Imagine that you could lock a group of 18- to 29-year-old volunteers away from society for about twelve weeks. These volunteers would not be able to read newspapers or magazines; in fact, they would not be able to read anything except what you gave them to read. They could not use a radio or a television. They would have no videos, no music, no talk shows. They could not use the telephone except once in a while under very restricted use. They could receive letters from friends and relatives, but if their friends wrote the complicated address incorrectly, the unfortunate young men would be punished for their friends' ineptitude.

Then imagine that you can hire two or three men to make these young men's lives miserable. These tyrants would get them up well before sunup and make them exercise. They would make them go to classes. They would yell in their faces and insult them. They would march them everywhere, and insult them when they got out of step. They would march them to eat their meals, give them perhaps five minutes to attempt to eat, and then stand them up and march them off for more exercise, more classes, more insults, less sleep, less friendship, less sanity. They would prevent them from eating anything but what was available at their meals. No snacks, no candy, no soft drinks. They would keep them up late at night polishing floors, polishing appliances, polishing everything, sometimes with a toothbrush. The list goes on and on.

By now you know that I'm not talking about jail; can you imagine the ACLU having a field day with a jail run like this? It's called Basic Training, and it goes on up the road at Fort Knox. Volunteers by the hundreds come here to be trained as Cavalry Scouts. (If you think I'm exaggerating about the treatment these 'kids' get, ask some active duty military man.)

Now imagine that, about seven or eights weeks into this torture, you could pile about 200 of these voluntary victims onto buses and bring them into a friendly atmosphere, give them a homestyle meal, even seconds, thirds, and dessert; you could file them into a church auditorium (they've had lots of practice staying in order, remember?) and get to know them, sing to them, and most importantly, tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. Imagine that you could give everyone that wants one a Bible (which they would be permitted to keep) and that you could have the opportunity to give them an invitation to respond to the Gospel. Just imagine it. Not every church has an opportunity like this; in fact, very few churches have an opportunity to do anything like this. But our church, Fellowship Independent Baptist, does. We have an arrangement with the Cavalry up on Fort Knox to bring their Basic trainees down to our church on a Saturday near the end of their Basic Training, before they start on their advanced training, and give them the Gospel.

We usually have about 150-200 men come for the day. These men are from all over, as is evident when we begin the 'roll call'. Bro. B, our Operation Fellowship master of ceremonies, calls out a state, and the men from that state stand up and call out the capital of that state in unison, then sit back down. We generally have representatives from around 40 states and

several foreign countries in the group. Men have come from places like Russia, Bosnia, Guam, the Philippines, Thailand, even Cuba. It is amazing. We have preached to CatholiCHRISTIAN SCHOOL, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, Wiccans, and every denomination of Protestant you can think of.

Obviously, some of the men in a group this size will already know the Lord as Saviour. Operation Fellowship is a great encouragement to them, as they will frequently write back to tell us. One man, a father of two children, wrote to tell us that just seeing the children playing and interacting with the soldiers was a great blessing to him, as he had not seen a child in two months.

The question is frequently asked, 'what about follow-up'? That's a good Question, and one that bothered me for the few months that we were attending this church and hadn't yet seen an Operation Fellowship. I was very concerned that the church would bring in a bunch of young men, preach at them, bring them forward for salvation, and then just drop the matter, seemingly. Then I began to see it this way: If you were at an airport, on a trip, and sat down beside someone, and you struck up a conversation that led to spiritual things, would you neglect to witness to him just because there was no way you could follow up if you brought him to the point of salvation? Do we only give tracts out to people that we are sure we will have to chance to disciple, should they come to know the Lord? No, that would be wrong. Any seed that is planted becomes the Lord's business, as it is He that gives the increase anyway. Many of these young men will finish their advanced training and get sent to Bosnia or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia ... and die. Will we stop giving out the gospel to these young men simply because they have no opportunity to leave post and attend church, much less get baptized and join ... because we can't see the result of the planted seed? That would be just as wrong, and as long as we are able to have Operation Fellowships, we will do it.

There are many oppositions to a ministry such as this. Any time the chaplaincy on post changes hands, there is a possibility that, even though we have had years of success with this program, the new head chaplain will decide that it doesn't fit in his agenda ... and simply have it stopped.