In the 1980’s my wife and I came to Iglesia Evangelica Baptista in Phoenix, AZ when Pastor Dick Mercado was the pastor. He was a dear man of God who is now with the Lord. For the next couple of decades, our team was there from time to time. We are thankful for all the Lord did in those years. The last time we were there is 2005. It was great to be back. The pastor is now Pastor Steven Rubio. We sure enjoyed working with him, his staff, and his people. God is working in that church. We are thankful for all the Lord did in the student’s hearts as well as the many souls saved during the week of War of Special Forces.

Austin, the captain of the Marines, preached in his team meeting on Monday and one young man got convicted about wasting time on video games. After Joe, the captain of the Rangers, counseled this young man, he made the decision to destroy his Xbox. It was neat to watch this young man follow through on his decision.  

After a chapel message one of the girls on the Seals team stayed back and started talking to Elaina, the co-captain of the Seals, about resentment and bitterness towards a classmate. Elaina talked through several verses with her and she realized the importance of forgiveness. After confessing those things, she asked the Lord to help her forgive and talk with that person. 

Elaina also counseled a girl after a rally night who was unsure of her salvation. After talking through a simple gospel drawing, the girl was visibly overjoyed when she got assurance of her salvation. 

During the Sunday rally night, a mom brought five different kids. While they were at the registration table, she and her partner shared that they were lesbian. They both stayed for the whole night and during the invitation the mom stood up right away to get saved. Isabelle, the co-captain of the Rangers, talked with her and led her to the Lord. The mom shared that earlier that morning she had attended a church in town and heard the gospel. When she arrived to the War night she was more than ready to make the decision to trust Christ. 

A young man on the Seals team got serious about his sin and was particularly convicted by his video game addiction. On the last rally night he brought his PlayStation and a group of young men in that school along with the team captains took part in its demolition. It was moving to see his decision to forsake all and follow Christ! 

There was a 19 year old young man who came on one of the rally nights and started talking with Mrs. Van Gelderen at the registration table. Because he had come a little late, he did not participate in the outdoor competitions but instead talked with Mrs. Van Gelderen about the Lord. She went over a gospel drawing with him and he was interested in talking more so after the evening events were over, she discussed the gospel with him more and he trusted Christ! 

“God has just taken away a lot of bitterness from me; bitterness towards my parents. He’s told me just to save more time for him and…no time for the things of the world…. And…just really thankful that God worked in me because if I didn’t make these decisions, then my walk with God would be just face flat on the floor and not be good.”

“Something that God really brought to my mind was kind of reinvigorating the fire in my heart for the gospel. Because I think a lot of the time just Christians growing up here, we think, “You died for us on the cross for my sin…” Yada, yada, yada, right? We kind of really minimize it. But the way the preacher explained it, it really brought to light…how wonderful God is and how much He really thought for us. Because when you think about it…we’re insignificant creatures. I think we need to bring more glory to God that He loves us, and that He did all these things for us.”

“There was this bitterness that I have been holding on to for a while now. And it was towards a person that had wronged me, but I didn’t really think that I even had to forgive them because of what they did. And that bitterness was affecting my relationship with my parents and with close friends that I had. I was not respecting my parents, and in a way, I was also reacting and acting in the way like the person that I was bitter against. And…the Lord really convicted me, and I went back and I spoke to Elaina. It was hard for me to do that. But the Lord freed me from my bitterness, and now I forgive that person, and I’m thankful that the Lord forgave me. And because of that, I am willing to forgive that person.”

“…The Lord really did work in my heart. Because there was this sin I was holding onto secretly. And it was just when you spoke about it, I was just like, oh, wow, like, I should really confess it. Since the day it started, my heart has felt heavy, felt like it’s been melting. I just felt like it was the Holy Spirit trying to tell me, stop. And well, I really just praise the Lord because…once I confessed it, I just had this unexplainable peace.”