Satan is a Nerd!

I loved the T-shirt a young man was wearing as he got baptized. He was truly standing up for his faith. Satan wasn't happy about what God was doing at Palm Valley Church this weekend. He couldn't be! We are all celebrating what we saw God do this weekend.

So, what did God do? Three weeks ago we had 45 signed up for baptism this weekend. By Friday we had 86. More registered over the weekend so the number grew to 93. That's pretty amazing in itself, but sometimes people don't show up. This weekend God showed up big, and so did the people. In our five services, we baptized 136 people! I was praying for 100 (Oh ye of little faith!).

The stories represented would take months to tell. It was great to see so many that our New Believer Ministry has worked with.

Personally, I am exhausted, and every inch of my body is in pain. I can hardly walk right now, but I would do it again tomorrow if given the opportunity! God gave me the strength to get through the weekend, and I am sure He would get me through another day as well.

It was awesome to get to serve all weekend with Paige! She was terrific (as always). She ran the check-in table and it went so well.

So may of our staff stepped up and went the extra mile this weekend. That's no surprise because that's normal for our staff. A special thanks though to Art (a huge amount of help!), Dennis, Christina, Jillayne, Ryan, Daniel, Brent, and Greg (who preached and baptized even though he wasn't well!).

Along with staff, there were several volunteers who really shined this weekend. Mark, Debbie, Kathy, Eloy, & Don especially.

Many other staff and volunteers helped make this such a special experience. To all, a big Thank you!

God is so good!

85 and Counting!

I can't wait! So far, we have 85 people signed up to get baptized this weekend, and I am sure that number will go higher. We have eight people from one family getting baptized! God is so good. I am so excited that I get to be there to witness this.

Baptizing is one of the greatest blessings a pastor can have. This time, however, I will mostly be on the sidelines. I am sad and excited about that at the same time. It may sound odd, but I have chosen not to be in the water baptizing because of my health. For that I am sad. But I am excited that our newest Pastor Dennis will take my place and be in the water with Pastor Greg baptizing people. I am excited that Dennis will get to enjoy this blessing. He has a great heart and loves people. This will be a special time for him I am sure, and I will enjoy watching that.

As for me, I'll have plenty to do with odds and ends and supporting the Fresh Start table. This is a team effort and it is a huge step in the faith journey of those getting baptized. I hope and pray that our entire church is blessed by this weekend. Everyone has contributed to the growth of these people.

Think about it. Someone invited them. They came and were welcomed. They had a great worship experience and heard the Word of God. They accepted Christ. Our New Believer ministry helped them grow. Our Home Teams help them continue their journey. All the while, their children and youth were being cared for and were learning to love God for themselves. Our office, communications, and tech teams have made resources available to them. Our set-up and tear-down teams created an environment where they could hear the voice of God. Our care teams and other volunteers met their needs and cared for them, as well as equipped them for service. All in all, we all loved them, regardless of their past, their struggles, their appearance, or their means, we all loved them with the love of the Lord. Now they are seeing the fruits of their labors, over 85 getting baptized!

Praise be to the one true, gracious, holy, and loving God!!!

Baptism - Portable Church

So, how does a portable church do baptism? Here are a couple of pictures. It was a lot of worthwhile effort. If you think this is cool, you should check out the pics of the baptism at Newspring!

Weekend Reflections - OFF THE HOOK!

Every Pastor has moments in ministry that they will never forget. This weekend one of those moments happened to me.

As we continued the "UnCertainty" series, Greg really hit it on "How do I survive a down market" what a timely message! In the middle of the message was a video of Daniel's trip to Vision, Haiti. What a cool name for a town! We're going to help build a church building there (God already is building the church!).

To see how others live is a great way to remind ourselves how blessed we are, even in a down market. To many in the world, a down market would be several steps up from where they are at daily.

The best way to survive a down market is to focus on Christ. What better way to do that than baptism! We baptized 48 people this weekend! I am so sore! Praise God! That's not even the best part!

I began this entry writing about moments you never forget. Sunday morning that happened. As I asked one man if he had accepted Jesus Christ to be his Lord and Savior he replied matter of factly, NO! Here I am, standing in the baptism pool, this husband and wife are there to be baptized together, and he says that he hasn't accepted Jesus. What would you do?

I asked, are you making that decision now, giving your life to Him, and obeying Him in baptism? To this he said yes! Right there in the pool he accepted Christ to be his savior. How cool is that! People really cheered. Of all the people that were baptized, including Greg's oldest son, this is the one I will remember. People were following Christ by being baptized, some had been following Him for several years, but hadn't taken this step. For them, this was the next step in their journey. Here was a man going all in. Not just being baptized, but totally giving his life to Christ in that moment. His journey began Sunday. Afterward, I said happy birthday. A birthday that I will never forget.

