Southwestern Florida is beautiful especially this time of year. We always love coming to Gospel Baptist Church, not just because it is Florida, but because GBC is vibrant and moving forward! It has been a few years since we were here. The youth pastor is Thomas Swett. He traveled with Evangelist John Pound a couple of years ago with the War Blitz team. It was great to work with him. His traveling experience was a great help in facilitating a great week.

On Wednesday, Josiah, the Marine team captain, counseled a senior guy on his team who was bound by bitterness towards his extended family. The young man realized that he needed to trust God with the hard things that had happened in his life. He forgave the people who had wronged him and let go of the bitterness.  

There was a young man in the youth group who went to another Christian school in the area. He was very zealous about inviting kids from his school. On Wednesday night, several of the people he invited came out to the War night, and he was encouraged to see God use him. Josiah was able to talk with him after the War night on Friday. The young man opened up about wearing a mask at school and living a double life. He wanted to be real and live out who God made him to be. 

There was a girl in the school who talked to Josiah after his testimony and the chapel message on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she responded during the in-school invitation, and got some more counsel from Annaleese, her Ranger co-captain. She told Annaleese about her hard home situation and the bitterness she had been holding onto towards her dad. Annaleese continued to counsel her throughout the week. The girl took several steps towards victory, including forgiving her dad. One of the main steps she needed to take was talking to her mom. Although she planned to talk to her mom in a few months, she realized God wanted her to tell her that week. On Thursday, she talked to her mom, and began experiencing a victory she hadn’t experienced before. Here is a testimony that she shared: 

“Just yesterday I came clean to my mom about some things I was doing…knowing that I was doing it wrong, and she still forgave me. Knowing I had to come up to her was hard, but I felt like it was the right thing, and after that I got closer with God and I honestly felt better and I felt more connected with God.”

Abi, the Marine co-captain, recruited two girls while the team was out for dinner on Monday night. When she texted them, they said they were planning to come on Friday night. The team prayed that they would stick to their word and come. On Friday night, the two girls showed up and brought a friend with them. They all three got involved in the competitions. They listened intently to the Gospel message and were very quick to respond when the invitation was given. Each of the co-captains counseled one of the girls. The three girls had never heard basic Bible truth, but by the end of the night, they all three placed their dependence in Jesus alone to save them. 

One of the upperclassmen girls in the school had been involved in many deep moral sins. A month before our team came, she cried out to the Lord, sick of her sin. She got saved there on her own. Janna, the Seal co-captain, counseled her through many different topics. She continued taking steps of obedience as God talked to her throughout the week. She talked to her parents, confessing everything she had been involved in, and started to put up boundaries in her life.

This was the last week of the tour and we are glad for all the Lord did in hearts. We were excited to leave the youth pastor, Thomas, with the follow up and look forward to hearing the Lord’s continued working.