What an absolutely incredible week! Guy Solarek is the pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Indianapolis, IN. Many might recognize the church as Charlie Kittrel’s old church where he pastored until the Lord took him home. Though it may be a new face in the pulpit, the faith of Charlie Kittrel is certainly still present here at this church and in its pastor. In the correspondence I had with Pastor Solarek, I got the impression they expected half of Indianapolis to get saved. The church was in fact praying for 100 teens to come out and 50 to be saved.
Pastor Solarek believed that souls would be saved, so he also believed that their church needed to be prepared to follow up with those teens. Therefore, he took me up on my offer to do “Boot Camp,” a two-night lecture designed to prepare members of the church for counseling and follow-up. Many of the church member attended these meetings and were stirred and scared to death at the same time.
The first night, we had a great turnout. 75 teens attended. The score ended with Army ever so slightly in the lead at 10,800 to 10,100. At the invitation after the preaching, we had a gully washer. By the time we were through with all the counseling, 18 teens had trusted Christ!
The second night, our crowd increased to 79. Army handily defeated Navy in Big Ball Basketball, but Navy came back and won Spoke Tackle. At the end of the night, Navy lead the way at 32,100 to 28,800. Typically, the second night’s invitation is less than the first night. Not this week! God came down and before the night was through, 24 teens trusted Jesus alone to save them!
The third night, attendance was good at 72 and competition was fierce. Navy led the way in Fooseball all the way up until the final quarter. In the final quarter, Army began making a comeback and tied it up in the final minute. Navy scored, regaining the lead. With 15 seconds left, Army tied it up again. Within mere seconds remaining, Navy scored an unbelievable, game-winning shot! Though Navy put up a fight, Tug O’ War ended up going to Army in the final round. Both teams headed inside even for the night, though Navy retained a 3,300 point lead from the night before. By time trivia was complete, the Navy team was behind by 1,600 points. However, they got the big bonus question, bringing them into a 400 point lead. Each team had two opportunities to guess the score. The only person to guess correctly was a young man on the Army team, who got the 500 point bonus and won the night at 58,100 to 58,000–as close as it can possibly get!! After the preaching, God worked again at the invitation and 8 teens trusted Christ, bringing the total salvation decisions to 50, exactly what the church had been praying for. Also, the total attendance for the week was 134, well above what the church was praying for!
At the end of the week, not only am I thrilled at what God did, but I feel confident in the faithful and faith-filled follow-up that will continue long after our team leaves this church. I fully expect to hear great things in the months and years ahead about what is going on at Crossroads. Praise the Lord!
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