Monday, November 26, 2012

Clinton, NC

Sorry for the delay. The last few weeks have been very busy! Here is a testimony from the week of October 28-November 3.

     The following is a testimony that Glenn shared with us.
     John 8:32 “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” God set many young people free last week. We were out recruiting late Monday night at Wal-Mart. Across the street was Bojangles. In the darkness of the night Glenn saw a shadow sitting at one of the benches. Not knowing if that person was even a teen made it tempting to just get back in the van, but God tugged on his heart and told him that he needed to go talk to that person. So, Glenn crossed four lanes of traffic and got over there and it was a teenager! Glenn began to talk to him and told him all about the WAR and he was all excited about it. Glenn was about to leave when the teenager said, “I’ve got four or five guys inside that would like that, too!” So, Glenn went into the Bojangles, right up to the front counter and said, “Hey, I’m looking for teenagers.” All of a sudden, seven or eight young people come to the front from around the counter as well as from the restaurant-side, and they all gather round. Glenn tells them all about the WAR. They all sounded excited about it, gave their names and numbers, and said they would come. Wednesday night one young man comes, Michael. He loves it! He listens to the Word of God and you can tell God’s working in his heart, but nothing happens. He said, “Hey, I’ll be back Thursday.”
Thursday morning Glenn texted Michael and asked if he was coming back to the WAR. Michael replied, “You better believe I’m coming! I came into school this morning telling everybody about it; they gotta come, too!”
Thursday night shows up and Michael’s there and he has a friend with him, Greg. Found out they had just met each other that afternoon. Michael was walking down the street, sees Greg on the street, and says, “Hey, ya doin’ anything tonight?” Greg says, “No.” Michael says, “I’ve never met you before, but you wanna go to church with me?” He said, “Sure!” So these two guys who had never met before show up the same time on Thursday night. God does a work in the preaching time, and Michael walks down the aisle.
In the counseling room Michael told the counselor, “Hey listen, just a few weeks ago my friend and I were getting high on drugs. As we were getting high I remember thinking about the word ‘revelation.’ I don’t know why I was thinking about the word ‘revelation’. I picked up my phone and looked up ‘revelation’, and it came up with the last verse in Revelation. It said, ‘shall have their part in the Lake of Fire.’ I couldn’t get that out of my mind.” You know what the preacher preached on that night? The Lake of Fire! Coincidence? No way! It was God! God worked in Michael’s life. Michael got saved.
In the meantime Glenn was walking outside after the service, and Greg walked up to him and said, “I’ve been blessed tonight! This has just been wonderful! I think God wanted me to be here tonight.” Glenn asked Greg if he knew for sure if he was on his way to Heaven. Greg just bowed his head and said, “No, I don’t.” Glenn said, “Greg, would you like to know?” Greg said, “I would.” So, Glenn walked into the counseling room and went all the way from sin through judgement and what Jesus Christ had done for him. Greg had the most somber look on his face, you would have thought he was going to cry. Through all of sin he said, “Oh, I’m a sinner.” Glenn kept going through the whole salvation plan and Greg wanted to pray. So, he prayed and then he looked up at Glenn. Glenn said, “Greg, what did you just do?” Greg said, “I just trusted Jesus.” “Greg, did Jesus just take away all your sin?” “Yes.” “Greg, if you were to die right now, where would you go?” And for the first time that evening, the biggest smile came on that boy’s face and he said, “I’d go to Heaven!” Well, he got it.
Greg walked outside and asked Glenn, “Now, I have a question: am I a Christian now?” Glenn asked, “Well, Greg, did you trust Jesus?” “Yes.” “Greg, the Bible says that if you trust Jesus, you are a Christian.” “Well, why is it that so many people claim to be Christians and they’re not going to Heaven?” Wow, profound!
Well, about this time Michael comes out of the counseling room. Greg looks up at him and asks, “Hey, what happened to you?” Michael throws his hands up and says, “I’m free!” They embrace and say, “Hey, I’m going to be here tomorrow night.”
Greg couldn’t come the last night, but Michael and another Michael came that had gotten saved. Boy, they were on fire! They said they went into their public schools on Friday morning telling everybody they’d HAVE to come and hear what Jesus Christ could do for them! Just astounding! God did another work in their lives. That’s the life we’re talking about - what Jesus Christ can do! The Truth shall set you free!
Then, we also saw God do a work in the school. There was one young man, Josh - he got rid of his hidden sin. He confessed it, got it right with his parents, got it right with his pastor, God began using his life. God put a burden in his heart for these young men that had just gotten saved. As we were leaving, we heard them talking saying, “Hey, you going to be here at church?” “Hey, you going to be here Sunday?” “I’m texting you this Saturday to make sure you’re coming to be at church.” “Yeah, I’m going to be here Sunday.” “Great! We’re going to be here Sunday!” “Okay, good!” “Alright! Hey listen, Tuesday night after school, you want to get together to play basketball and then we’ll look at the Bible and sit and talk about the Bible a little bit?” There’s no youth pastor standing around! These are teenage guys! Praise God for what He has done! He gives life; He gives revived life! God always promises to bless His Word.

