Praise God for showers of blessing this week at Calvary Baptist Church in Loganville, GA. God had already been working in the church months before we arrived. When the Netcasters Evangelistic Team had come through to do a week of personal evangelism training for the members of the church, the people took many steps of faith. This week, their faith was pushed to the next level.
Pastor Powell opted to take advantage of our new counselor training program called “Boot Camp.” The purpose of this optional module is to train personal workers for the counseling room as well as to prepare them for follow up. We met together Monday and Tuesday night, I presented my burden and some PowerPoint lectures I have prepared. The people were stirred, encouraged, and scared to death all at the same time.
When our first rally night came around, anticipation was high. Early in the day, we plead with God to change the weather. The forecast predicted thunderstorms all throughout our competition times. God authored faith in our hearts as we prayed and encouraged us that He would answer. When the showers began an hour before the competitions began, our faith was challenged, but as soon as the teens stepped onto the field, the rain stopped and we had a wonderful night! Army dominated everything outside, winning both Volleyball and Tube Tug. However, Navy was not to be deterred. Navy came back during the inside competition and ended the night only a couple thousand points behind. During the preaching, God gave unusual liberty. During the invitation, so many people raised their hands that they were concerned for their souls, that one of the church ladies audibly gasped in amazement. She was even more amazed when almost all of them stood to their feet in the invitation and went back to the counseling room. Even though we had a decent army of counselors prepared, some of the men still had to talk to three young people at a time. When everything was said and done, 25 teens had very clearly trusted Christ that night. Incredible!
On Thursday, the forecast for rain was even more grim than the previous day’s had been. We prayed again, God giving liberty in prayer. Later on in the afternoon, the radar showed the thunderstorm, which had been a large, ominous mass, disintegrated into smaller scattered clouds, all of them completely missing us. Praise God! Navy won both outside competitions easily. The Army team, limping inside, seemed decimated. However, once inside, they began a comeback that ended their night less than three thousand points behind Navy. Throughout the night, Satan was fighting hard. We had several distractions during the outside competitions, inside competitions, as well as the preaching. One young man responded in the invitation and trusted Christ. However, afterward, one of the team members talked to a group of five young men who had resisted during the invitation. God broke through in their hearts, and all five of them trooped together with the team member into the counseling room. Four out of those five trusted Christ, several through tears of brokenness!
On Friday morning, the forecast was yet worse than it had been the previous two nights, calling for 80% chance of rain during our competition time. We stood upon the promises of God again, hearkening back to Elijah and how God held the rain back from Israel for three years because he prayed. We trusted God for great victories over the Satanic opposition we had experienced the night before. Later on, we met for prayer again. This time, the forecast grew worse. At 3PM it read 95% chance of rain during our competition times–not good. We came before the Lord again and plead with Him to remove the storms. During that time, we decided to believe the forecast of God’s Word more than the weatherman’s forecast. God gave us peace that His will would be done. That night, not a drop of rain or a flash of lightning appeared the whole time we were outside. In fact, God brought out some wonderful sunshine for our competition. The final night, the competition was fierce all night long. Army barely pulled out a victory in Fooseball, winning in a sudden-death overtime. Navy won Tug O’ War in the third out of three tugs. Inside, the points were neck and neck all the way up to the end. But at the end of the night, Navy won with a final score of 52,900 to 48,100. God gave great liberty and attention during the preaching. I definitely felt constrained by the love of Christ as I preached. During the invitation, one young man responded and trusted Christ. Afterward, I got to talk to two young men who were afraid to respond at the invitation. Both bowed their head in the parking lot and placed their dependence on Jesus alone! All in all, we had a total attendance of 103 over the three nights, a high night of 78, and 33 teens trusted Christ
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