Band of Survivors Team Update 8

Waking up after the first night at the CFOT (College For Officer’s Training) was pretty amazing. It was perfect morning of rest. We all took the time to finish up our laundry and just hang out. I took the time to call family and friends who might be far off doing their own thing. Even though I live here at the college I rarely make trips up to my house. After sitting around all morning, we went on to have morning worship along with a pray the bible session. It was an incredible time of pure worship with E. Himes on the guitar and God there to receive our hearts. Then in Pray the Bible we focused on the blessing of God’s redemptive grace that is there for each and every one of us (with Ephesians 1:3-13 and Psalm 51 as our guide).

Once that had ended, we had a break for lunch and then we came back together for what is known as Salvation Circle. For those who don’t know what the Salvation Circle is I’ll explain the concept. As a group you come together and one after the other explain how you found Salvation or better how Salvation found you. While giving your testimony you also speak out what you face today because the sins that we currently have in our lives can and will keep us from salvation if we don’t continue to give them up to God’s plan and purpose for our lives (see the 9th doctrine of the Salvation Army).

It was a freeing experience to say the very least and there are no amount that can be said to truly explain the fact that we are redeemed from our sins. We took the time after each time of sharing to pray for each other because, as we’ve learned through hiding scripture in our hearts (and our BOS Tephillim scripture pouches): “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16. This process took quite a few hours with our twenty-three person Band of Survivors but, it was more than worth it.

That evening I had a prayer shift during the barbecue given to us by the Aho family. I came in at the end and they were laughing it up while playing four square. In that time of prayer I really spoke with God about making a commitment to His ways. I realized that in washing me clean He separates the sins of my past from my present identity. This fact gave great joy with sudden peace but I prayed that it would not burn out. I prayed for fully compassionate, aggressive, love-filled, faithful obedience. In other words I prayed for THE FIRE.

We finished a night with a training college classic Capture the Flag. Our team of CFOTers won the first game and the second game went so long that we just gave up strategy and let them have the win. All in all it was a good day.

Dietrich Hunter