The good folks at Good News Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA are no stranger to The War. They have hosted the team a number of times in the past. Their Assistant Pastor, Mike Ascher, traveled with The War its first year as a college team decades ago. Their Youth Pastor, Mark Taylor, has organized The War so many times, sometimes I thought he knew more about what to do than I did! The whole church was a tremendous blessing the whole time we were there.
We had an outstanding time recruiting. Brother Taylor knew the schools so well, he directed the guys when to go and where to look for teens. God opened tremendous doors of opportunities for recruiting. God opened the heart of nearly every coach we spoke to. Therefore, we were able to recruit nearly every sports team we encountered. I got to go inside the school building and talk to an entire room full of ROTC students. The whole room signed up. Many attended. One of the young men in the youth group picked up our recruiting lines very quickly. He began to get names and numbers along with the team captains. The final day of recruiting, he was competing with the Navy Team captain to see who could get the most. Our total amount of names and numbers ended up being 504–the highest week of the semester. One of the team captains had a teen ask him about the gospel while he was recruiting. One thing led to another and the young man bowed his head on the street and trusted Christ as his Savior!
The War nights were outstanding. Each night was well attended. On the final night, the mud pit was classic! The mud for the mid pit that night was so thick, it resembled a Wendy’s Frosty—perhaps even thicker. It was so think, when teens were pulled through it, the mud globbed out on the side like freshly mixed cement. It was so thick, teens who finished a tug in the pit had to get pulled out—they could not do it themselves! Over the course of the week, over 109 teens attended. God worked in hearts every night. One young lady left without Christ the first night, but trusted Christ later on that night at home. She came back the next night to make sure she “got it right.” Another young lady told my wife that she had learned more about the Bible in the previous three night at The War than three months at her church! A total of 29 young people trusted Christ for the week. Praise the Lord!
This week was also our final week of the tour. Navy was under pressure because they needed the win this week to end the semester in a tie. After the first two nights, it looked like that would be the case. However, on the final night, Army won both outside competitions and ended barely up winning the week on the big bonus question. Our week at this church was wonderful in so many ways, I couldn’t think of a better church at which to end a semester. I hope to be back again!
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