Fire for the testimony service on Friday.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

What the Lord has done so far in our team


 This last week we stayed at a camp since we did not have any meetings scheduled. We as a team were able to spend some extra time reflecting on what the Lord has done so far. Here is a conglomeration of ideas that we all shared.
I need to have God-dependence, not self-dependence.
It is so easy to say after so many weeks that, “I have been through this before” or “I know what to do about this.” However, that is depending on me, not God. It is a constant struggle, but I know that...
Sunrise on Lake Waccamaw
God’s got to do it.
If I try to do the work, it doesn’t work or it is not as good as it could have been. I can go out in my own strength and not accomplish anything. This also can bring discouragement. I need to constantly be reminded that...
I can’t; God can.
There is no reason for anyone to listen to me or for them to be drawn into the WAR. It is humanly not reasonable. God is the One Who draws them in and works in their hearts. We want God to do the work because He is the only One who can change a life.
God reaches the most unlikely teens.
It is so encouraging and amazing when the ones that would seem to be the hardest to spiritual things come and want to get things right. It is just a reminder that God can break through.
Devotions on the pier
It’s been exciting to see God break through tough situations.
When talking to the tough teens, God gives the words and you’re not even really sure where that all came from.
It’s so amazing to be a spectator to God’s work; it’s not human.
It’s like you have an out-of-body experience and you are just watching God do the work.
They both made it to the top!
It’s neat to know that God can use us...and that He does use us.
We are human beings and sinners just like them, but God allows us to be a vessel, a channel, to see teens’ lives changed. What a privilege!

God brings trials to be a help in the future.

The hard things I have gone through or am going through can be used to better understand and relate to others who are going through similar issues. It helps me to be more compassionate and to have a feeling of where they have been and where God can take them. I praise the Lord for the experience.
The Lord has increased my faith.
When the recruits don’t all come or decisions are few, it brings me to my knees and challenges my faith. I know that God wants to work mightily.
Catching lizards :P
Prayer is the real work. My prayer life has been so enhanced. 
When we don’t pray, there is no power. It is so important to pray!
God convicted me not to pass any recruits. 
Every teen is a possibility for God to do a work. It is my small faith that tells me that they are too young or too old or that they won’t want to listen. You never know what God is going to do and where that young person is in their life. They probably have great spiritual needs. Don’t pass up a single person that God has brought across your path.
The unique opportunities to talk about the Gospel throughout the tour have been exciting.
When we are out and about, like the time at our Mexican Restaurant, we draw some attention with our team shirts or simply because we are a big group. People ask what we are doing or where we are from. There have been so many opportunities to pass out tracts and explain what we are doing.


