Well, he finally did it. Four years after asking Christ into his heart, my now-teenager got baptized last night! We don't have a church building yet, but we make do. Our hub of activity last night was "The Hub," our coffee shop that doubles as Command Center for our Student Ministry.
So many people had showed up that after only one song, we had to move outdoors to breathe! Luckily, there's an open area with a gazebo right next door, and that's where Pinnacle's version of a baptistry was. My parents were there, Michael's dad and other grandparents were there, and since his cousin Sammy was getting "dunked" too, her dad's family also joined the party.
Our Pastor gave a mini-sermon on baptism, and one more young lady decided to get baptized on the spot - AMEN!
Here's our Pastor Heath in black, and Associate Pastor/Student Pastor "Big O" in red (and the back of my mom's head :-))
Here's our "new man" on his way up :-)
And cousin Sammy on her way up :-)
See the guy in white in both of those previous photos? That's their "Papaw Dan," who got the honors of taking both of those grandkids under. How cool is that?
Finally, here's a group shot of everyone (or almost) who got baptized.
Bear in mind: we just had a churchwide baptism on our church property a few weeks ago and baptized some number in the teens that day. Now we had this many more! I dare say that God is moving among the youth of my church: wouldn't you agree??? :-)
I don't like baptistries.
ReplyDeleteI think ALL baptisms should be outdoors, public, noisy, and obvious.
Part of the message of baptism is being public.
Doing it behind closed doors, while still validly "baptism", makes it less of a big deal and takes away some of the impact.
I'm sure you guys are anxious for your own church building, but I'm so proud of what you've done and I just want to encourage you to keep spreading the Gospel, rather than being distracted by buildings and "success".
Great post :)
I'm sure you must be thrilled over your son's decision to follow Christ in baptism. My son was baptized almost a year ago. We have two services in the morning at our church and my husband and I had attend the early service. Our son was playing keyboard in both services that morning. Our Pastor gave an open invitation at the close of both messages for an impromptu baptism. Our son responded in the second service, so we weren't even there!!! Although we were sorry to miss this special event in his life, we were much more thrilled that he responded to God's call on his life and was obedient.
ReplyDeleteRejocing with you,
Joy
That's wonderful for your family and your church. I love that picture with everyone in the "baptismal tub".
ReplyDelete