Jim Van Gelderen: Welcome to Thee Generation Podcast. We are broadcasting this particular podcast from Riverview, Florida, where we just finished our first war night, last night was a Wednesday, and we saw over 70 young people come. Fourteen young people stepped out to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. What a thrill it was to follow up and watch with just joy as these young people gave certainty that their sins were forgiven, their guilt was gone, and they are on their way to heaven. There is nothing like the power of the gospel and seeing it work on a weekly basis.

Well, I have with me here on this podcast the three team captains who have traveled this entire tour with the War of Special Forces. They’ve been with the team ever since late August where we started in Green Bay, Wisconsin. We are now down here in Florida. I have two more weeks in Florida, in Miami and the Fort Myers area. If you’re listening from that area, make sure you just check warsf.org and you can see where we’re going to be after Thanksgiving for these two events. 

I have with me the three team captains. God has certainly used their ministry, has worked in their hearts and lives, and we are grateful for what God has done in their lives and through them. I’m just gonna ask them a few questions. I hope you’ll stay with us and really listen to what God’s doing in their heart and lives because I’m talking to undoubtedly some of you that will one day travel on a team like this, traveling, doing ministry, and watching God work in your life and then through you.

I’m gonna start with Wyatt. What is God doing in your heart? What has God done on this tour? 

Wyatt: The Lord’s really showed me that even in the difficult circumstances, He can still work. And there’s times when you go out recruiting and you feel like it wasn’t a great day or the numbers weren’t high, but yet the Lord still brings them out. And it’s just exciting to see the impact that the Lord has in lives and how He can change lives around. And you can just see miracles work week after week and there’s not many ministries you get to see something like that. 

Dr. Jim: Well, I’m going to ask Tryan. He’s the captain of the mighty Marines. Why don’t you also tell what God’s doing in your hard life? 

Trystan: Well, what the Lord has shown me this tour was just with the aspect of the Christian schools and just seeing young people that have dealt with issues that I’ve had in my own life, making faith-based decisions and seeing them on to victory. The Lord has shown me simply that if I’m not even willing to make similar decisions week in, week out, the ones He’s showing me from my own personal time with Him, if I’m not willing to make those decisions, how could I expect those Christian schoolers to make ones as well? 

So it was my own walk with the Lord. The Lord has shown me numerous ways I’ve yet not surrendered to Him in certain areas. And on this tour, I’ve taken those steps and say, “Lord, I’m yours and, Lord, I’m holding nothing back from You.” And we’ve preached that all tour along. And to see it happen in my own life is what I’m really burdened for. That even as a young preacher boy, as it were, to see God working with me the same way He’s working in getting people I talk to week in, week out. And it’s been just a blessing.

Dr. Jim: Well, Ryan, how about you? What is God doing in your heart? 

Ryan: I think probably the biggest thing that the Lord’s been showing me on this tour is something that here at Minutemen Ministries is called the Minutemen mentality. Really it’s a sense of urgency. It’s a realization that we’re in a battle and it’s staying in the battle mode. And it’s realizing that, yes, we can be in different ministries. Even in this ministry, we could just exist in this ministry. And lots of times with some of the weeks, that would just be fine. We wouldn’t have to necessarily get desperate. But if we’re going to see God use us to the full extent that He intends to all that He can do, we have to get into that battle mentality and walk in the Spirit, and seek him for guidance. 

And I guess the hardest thing was to realize at first that I hadn’t been doing this for years now in different ministries that I had. But when God broke me over that in Virginia, I realized that if I’ll be honest and just admit that naturally in my own ability, there’s not this desire or ability that can be used of God, but when I trust Him, that’s when I’ll be used of God to the fullest. It’s getting to that battle mentality. Then when I’m in that mode, I’ll realize that there is no time to be fooling around. It’s all about trusting God for the present, and then He’ll use me to the fullest.

Dr. Jim: Well, amen. You know I’ve called it holy desperation. Young people listening, that’s what we need, holy desperation. And that’s a sense of a desperation in your heart for God to work. That at the same time, the word holy means that you’re not anxious, that you’re resting with confidence and expectation that God is going to do it because he said he would. And so let me urge you, whatever God is calling you to do, get desperate for God to work, but get confident that he will. It’s a great paradox, but it’s a great Bible paradox. and appreciate that Ryan and that is certainly something important. 

So Ryan while you’re here at the microphone why don’t you just maybe quick give a story something from the tour that has particularly encouraged you. 

Ryan: Specifically last week actually there was a boy that came in Decatur, Alabama and he actually wasn’t one of my recruits but he had come invited by a lady in the church but he was obviously broken during the message. on the message on the gospel that night. And he raised his hand, he didn’t come out right away, I tapped him on the shoulder and he agreed to come back with me.

So I went in the counseling room and he was crying, he was… just completely broken. And I didn’t understand his background, but evidently this young man was a pastor’s kid who had 15 years old, chosen sin over his family, decided to leave the home and was deep into his sin for two years now. He’s 17 years old now. And all that time driving past his family’s home, he was longing for that relationship to be restored, but he knew he couldn’t unless he got power over that sin. He knew he wasn’t saved either. He had never accepted Christ. 