Dr. Jim and Mrs. Van ;)

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Berryville, VA


Thursday, October 18 Takara raised her hand that she was not sure of her salvation. She did not come back to talk with a counsellor. I tried to talk with her after the service to see if she would want to get some counsel, but the conversation did not seem to go anywhere. We continued to pray for the Lord to continue to work in her heart.
Friday at lunch Glenn told me that a couple of girls had been seen telling Takara that she should get saved. He asked me to try to find the girls and see if I could talk to Takara. I did find the girls. Takara was crying because she was under such conviction about needing to get saved, but yet she didn’t think she could. I was able to talk with her for a while and make sure she understood salvation. She understood, but wanted to wait to get saved until later. I encouraged her to get it settled as soon as possible before Satan would deceive her that she did not need to be saved or that she could not get saved. I asked her to make the decision at some point that day and that I would ask her at the evening games. She agreed.
At the games she told me with a smile on her face that she had made the decision! She even gave a testimony at the fireside service! Praise the Lord!!

Takara: God saved me this week and I thought I was saved before, but something just didn’t feel right in my heart and his messages kind of woke me up and God stepped on my doorstep and He said, “Hey, he’s talking about you.” And it just really woke me up and I knew that God wanted me to be saved and so I got saved and I’m glad.

Text from Takara: Thank u all so much for your ministries! Your messages woke me up to realize I really wasn’t saved and I was going to hell. The Lord has worked in the hearts of many in keystone and i promise to help the ones that are lost in our school. Tell Jessica I said thank you because if she hadn’t talked with me I probably still wouldn’t be saved. Tears if joy are running down my face now because I know The Lord is with me and working in my heart. Tell all of the minute men I said thank you and I will be praying for you all to continue the success!

6 other teens were saved during this week!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Morgantown, VA


Well, to be very honest, Friday was the highlight of my week! Friday was my birthday!! Everyone did a wonderful job making me feel special!! My parents had already sent my gift and a card the week before. On Friday morning, I walked into our classroom to be surprised by the girls throwing confetti at me and yelling “Happy Birthday!!!” followed by them singing their special birthday song (followed by yet more confetti throwing!)! They had decorated the room earlier that morning with streamers and balloons! They even had specially decorated where my desk was with more streamers, balloons, cards, and presents! It was so sweet of them! They really did a GREAT job!!!

Throughout the morning I received many birthday texts from friends all across the USA! THANK YOU!!!!!

At lunchtime, the team pulled out a carrot raisin cake and sang to me again! Janna had put it in the oven early in the morning so that it could be all frosted and decorated!

For supper we went to the assistant pastor’s house like we had enjoyed every evening of the week. At the end of the delicious meal, Missy pulled out a brownie-cookie-pie with candles on it and they all sang to me and gave me a card and a present!!!

Before going to the WAR, I was able to Skype my mom and my little nephew. It still makes me laugh when I think of him singing Happy Birthday to me!!

I really cannot get over how thoughtful everyone was!!! Many thanks to all of you who helped to make my birthday special!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Fredericksburg, VA

A group of teens wanting to hear about the WAR!

The youth director had agreed to dye his hair pink if more than 100 teens came the first night. The first night there were more than 130 teens!...he dyed his hair pink. :)

Friday morning teen prayer service went longer than scheduled. Dr. Jim started to close in prayer twice, but the teens begged to keep praying!! One teen even stood up after Dr. Jim had closed in prayer and in tears said, “Please! Please! I need to pray!” and he did! Counseling went on for 2 hours after that. More prayer meetings broke out amongst the teens. There was much going on in the school that day! Praise the Lord!!

A few other youth groups joined us for the final night. There were more than 240 teens in attendence! The testimony service was great! One girl had gotten saved earlier in the week and was continuing to grow in her new relationship with Christ. She brought a book to burn that had contained all the things she had said about other people, the bad thoughts she had, and other hateful things she had said and done to others in her life. She was done with it!! Praise the Lord!! Another girl brought some clothes to burn. Just as the prayer meeting had gone earlier that day, this testimony service went long. It was quite a day of tears! :) Teens were still texting leaders later that night that they were talking with their parents and getting things right! What a great week!!

