The War of Special Forces team began coming to Beth Haven Baptist Church in 2004 and has been coming ever since. We have had some great memories here and this year was no exception. We were thrilled with souls saved and God working in the hearts of the teens in the church and school as well.
Ashton, the Seal Captain was burdened for the teens on his team. On Thursday night, we saw very few respond to the invitation. Ashton went fishing after the teens were dismissed and found out that a young man in the school had brought his friend. This friend struggled with believing God’s Word, and was very worldly. The Lord answered prayer and helped him to understand the simplicity of the gospel and he was gloriously saved that night! He had a younger sister and she was saved Friday night as well!
There was also a young man in the school on Ashton’s team that was struggling with bitterness. He responded to a message on Tuesday and it was clear that God was working in his heart. It was incredible to see the visible chagne in his heart and on his face. On Friday night he testified,
This week…I was convicted with bitterness. I’ll tell you why. So a few months ago, actually like a year ago…my dad passed and it was…pretty fast…I had a pretty good relationship with my dad, so that… made me bitter towards God and…for a long time…I was angry towards God and I didn’t really care. I didn’t care about…church or nothing. I never wanted to listen…to the message or anything….But again this week God convicted me of bitterness and…Dr. Jim did help me this week…he told me that you have to trust that…God does everything for a reason and a good reason….Just trusting God and…you may never know…what may come…of this, but…God knows and it’s always gonna be good.
Hyles, the Incredible Rangers captain, counseled a young man on Wednesday. He had been struggling with viewing problems and listening to wrong music and was very broken about his sin. Hyles was able to share truth with him from God’s Word and talked about how to confess to those who needed to know.
He was also able to talk to another boy strugging with secret sin. Hyles addressed salvation and found out that he was also struggling with assurance. He was able to get that settled and testified on Friday,
I just like to tell you a little bit about what God has done for me this week. God has told me that just because you grew up in a Christian home, just because you lived right your whole life, does not mean that you are good enough for heaven. We’re all sinners, we all come short of God. One thing I want to remind you what God has reminded me of, God is our strength. He will never fail you, he will never give up on you. So as long as you follow God, as long as you keep your trust in God, he will carry you through.
Annie, the Incredible Ranger’s co-captain spoke with a girl on bitterness toward her family. She knew that it was creating a barrier in her relationship with God, so she made some decisions to get that right and to talk to her family. After Friday’s message on dependence, she made the decision to fully depend on God to make that right rather than her own strength. She gave a testimony on Friday,
I’ve been going to church my whole life…I was a pastor’s daughter. So…I’ve been going to Christian camp since I was old enough to walk…but I would go to these camps and I would get right with God and then I would go home and the next day I would mess up or the next week I would mess up…And this week I realized that there was kind of this bitterness that sometimes I didn’t see, sometimes I did see it and…you know how the flesh is, it’s like, no, I want to keep this, like this is my normal, right? Well, I realized that that bitterness was…keeping me from actually getting these things right because…pride and bitterness are kind of the gateway to everything else…This week I was able to get a lot of that bitterness right with the people around me, my family and everything…And God’s just been really helping me.
Carissa, the Super Seal’s co-captain, counseled a girl on her team on Tuesday after chapel. She had an extremely rough past and was bitter at her family and angry at God. That day, she recognized her unbelief in God and asked Him for forgiveness. Carissa was able to show her some verses and she decided to trust God even in the hardest of circumstances. On Friday night she testified,
My name is Aubrey and most of you probably know me, but a lot of you don’t know about my past…I’ve been in and out of foster care most of my life, but when I turned 10 then I got permanently separated from my mom and dad and some of my siblings…I just was very mad at God for taking my family away and when I got adopted at 14, then I had a very mad and bitter heart towards the family that loved me and adopted me…a half a year after we got adopted, then my adopted mom passed away and I just went into another relapse of being…extremely mad about the way my life was going and the situations that God had put me in. But this week I just felt a lot of peace about it and just knowing that everything’s going to be okay.
Annie counseled a girl her team on hidden sin. She knew she was spending too much time on her phone as a replacement of spending time with God. She made the decision to get rid of her social media accounts and put God first. On Friday night, she said,
God convicted me about…doing my devotions because I haven’t been doing my devotions in a long time and…I’ve been hiding a lot of stuff from my friends and my family and that ended up in me lying to my family and my best friends. And now…I have two accountability partners…that…are helping me to remember to do my devotions and encouraging me.
Here are a few more testimonies from Friday night.
At a very young age, my parents had struggles with their marriage and got divorced…and as I grew up, I learned the story of what was happening and I got very bitter…And about 2 or 3 years ago, my brother started trying to help me with God cause I…just wouldn’t listen in church…I kept shutting him out because of my bitterness…I wouldn’t listen to him. I’d push him away. I’d say, I don’t need it. But this week on Wednesday, I heard Austin’s testimony that we should take care of our bitterness and we shouldn’t have it. So, I got saved on Wednesday night and I’m now at peace with the Lord.
Hi…I just wanted to share…what God did with me this week…Mrs. Van Gelderen actually helped with this during her…Thursday afternoon split session during our school…She talked about devotions and I’ve been struggling with being with God and stuff. I knew my feet were pointed towards God, but I wasn’t walking towards God. And so now I’m gonna be reading my Bible and praying. And also helped me with…my pride because I just thought I was the biggest best person, but I’m not cause God is.
So I’ve been struggling with bitterness for a while and I didn’t really notice it until Austin gave his testimony on it and talked about it…He didn’t notice it either until a preacher was preaching on it. And you always think like it’s not me, this is going for someone else until you really self-reflect and God convicts you about it. And that’s what he did to me this week. I was bitter at my sister and my parents for so long. And God just convicted me about it and I’m not all the way done being bitter yet, but I know God’s working on it, and I can see it right now in my life.
God has dealt with me and…he’s been saying to me that I have not been spending enough time and…thinking about what he’s done in my life and…I haven’t really been…thankful for it really. And…I haven’t been spending time with praying…and devotions and if I’ll get something out of a devotion, I’ll just forget it like in the next hour. And uh so I God just helped me to…read my Bible more and…write what I’ve got out of a devotion on a piece of paper…so I can remember it. God’s been teaching me about his love for me and for others and how I want to…show others God’s love through telling them the gospel.
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