And so finally this was just last week this young man decided to trust Christ except the God of his dad and he did and I got to watch as he just a very simple call of dependence upon Jesus trust Christ as a Savior and at that point then after he called his dad explained to his dad that he was sorry for everything he had done and that he was ready to be restored so that was probably the highlight of the tour right there.

Dr. Jim: Amen, I was certainly encouraged when I got in on the last part of that. You know, you mentioned tapping him on the shoulder. One thing I have noticed this tour of all three team captains has been in the invitation, tapping a young man on the shoulder. And it has been a thrill to see not only those young people respond, but many times it was just what they needed. They just broke before Almighty God and got saved, got right with God. So that’s encouraging.

Wyatt, why don’t you give something that God has particularly encouraged you with? 

Wyatt: Well, one of the areas that God really encouraged me with is we were in a school and there was a young of my Ranger team that was seemed like a good kid and he was doing what was right and seemed like he was going forward for God and seemed like he was doing pretty well. And then Friday morning he was sick, didn’t show up at school and so I didn’t know what to think. He could be at the war Friday night; I could have used him on my team. 

And come Friday night, he shows up and that was pretty awesome, a surprise for me. And it also surprised me come invitation time he came back just weeping and I pulled him to the side, got to talk with him and asked him what was going on and the Lord had been dealing with sin, dealing with him with sin in his heart for the whole week and he kept saying no, kept saying no, kept saying no. Finally, Friday night he finally broke and realized he had stuff he had to take care of. And so he figured out some Bible truths that could help him, went home right away after that, got his friend, they went home, chucked the TV out of his room, and got some right with his mom and got a lot of things taken care of and he was ready to go forward for God. And It was just neat to see God doing a work in the Christian young people.

Dr. Jim: Well, Wyatt, that was an encouragement that night. I remember that young man weeping. It’s always an encouragement to me when you see God break a heart. The Bible says the Lord is nigh unto them that have a broken heart. And there is no doubt about it a kid who’s far from God or thinks he is the moment he gets broken over sin, God shows up and if you’re listening to this podcast seemed far from God if you’ll take that step toward God and he begins to break your heart, you’ll realize that the Lord is nigh to them that are broken heart.

Well, Trystan, why don’t you finish up with something God’s encouraged your heart with? 

Trystan: My favorite story from this tour is undoubtedly a number of weeks ago, we were at a Christian school in Virginia, and a young man on my team seemed like, not an I-hate-God type of young man, but he was plugged into the competitions, he looked like he was doing pretty well, but he hadn’t responded to any of the chapel services, he had no sense of urgency that he had some sin issue to deal with. But it came to Friday Chapel that he finally responded and I was praising the Lord for it. And I got to counsel with him and I found that he had to deal with some issues of bitterness in his heart just because of a family situation where his parents had split up, his mom had been dealing with a divorce actually, about a couple of divorces and my father leaving him and he and his stepdad coming in and out of sin and coming in and out of his family’s life and pretending to get things right and be a Christian, quote unquote Christian, but he would end up back and falling into sin and he had so much hatred towards that stepfather and that bitterness that it ended up hurting his mom and he had a lot of issues deal with his mom about because of all the hatred that was building up in his heart.

So he dealt with it, he was very honest and nearly in tears as I counseled him, but I encouraged him with the truth of Hebrews 12, how he could see victory, and I believe he got through that morning. But I didn’t see the full ramifications of all that he was dealing with until that night, until it came to the testimony service, where he came up to the campfire service testimony and he, as he came to the microphone, he was already in tears, water-eyed, and he started explaining what he had explained to me earlier that morning, but then he got into the fact that he had actually hated God, allowed those horrible situations in his life with his parents and how his family was just broken down. He couldn’t deal with it anymore and he hated God for it. But then he just mentioned my name and said, you know, Trystan talked to me and I just got it right and I felt just so free. But as I stood there and listened and saw just God move miraculously, I was in tears and I was crying. I was crying out to the Lord to help him. And for me, that was an absolute miracle. God showing up at a testimony service that I could say I’ve nearly never seen before. And it was absolutely tremendous.

Dr. Jim: Well, I remember that testimony as well. That was outstanding. In fact, I hope on one of the podcasts to play that testimony. It was so powerful, and we’re thankful for what God did in that heart. 

It is amazing, though. Young people often do get bitter at the very things that come from the enemy. He tempts people to sin. They sin. It causes problems in a home, and God’s the solution, friend. You trust him. He’ll work things together for good. And we thank the Lord for the fact that we know that all things work together for good, to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. It’s been wonderful to spend some time with you. 

If you’re wondering what the world is this ministry all about, the War of Special Forces, well, you can go to warsf.org or you can read reports of some of the weeks of what God has been doing at minutemenministries.org. We’d love for you to go there on a regular basis, find out what God’s doing, be encouraged that God all across America is raising up a generation who is totally surrendered to Jesus Christ and totally dependent upon Him. As you well know, we call it Thee Generation. Thank you for joining us today for the Thee Generation podcast. God bless you.