When I scheduled The War at this church, I did not know much more about Reese Baptist Church than that it was planted in 1995 as a ministry of Baptist Church Planting Ministry. I knew that the reproducing church was Juniata Baptist Church, which was then pastored by Rick Flanders. However, when we arrived, I found that the pastor, Jeremy Beieler, was won and discipled by Dr. Flanders. Immediately, I knew that we had similar beliefs and a kindred spirit. Our hearts knit quickly.
Though we were excited about the prospects of the week and the unity of our focus and direction, we quickly found ourselves up against some challenges. The first morning at a nearby town, after getting only three recruits, our team members were told to remove themselves from the area by the local police. The following 48 hours did not bode much better for our recruiting effort. It seemed that everywhere we turned we were met with opposition. Satan was certainly not going to let anything go without a fight.
Though we worked, fought, and prayed, our first night was also fraught with difficulties. Attendance was low; spirit was low; teens argued with me during the preaching; gridlock in the invitation. We even had one man abruptly stand up and storm out during my closing invitation. A team captain caught him in the parking lot and plead with him, but he said he knew where he was going, and actually said he wanted to go to hell. Satan was fighting hard. Nevertheless, I talked to two young men afterward who clearly saw their need and trusted Christ.
The next day, our team fervently sought the Lord, much encouraged by some truth from a little book on spiritual warfare. We broke through in prayer. That night, our crowd nearly doubled, the spirit was better; there was even a better spirit during the preaching. But still we had gridlock during the invitation again. Nevertheless, I talked to another young man afterward who trusted Christ.
Leading up to the final night, we were burdened to see a real breakthrough in the invitation time. We sought the Lord again, and God delivered. That night, God gave clear liberty in the preaching. During the invitation time, it seemed like we were going to have another stalemate. In my heart, I recognized the whisperings of Satan saying, “It’s going to be just like all the other nights. You don’t really think your prayers are going to change anything do you?” I immediately refused the hiss of the serpent and pressed on in the invitation. After a few minutes, one young lady broke and nearly ran to the counseling room. Another young men responded shortly afterward. I opened the invitation to Christians dealing with sin, and another key young lady responded to get right. Unbeknownst to me, God was also doing a work out in the parking lot at this time. The young man who left early on the first night had returned, but refused to go in for the preaching. He remained outside the whole time. At one point, one of the team captains saw him with his head in his hands weeping. God was working! Someone from the church confronted him about his need. The pastor took him aside and led him to Christ right there in the parking lot. Praise the Lord for the victory applied to our crowd and our week in Reese, MI!
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