Baptisms 7.23.23
This past Sunday our annual church picnic was held at Walla Walla Point Park. I thought the hot-weather might be a hinderance to attendance but we had a huge crowd (around 125) gather for fried chicken, a potluck meal, lots of chat and laughter together and a time to connect in “authentic community” that simply isn’t possible on a Sunday morning. It was a mixture of regulars, many family members and friends of those being baptized, and even a couple of individuals who were simply at the park that we invited to be part of the day. Truly a blessed time!
The most glorious part of all was watching 13 individuals declare their personal faith in Jesus through water baptism. Two fathers from our congregation baptized their children. That was special! A father and his teenage daughter were baptized together as well as an 8 year old who had read about the dove descending on Jesus at his baptism and was excited to also receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Through this lads faith, his mom rededicated her life to Jesus and was baptized too!
A teenager who was baptized had both his mom and grandma there to celebrate. His grandma told me that his declaration of faith was a long awaited answer to her prayer which confirmed the message I had just preached on developing the aspect of patience as part of the fruit of the Spirit. I don’t know who was glowing more; the teen, his mom or his grandma. Praise the Lord!
I want you to know that Jesus is alive and well and doing His transforming work in the hearts and lives of those who will yield to Him. Sometimes we get so bogged down in the routine of church life and ministry that we forget that Jesus is offering “new life” to each of us. Sunday’s baptisms was a wonderful reminder that God is working in our midst as we do our best to “inspire lifelong relationships with Jesus.”