One of the parts of the pastoral ministry that I love is baptism. I love seeing people follow the Lord, obeying Him in this area, and submitting themselves to biblical baptism. But even before actually baptizing people, I love to talk with them and explain to them what baptism is all about - the symbolism, the identification, and the blessing that comes along with baptism. So any day that I get to "dunk" some Christians, it excites me.
Today, I baptized seven people (see pictures below), and it was great. Baptism also means that we typically have visitors with us, so there is always added excitement. Not that I need more excitement - today, I felt like I spoke 1000 words per minute - maybe I need to lay off the caffeine a little! :) But I think that the moods and participation in both services were good, and I pray that the Lord takes me to another level in my preaching, as I preach for life change. I spoke today on being "Changed by Love" from Ephesians 2:4-7, and how we we receive God's love in our lives, He gives us life, changes our situations by changing us, and give us rest (coinciding with being made alive in Christ, raised with Him, and seated with Him in the Heavenly Realms) - it went well overall.
The worship went well today too - please pray as Bill continues to transition into this role, that he will really grasp the aspect of leading our church into worship every time. That is his heart, but is something that takes time and can be frustrating. But I thank God that Bill is stepping forward. May God be glorified in all of this.
Overall good day today - we had 137. The Lord is good. The Lord, He is God!
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