Two Minute Tuesday

Two or three times per year we do a big baptism celebration on the patio on campus. This weekend we are setting up a pool to baptize those who are declaring that they are being obedient followers of Christ. Who do you know that hasn't taken that step? Who do you know that needs to see the testimony of others as they take this step?

Are you excited about this weekend? If you aren't, you need to be spending extra time in prayer that God will re-kindle your heart. This is what it's all about! Changed lives! Baptism is the outward evidence of the fact that a person has given their life to Christ. If we can't get excited about that, we have some heart issues that need to be addressed with God.

I have been looking forward to this weekend for months. We're going to have banners and balloons, cameras and video. This is a huge celebration and I hope that the church doesn't just leave after service, but hangs out to celebrate what God is doing in the lives of those who take this step.

It makes me think of a chorus we used to sing:

Get all excited, go tell everybody that Jesus Christ is King!

Are you excited?!

Baptism Miracle!

If anyone wonders if God still does miracles today, check out this post by Tony Morgan about what happened at NewSpring Church in Anderson S.C.

http://www.tonymorganlive.com/tony_morgan_one_of_the_si/2007/09/559-people-bapt.html

We'll be having baptisms on the patio after each service at Palm Valley on September 29th and 30th. To sign up, or if you have questions, you can get connected at www.palmvalley.org

Praise God!

The Mark of a Believer

How can you know that you are saved? How can you know that someone else is saved? Casually we say that anyone who knows Jesus is saved. James said that isn't enough, because even the demons know Jesus. So, what's the mark of a believer?

I've been re-studying baptism. After studying every related Scripture passage, and several books and articles I have a fresh outlook and understanding of some of the "side issues" that I hadn't worked through before. One key question that I wanted to answer in my studies was "How old is old enough?" It hit me last night that I've been asking the wrong question. Certainly, I will make sure that I have an answer to that one for those who ask it, but it isn't the real question. We should be asking, "How do you know that you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?" a follow-up question to that would be, "What is the mark of a believer?"

As I begin to wrestle that through, I am immediately taken to Jesus' interaction with the "Rich Young Ruler." This young man had done everything required, yet it wasn't enough. He hadn't given up what he prized most to follow Jesus. I think of what James wrote, that "Faith without works is dead." My mind races to Paul's writing about the fruits of the Spirit, and his admonition in Roman's 12:1 to present ourselves as a "living sacrifice." It's becoming clear. The mark of a believer is the Holy Spirit working through their surrendered and sacrificed life.

I understand the theology, and have studied it many times, but it is really quite simple in many ways. A person who has a saving relationship with Jesus Christ will have the evidennce of the Holy Spirit working in their life. The Bible is clear in many places that when we repent of our sinsw, and choose to be a Christ-Follower, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell within us. Our lives are changed! How can they not be? When we go from living without the Holy Spirit, to living with Him, who can there not be change? If there isn't, I would question the person's decision for Christ. Look at the Scriptural examples! We can't be the same if we have encountered Jesus.

I'm not saying that we become perfect (look at the example of the apostles), what I am saying is that there is a transformation that occurs when the Holy Spirit enters our lives. We can do, and say, the right things, but if the Holy Spirit isn't working in our lives, then we haven't sold everything we have to follow Christ! That's the mark of a believer. How has the Holy Sprit worked in your life?

To answer the other question, "How old is old enough?" it is when there is evidence in a person's life that they have the Holy Spirit living within them. What that looks like is different for every person, but I know that there is a difference, a heart change. It isn't about knowledge and understanding, it is giving yourself as a living sacrifice to God. When you have done that, you will know that you have been saved!

I know that all of this is loaded with issues for theological debate, and I welcome that debate, as long as it is thoughtfully founded on the Bible.

How old do you have to be to be baptized?

Let the debate begin! I would love some input here. How old is old enough to be baptized? How old is old enough to meaningfully accept Christ? Is the concept of the "age of accountability" really Scriptural?

Here's a link to an article that fuels the debate. http://www.gotquestions.org/young-salvation.html

I thought I was clear on my theology on this topic, but now I'm not so sure. If we believe that a child of whatever age actually accepts Christ, then shouldn't that child also be baptized as a step of obedience to their savior? At what age to we say that their decision is valid, what what do we tell them about their decision before then?

Tied to this, at what age do we allow them to take communion? If they say that they have accepted Christ, isn't that the requirement? Who decides?

I'm among those who see numerous people get re-baptized because they didn't understand or remember being baptized when they were young. I think this is why we rely on the "age of accountability" concept which is tied to the Jewish right of passage at 13. I think that this is why I am relunctant to support baptizing children. Am I invalidating their decision for Christ?

What do you think?