This weekend at our church (MOUNTAN CHRISTIAN CHURCH in Joppa, MD) had something they called "BAPTISM SPLASH". Several people had signed up to be baptised (both in the Cook Auditorium which is the Old Church and in the New Life Center which is the new huge main center...where those of you who came to me and Chris' baptism were) but when all was said and done....between the two centers and the 9am and 11am services, over 250 people were baptised in Christ!!!! They had pools in both places and the service was simulcast from NLC up to Cook as usual...but it was a GREAT service and message!!!!
I was crying watching it....Chris said he couldn't sing when Amazing Grace was being played or he would have too!!! It was BEAUTIFUL to watch and we were so lucky to be there to see it. Even though Chris and I had our baptism back in November, we were both laughing about how we wanted to do it again!!!
Here is a message from our pastor...please read it all....the comments are awesome! God bless!!!
*********************
The last count I've heard is that we had 250 baptisms on Sunday, plus a couple more that slipped by our system and count. The Lord knows their names.
But it was not the numbers alone that made an impression. It was a thousand priceless moments, and each individual life that matters most. We will not soon forget:
~Seeing the long line of people snaking around the buildings, of people who came forward in both venues;
The numbers of people who did not come for baptism, but who prayed, wept, and sang, and reported a conviction of their spirit by the Spirit;
~Jim Payne hopping in the pool to help baptize his buddy, a 15 year old autistic boy he knows from special needs ministry;
~The tattooed couple with earrings and metal all over the bodies - coming up out of the water in tears, embracing each other, fists pumping in the air;
~The tiny girl in the NLC who led in the confession of faith with her pure, sincere voice;
~The woman in Cook who started down the aisle three times and kept turning back, before she finally ended up surrendering to Christ and being baptized;
~ elderly woman who, with trembling lips, just before she was lowered in baptism, said, "Jesus, I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long."
~The husband who rushed onto stage when he saw his wife in the pool, shouting through tears to her over the music, "I love you sooo much! Thank you Jesus! I love you so much!"
~Moms and Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas tenderly baptizing their teens or kids - the fruit of years of prayers;
~The Clean Image cleaning service employee who was only here for back up cleaning duty, who has been listening to services on and off for a while, and stewed around until she finally just handed her mop to someone and went forward for baptism, in her cleaning uniform;
~How one of our members left church as soon as the sermon was over to drive to her friend's house, to bring her back for the next service... so she could be baptized;
~The three more people who came to commit their life to Christ at the Welcome to Mountain Class that afternoon;
~The woman who got home after wrestling all through the service, realizing she was baptized at a "too young age" and only did it for her mother, and so, called Karla Sunday afternoon, who met her at the WAC and baptized her Sunday afternoon;
~The two men standing in the back, weeping like babies during the whole thing - high-fived each other and said, "Man, I love this church!"
Home 