Please pray for all these teens to continue to depend on Christ for the strength to have victory in their day-to-day lives. No one can do it in their own strength.


Big Ball Bowling

Stanardsville, VA


I would just like to share some random things that happened to us back at Stanardsville a couple of weeks ago. :)

Squeaks the mouse :)

First of all, the girls caught a little mouse! We all thought he was so cute and thought maybe we could take care of him and keep him as a pet. We named him Squeaks. However, I guess he needed some more care than we could give him (i.e. bread crumbs, grass, and water)...and Mrs. Van thought that he would not be the right pet for us :) ...so...we let him go back into the forest.


The last night of our competition at this school was on Thursday night. It started to rain just as we were to begin registration. We moved everything into the gym. The storm seemed to be passing, so we the girls were sent out to scout for any lightening in the area. The storm was really not coming our way and we enjoyed standing outside keeping watch. Because the rain had cleared the atmosphere, the moon was easy to spot...and we took a picture (Have you ever attempted to eat the moon??)!


Janna is about to eat the moon!




Well, the teens came back out to play Spoke Tackle in the now muddy grass! This really adds to the game!! :) As soon as everyone was situated and began playing, the electricity went out!!! The cars that were around all turned on their lights and shined them onto the field for the teens to be able to see. It was quite a night!






Since we were not scheduled to hold a teen activity on Friday night, we made the most of our extra time! The Van Gelderens took their trailer on to the next church in Fredericksburg, but Stephanie came with the rest of us to Washington, D.C.!!
White House
Washington Monument and Capitol Building

at the Lincoln Memorial
Air Force Memorial

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Beaver, WV


We had a great week at Victory Baptist Academy! The testimonies were such a blessing at the fireside service! Here are some of them:

"This week really gave me a chance to think about what I should be doing in my life to make myself a better Christian and be a better example for others. This week God really spoke to me about my music. Music is my life and a lot of people know that. It’s been really hard for me because I’ve been in public school since I was in kindergarten. This is my first year here. God really spoke to me this week because I have a lot of music like this and this is the kind of stuff I need to get out of my life. I thought throwing my music into the fire would be hard, but...here it goes!"

"This week I surrendered my entire life to God. I always thought of myself as a good person because I don’t go out and do things that other people do, like drugs and all that stuff, because I never thought it was right. But I was holding myself up compared to other people. I was praising myself for all the good things that I do. I wasn’t praising God. I wasn’t giving God the glory for helping me to be good. I’ve done bad things because we’ve all sinned, but I’ve gotten those out of my life. I’ve decided to give Him all the glory and live my life entirely for Him."

We had beautiful scenery!
"One of the worst things I had in my life was music. It was an addiction - a serious addiction. I would get up in the morning, listen to it, go to school, and come back after school, and listen to it the rest of the day. It was really bad stuff. When Dr. Jim Van Gelderen preached about hidden sin, it made me realize my mom and dad didn’t know about that. It’s been killing me since I’ve started doing that like emotionally, but I had actual physical pain on one of those days about it. I called my mom and told her what it was. As soon as I told her, God gave me some serious grace. It felt really good to finally tell her. I’m really grateful for that. I’m so excited this week that my cousin Marshall got saved. I’ve actually cried myself to sleep over it thinking that he would go to Hell without God. I’m so thankful he came here that he would be saved. I thank the Lord he did. I had a good night’s sleep that night. I thank God for my friends who can encourage me. I’ve made a lot of decisions in my life and I want you all to pray for me. I’m Chris, by the way. :)"

Spoke Tackle
"This week God really spoke to my heart about music and hidden sins that I knew my parents didn’t know about. This week I made the best decision I could have made in my life. I surrendered to be a missionary at camp this year, but I can’t have those things in my life."

