The is the first time our team had the privilege of coming to Shawnee Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. I have heard of the church for years, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to come and labor with these dear folks. Pastor Steve Frost is doing a great job! We thoroughly enjoyed the week and were grateful for over 50 souls saved.

On Monday, Alex, the Ranger team captain, felt burdened to get into a high school lunchroom. He was able to meet with the principal and arrange for the three guys to recruit in the lunchroom the next day. Several teens came as a result, and Alex was able to lead two key high school guys to the Lord.

There was a young lady on the Seal team that had an incredibly difficult home situation. She responded to the first invitation on Wednesday and talked with Annaleese, the Seals co-captain. She had a lot going on and ended coming back for every invitation with more to talk through. By Friday, she had decided to forgive her parents for all they had done. 

Carissa, the Marine co-captain, invited a mom who was waiting to pick up her kids on Monday. She texted and promised to bring several of her teens. Due to one of her teens getting counseled, she got upset at having to wait around on Wednesday. However, she still brought them back the next day. On Friday two more of her teens got saved. While she waited for them, Rhonda, my wife, was able to go through the gospel with her and she was gloriously saved the night. 

On Wednesday, a young man responded to the invitation. He had been adopted and was very bitter towards his biological brother and deceased dad. After talking with Alex, he became convinced that God has a plan for his life. He testified on Friday:

“When I was little, my biological father left and I kinda just felt like ‘why would God choose this path for me.’ But after the first night I felt like…I’ve sinned and I should probably let God know that I forgave…and that He can be my Father.”

Monday afternoon, Nathan, the Seal team captain, recruited a high school young man. He came brought two friends, and was pumped to be there. That night, Nathan was able to lead all three to the Lord. 

Several of the Christian school teens were not saved. Our team was praying that this week many would receive Christ. On Thursday evening, a girl on the Seal team from the school raised her hand. Annaleese had been burdened for her and was praying that she would come back. She boldly stood up and responded to the invitation. In a few short minutes, she was wondrously saved. She gave her testimony on Friday:

“Last night Dr. Jim in Proverbs talked about…if you do wrong you might go down the wrong path. If you do right you might go down the right path. When [God] gave me the courage to stand up and go back and get saved I said ‘no.’ I didn’t have the courage, but the next night I stood up and had the courage and it was so worth it. I got saved and I got all my sin washed away.” 

Throughout this week, there were several encouraging decisions that some of the girls made. On Friday night, a few of these girls responded with their unsaved friends. They were burdened for them and wanted to share the gospel with them. Some had never given the gospel before, but with the assistance of the co-captains, these Christian school girls were able to lead their first souls to Christ!

During the week, the team was joined by a young man who had just recently been saved within the last couple years. He had a unique fire to serve the Lord, having been saved from a life of depression and purposelessness. Since his family is antagonistic towards the things of God, he has stood alone while receiving mentorship from the pastoral staff. He was able to get the entire week off from work and therefore joined the team in recruiting, prep work, and the war nights everyday after school. Several times while out with Alex, he bumped into old friends whom he was excited to invite. We saw many of his recruits come! During the evening invitations, he would confront those who hadn’t responded to the message. He has felt God’s call on his life to be a preacher and on Friday night he testified/ preached about the salvation he experienced in trusting Christ alone as his Savior and the peace and joy that serving Christ has to offer. 

“15 years old I was in my room. I was just livin’ life. I wanted to kill myself. I dead seriously was gonna kill myself. Didn’t have nothin’ to live for. Didn’t have God in my life…. I wanna tell all of y’all right now—God loves y’all. I don’t…care what y’all been through. He don’t look at your past. He died for all your sins bro I’m tellin’ y’all. He loves every single last one of you… That’s why He died on the cross for you, cause He doesn’t want you to go to hell!”