I always love coming to Miami! When I was a child, we visited Miami often. This was the town where my dad grew up and pastored his first church. That church helped start another church out west of town. That church is First Baptist Church of Westwood Lakes, which is the host church for Westwood Christian School. It is always a blessing to come here and work with the faculty and staff in their burden to see their students impacted for Christ!

Annie, the co-captain of the Incredible Rangers, counseled a girl from her team on Thursday night. Though she had come to the Christian School, she realized that night that she had never been saved. She was able to get that settled that night! She testified on Friday, 

I’m in sixth grade and I came from California and I moved here when I was six…with my mom and I came to Westwood, and it’s been a blessing here, and I got saved when I was younger and I didn’t…really feel that I was saved and this week with special forces here…I got saved and I’m really happy and I just felt like a burst of joy in my heart when I got saved.

She also counseled another girl about salvation. She got assurance, and the next day was burdened about her bitterness against her dad. She made the decision to trust the Lord in every circumstance. She also gave a testimony on Friday night,

Growing up, my dad wasn’t like your typical like good normal dad. He was someone who didn’t do good things like at all and he wasn’t really around. So, I got saved when I was younger, but this week really showed me things that were really important to me because I have a lot of resentment towards my dad and anger because a lot of things happened this summer and it really hurt, like a lot. And I grew up saying things my sister didn’t, so it was different for me. But this week with all the preachings that has have happened and all the testimonies, it really helped me to understand that I can’t stay like that and I can’t have that in my heart. That I need to let it go and I need to let God…be in my heart. So, yesterday I let that go and I got stuff that would help me with that and it was very good.

Ashton, the captain of the Super Seals, counseled a young man about his moral purity and bitterness. He had seen a measure of victory for a few months, but had never brought his sin into the light. He was convicted to have a clean conscience and come clean with his parents. He testified on Friday,

 I’ve had a lot of people who you know, come into my life and I might not think the best things about them, and some people I’ve just held a lot of bitterness for in my heart…And this week through all the preaching, it’s just helped me realize that I don’t need to hold such a deep grudge against all these people…I can just give God all my worries and anything that I might think about all these people. And I was bitter and angry for my dad…And then I was like, “God, please meet me.”…And I prayed and I went to the room and…you guys were dealing with me when I realized that…Jesus was for us.

Austin, the captain of the Might Marines, was able to counsel a few young men on their assurance of salvation. One of them had helped the team all week long with posters, competition setup, and teardown. On Friday, after the testimonies, he responded to the invitation and got his salvation settled. 

Carissa, Super Seal’s co-captain, counseled a girl about her purity. She was very convicted about a sin she had been hiding from her mom. She knew she needed to confess it, but she was scared that her mom would react in the wrong way. Carissa was able to share some verses with her, and the girl decided to trust God even if it would be hard. She testified on Friday,

I got saved in fourth grade and this week when I heard the testimonies…I thought about this one thing I was hiding from my mom and I was really scared to tell her. I didn’t know how I was going to. I thought about writing a letter or I thought about maybe telling her half of it, not all of it, but…And yesterday night I told her. It didn’t go the way I expected it. But…I’m glad I at least told her. It was very freeing to let her know that. She was disappointed and not proud of what I did, but I told her.

Hyles, the captain of the Incredible Rangers, counseled a young man who responded to the invitation on Thursday. He was struggling with failure in moral purity. That day, he began to take the steps towards victory by talking to his parents.

Here are a few more testimonies from Friday evening:

So I got saved, but it didn’t really stick with me. I thought…maybe if I kept on doing the wrong things or sinning, it was done.  I kept on doing wrong and I realized it’s not working…I even got into a habit saying words I shouldn’t….This week when they were preaching, I, I told myself I need to get saved…I thought, oh, I should like go up there and I was shaking…but I didn’t. It’s really hard when you’re nervous….The next day was on the same and they were speaking about salvation and how you need to get saved. So, I went up there and I got saved and those people prayed for me.