"This week He really spoke to me about hidden sins in my life. I got it right with my parents. It was the best thing I ever felt. If it wasn’t for this school.... I resented this school; I didn’t want to go; I didn’t want the homework, but the school gave this to me. Thank you."


Glow Sticks in the Dark!
 On a lighter note :) we, the girls, wanted to share a little embarrassing moment.
Monday all of us girls decided to just have a little recess in the nice gym at the school. We all were really excited to see the volleyball net set-up! So, of course, we started bumping a volleyball around. It had been a little while since we had worked on this and were not really doing a fantastic job keeping a volley. While we were working on our skill, a teacher walked through the gym. That was fine. We were sorry we weren’t displaying better skills, but it was fine...until... After school the academy had volleyball practice. We peeked through the window to be horrified to find that...the teacher who had walked through our recess was the VOLLEYBALL COACH!!! We then felt even more embarrassed about our poor recess display! :)

WV Capitol Building
The trailer crosses over into WV!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

South Haven, IN


Here are some testimonies from our first week out on the “WAR of Special Forces”!
We even had a viola join us!

“One of the greatest things was that Zack brought John on Thursday to get saved. John brought Michael on Friday to make sure he was saved, too.
After he walked out of the counseling room, they looked at each other and said, ‘Awesome!’ and gave each other knuckles.”

Glenn prayed for recruits and not just recruits, but recruits that would actually come.
What kind of teen would give out his name and phone number? After each recruit, Glenn prayed for another one. The Lord really answered and increased his faith. He knows that he can’t do it, but HE can!!

Philip prayed for lasting fruit.
Josh, Philip, and Glenn
Zack came the first night and was saved! Thursday he joined the WAR guys for prayer before the activities began. He prayed that the rain would be held back and that others would come and make the same decision he did. The Lord answered his prayers! He came every night and is excited about his new life in Christ!

Josh counseled a guy who was contemplating doing suicide later that night.
He had prayed to be saved the night before, but was so discouraged about his mess of a life that it just seemed best to go to Heaven right away. Josh shared some verses about assurance, Who saved him and that sins can be cleased each time they are committed (I John 1:9). Satan is a great deceiver and wants us to feel that there is no hope. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than Satan, but HE has to be listened to. Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is so important. I Cor 10:13 - there is always a way of escape. The teen then replied, “That changes everything!” :)



Josh is tired

There was definiately spiritual warfare Friday night. There was a group of about 7 teens that came late. They were just in time for the food. After a little while, the same 3 guys that had left early the night before were again going to just show up for food and then leave by the end of the trivia time. Some of the girls seemed as if they were going to leave too, but they decided to stay. These girls, who were tempted to go, got saved that night! Praise the Lord they stayed for the whole time!
The guys gave me a couple pictures of when they went to Camp Joy (Sept 4-7).
Dr. Jim & Phillip

preaching at Camp Joy

Saturday, September 8, 2012

On the road!


Thank you for praying for the Colony Project! The Lord gave great strength to the many people who pitched in to help in any way they could! The BCM guys arrived Tuesday and were able to move in to the rooms! There still are somethings that need to get fine tuned, but it is livable...especially for a men’s dorm! ;) Praise the Lord for the many people who were able to work on this project so quickly!

Since August 24 our team has been in training. However, this week has been quite...uh...unusual (that is for a “training week”).

Sunday morning, September 2 the team, minus the three guys, went to minister at Marquette Manor in Downers Grove, IL. Dr. Jim Van Gelderen taught the men and teen’s Sunday School while Mrs. Rhonda Van Gelderen taught the ladies’ Sunday School class. In the morning service the Van Gelderen girls did two violin specials and Dr. and Mrs. Van sang a duet. After the service, we had lunch and went back up to Menomonee Falls, WI. We needed to be back for BCM’s opening service.

