do with my life… This week I was really struggling with deciding to come….but I decided to come in the evenings and…both nights were on salvation messages. And I…kind of tuned it out…I’ve been saved for years. I don’t need this, but I decided to listen…it just really made me realize how much…more time I need to spend witnessing to others…especially my family and even people that I don’t know that still need Christ.”
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