 Hi, this week God took out the bitterness and my angerness that I had on that one girl that used to bully me so much in school. She used to say things so rude about me behind my back. She used to say, “Man, she’s an ugly girl. Man, she’s a rude girl.” And I wish that man, I should have just hit her. Man, I should have killed her. Well, not killed, but kick her. I wish I could have hit her or kicked her. And now God put that angerness and threw it away and now I say things, “Man, I’m gonna pray for her.”

 I was saved at a very young age. I was in like pre-k4 when my teacher was talking about salvation of the class. And later that night I talked to my parents and they led me to Christ in my bedroom. And sometimes after that I struggled with assurance. But…two years ago I was able to…reaffirm my salvation. And this year it has helped me notice that…I need to set an example for unbelievers and I should do my best to be an example. Because those who are not saved look to people who are saved as an example to what they need to be and we should be a good example of a good Christian. I pray for those who aren’t saved that you would talk to anyone, someone, anyone. I’m sure they want to help you.

 I started this week laughing in chapel and at the end of the week I’m not laughing anymore. I want to thank the Special Forces especially Annie for helping me and guiding me to salvation…And today me and one of my friends, we went up to Mr. Powell and he’s gonna give us a female to help us.

I’m from sixth grade and…yesterday I got saved and…that was cool because because I’ve never got saved.

I’m in tenth grade. Most of you probably know me….I’ve been saved since I was like six, I think. And I’ve struggled with assurance, but I know I am saved…The message that really affected me was don’t give like land to the devil because I struggle with temptation so many times…I do and I’m sure all of you do I just want to let you know like sorry….Always pray. Like I always struggle with praying…but I’ve learned this week always pray…God can get you out of that temptation and it is so freeing…like you actually get tempted, but he can pull you away from that and he can bring you to such a happier place and it’s amazing.

I just want to talk about something that’s been with me, which was the fear of man because I used to have that fear a lot and cared about what other people think even though that…didn’t really matter what they thought because what really matters is what happens at the end of your life…this life is just like a vapor. It goes away…So, it’s like it’s not worth it to surround yourself with people that are not going to make you prosper, make you grow in your Christian relationship with God…I feel that a lot of people might struggle with that and I just want to say that um it’s just not worth it…because God loves you way more than that person that’s leading you in the wrong direction does….Αs Christians, we should just have a love for God…be able to be more kind to other people and just be able…to speak God’s name.

I’m just glad God saved me. I’ve been going through some mental health problems and family problems and I’m just glad God um saved me from that and to stop doing what I was doing.

I’m in sixth grade. When I was in third grade, I got baptized in my old school and when I was in fourth grade, I thought I got saved, but I never really acted like a Christian, um, when I took Christ. And most of my family except me, my mom and my grandma, um, are not saved. And this week, um, with all the testimonies, I really felt like God was trying to touch my heart that I need to really become a Christian. Stop doing stuff show that doesn’t really look Christian and today helped me with that yesterday, um, in chapel. I went to the back and it was near center and my seventh grader teacher helped me.

I’m new to Westwood Christian and I just want to thank the school and the War for giving me the opportunity to be here. I actually applied to Westwood intrusively. I was like all of a sudden, “Oh, let’s go to Westwood.” When I hadn’t even been to the school. I hadn’t seen anything in the middle of summer. So…I know that God said, “She needs to be here in war. She needs to hear the message.” The message specifically was about one about repentance about how it’s not you need to get better. You need to show God what you’ve been doing and you need to say, “God, I can’t do this, but you can.” I’ve been really dealing with like self-resentment for why can’t you get out of these things when in reality I don’t need to do it on my own, but I need to do it with God…I know some people are going to leave this week and they’re going to say, “I’m going to get better.” But you need to do it with God. You can’t do it alone.