Labor Day Monday we were able to enjoy some time at the church picnic. However, the day off was not too restful. This is the week that we had to get everything ready to leave town! The trailor had to be cleaned and the house set in order, not to mention all the packing for everyone! So, we quickly left the picnic to continue on with the clean up.

Monday through Wednesday there were evening services because of BCM’s opening week of college.

Tuesday, September 4 Dr. Jim, Glenn and Josh headed to Marquette Manor’s school camp at Camp Joy in Whitewater, WI. The guys each had a cabin and were able to be a blessing in counseling these Christian school teens as well as participating in the activities. Great prep for the tour!

Janna mowing the lawn!
Meanwhile, Leanna and I stayed back to be with Mrs. Van and the girls. We worked on school and house work. The big white van we will be taking is back from the shop and all ready to go. The lawn is all mowed - Janna, Stephanie and I learned how to mow a lawn the other day!! It was fun! (I have to admit...my arm's a little sore.)


Friday evening the guys arrived back from the school camp and helped pack up the trailer and van. This morning we finished closing up the house and packing to go. We finally got on the road this afternoon!! Yay!!!

This coming week we look forward to ministering in South Haven, IL! Please also pray for a Sunday School Workers’ Seminar we will be helping with on Saturday, September 15.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Training has begun!


The Minutemen Team met on Friday for out first training sessions! By Friday evening we had already sat through many practical lectures on how to recruit teens for the competitions and run the evening youth rallies. However, there still is much to learn about counseling and preparing for the weeks to follow.

Saturday at 9:00am began our next sessions of training. After lunch, we had the unique opportunity to minister by working on a project for Baptist College of Ministry! The college has recently rented out an old motel and is hoping to have it “ship shape” in time for the students to arrive. The motel will be an ideal situation for men’s dorm rooms and/or housing visiting families. However, there is much to be done! We were able to go help by washing out trash cans, installing shelves, scraping paint off of counter tops and light fixtures, tearing through some old dry wall, sweeping and vacuuming the floors, and putting in wood flooring and carpeting. There are still many things that need to get done in a short amount of time! The goal is by Tuesday! Please pray with us that this project would get finished quickly!

For supper we had a birthday celebration for the Van Gelderens! Four of them have birthdays within just eight days!! We went to Red Robin for burgers and birthday sundaes!

We finished the night with one more training session...and then we were ready to call it a night!


Saturday, June 30, 2012

Getting warmed up!

This week a branch of Minutemen Ministries, Cola-Clash team, was at my home church. Since this is almost the same ministry that I will be working with, it was wonderful for me to be able to participate. It was a great "warm-up"for what I will be doing in the Fall. Many of our church people went canvassing and recruiting for the past two weeks. An average of 90 teens came each of the three nights for the Cola-Clash! Most importantly, there were about 15 professions of salvation! Wednesday night I talked with a girl that seemed unsure of making a decision. Friday night I was able to counsel another girl and she prayed to be saved!

So, what kind of work did I do for the Cola-Clash?
(remember, I am not part of the team, just a helper from the church) The Cola-Clash was 6:30pm-9:00pm. Starting at 6:00pm we were at our posts ready to register the new teens when they arrived. Once the games got going out on the field, we would go to the kitchen to help make sure things were ready for the snack time (snack time for teens would be nachos&cheese, hot dogs, or pizza). Just in time everything would be ready to go and the teens would arrive for their food. As soon as the teens made their way through the food line, we would go up to the classroom to start refilling their water cups. Then, it would be going around collecting trash. After the empty cups and plates had been collected, it was time to listen to the testimonies, special music, and then the message from God's Word. It was after the message that we would slip out to the counseling room and wait for the teens to come back.

The team members have to do more :) so, we will see what is ahead!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Trying to Prepare

Hello! Thank you for being patient with me as I try to prepare this blog to be ready for updates starting this summer. I am still working on figuring everything out. Please check for updates later.