I grew up in church. My parents were Christian, my grandparents were Christian and I was a kid….So I went through life like all the Christians, but I…didn’t really ever feel…saved…because you always hear people…that they have their testimonies where some big thing happened in their life and it changed them. It was never really like that for me, so I just never felt like truly Christian. And I always struggled with like trying to fit in or trying to be enough for people…but that’s literally the opposite what God tells that we need to be. Like we need to be light where there everybody where everybody else is dark. It’s like in school there’s always going to be people that don’t like you or people that talk a certain way or behave a certain way and you want to be like them, you want to be funny, you want to have a humor, but it’s not like not really when you think about it. It’s just like everyone’s trying to, well everyone’s trying to be cool and trying to impress everybody else. But why would you want to be enough in a world where you’re not even supposed to be like you’re not supposed to fit in because if you fit in how would people tell you apart?

I got saved two years ago and um I was actually saved after War Special Forces. Um, so I remember the last few years I didn’t really…pay attention too much. I kind of listened a little bit, but I wasn’t I wasn’t truly intent on the messages and the preaching. And…this year I came and now I’m saved and…I definitely have devoted my life to Christ, and yes I’ve had a little bit of rocky…ways, but I’ve definitely gotten way closer than I have been these past few years….I wasn’t expecting too much…coming from War Special Forces, but I just have to say like now that it’s Friday, God has shown so much to me this entire week that I didn’t even expect….God works in miraculous ways and he usually works in ways that we can’t even imagine. If we have a plan, God has a totally different plan…Actually this entire week I’ve been hearing so many people that I’ve never considered to truly care about the word of God and…actually consider the preaching and the messages. They have been coming up and they’ve been…having conversations and been talking about the word and the preaching and everything. And I’ve been praying for the school honestly for a revival because I feel like that is so needed in…our day and age that we need right now. And I definitely believe that we just need to listen, we have to devote, listen to the testimonies, listen to the people who are saying hey I’m here for God and I want to work and…I want to be in a relationship with God.

I feel like with so many people talking, there’s still people who are confused, there’s still people who are unsaved….We’ve seen here them spreading the gospel, sharing the word. If we can learn how…to say that to other people, even those who are saved and who need like re-intentionality, like they have to…get right with God and learn new stuff, we just need to be here to plant the seed and let God work in them and to pray for them and…just share His Word, be an encouragement.

War Special Forces has impacted me greatly this week and it was especially Ashton’s testimony on hiding sin….What was really bad is that I’ve been bottling up the sin in my life and I hadn’t gotten that right with my parents. And I knew that I had to confess that, but I didn’t. And it was not until this week that I took that step of obedience to confess to my parents that I had bottled up the sin. And you know what? The thing is if you keep on hiding that sin in your heart, it’ll eventually catch up to you and it’ll be revealed in a way that it will actually hurt you and the people that love you. You need to have the courage to confess and open up to the people that love you, and that will really bring healing in your life…There’s stuff like looking at filthy things on the internet or bottling anger in your heart. You need to seek counsel because that is what’s important and if you want to live a life for Christ…you can’t do it alone. You need help. You need God’s help and the help of other believers and the church….The other thing is if you’re not willing to live for Christ, then you can’t die for Christ. You have to live a life…that you need to give up to God.

 I haven’t told anybody this, but 7th grade I was sexually assaulted by somebody that I trusted and it ruined my relationship with God a lot. And I did things that I wasn’t proud of and I wasn’t right in my middle school….Two years ago at War Special Forces, my team captain confessed everything that had happened to him, and he shared the gospel with me, and it was one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made in my life. And I just want to encourage anyone, if you’re going through something, if you know someone that’s going through something, help them, speak up for them because I talked to…Pastor Van Gelderen yesterday with one of my friends and I got reassurance that being…with Christ in heaven is…just one trust fall. You got to put all your trust in Him, believe in Him because that’s what the Bible says, the only way to get to heaven is through God and God only.