I just started reading the book of Mark, and was hit right away by the ministry of John the Baptist, who preached a simple message:

This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God to receive forgiveness for their sins. Mark 1:4 (NLT)

So there you go.  Baptism doesn’t save you, it shows that you have been saved.  Baptism isn’t the mechanism God uses to forgive you of your sins, it is a simple act of obedience that shows you have repented of your sins and been forgiven.  John the Baptist said that people “should be baptized”.  Jesus instructed his followers to “go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”.

On March 21, we are going to give you an opportunity to show your church family that you have been saved from your sins, choosing to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  This baptism service is for anyone who has made a commitment to Christ and is ready to obey Him.  It is stake you drive in the ground that says, “I am a follower of Jesus Christ”!  It is an amazing time, both for those getting baptized and for everyone watching. 

So, here is my encouragement to you.

1. If you are a believer and have not yet been baptized, prayerfully consider whether God would have you take advantage of this opportunity.  If you are a parent of someone you think is old enough to have made that decision for himself or herself, talk to them and pray with them about getting baptized.
2. Sign-up for a simple, two-week baptism class that will prepare you for the service on March 21st.  This class will answer many questions and help you think through your own story with God.  The class will be held on Sunday mornings on 3/7 and 3/14.  You can sign-up here.
3. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Several people have politely asked me, “Tom, where have you been?  Why haven’t you been blogging?”  In fact, my last post was 12/10!  Well, not to make excuses, but I’ve been a little busy with everything, including Christmas-related stuff.  But two thing in particular have taken a lot of attention the past week:

• I just finished up my 6th class in seminary.  It was probably the hardest one yet, or maybe I was just tired…I’m not sure.  In any case, I’m finished with it and am not planning to take another class until fall of 2010.  I’m excited for the mental break!
• We just got the next round of Grace Point University classes set-up.  We’ve got three classes starting on January 10th…please consider taking one…we think they will help “God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (Romans 12:2 NLT)”.  You can get more info by downloading the course listing here.
• A Life of Effective Prayer – follow-up to the Rooted in Prayer class.
• Rooted in the New Testament
• Christian Parenting – Bringing Out the Best in Your Kids (1 to 12 years old)

No more posts for me in 2009.  See you in 2010!

Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. – Romans 12:2 (NLT).

It is absolutely amazing to me that if we work on changing our minds and adapting our lives, God will change us into new people…people that reflect the heart of Jesus!

But it all starts with changing the way we think.  We’ve got two GPU classes coming up that will help in two key areas, and I would strongly encourage you to consider enrolling in one of them:

Rooted in Marriage:

How can I have a strong, God-centered, lifelong marriage?

Topics include appreciating the God-designed differences between men and women, God’s love for you and how it enables you to love others, marriage as a life-long covenant, freeing yourself from temptations that can destroy a marriage, offering and receiving forgiveness, and unconditional love.

Schedule: 6 weeks, 1 hour class, 9/27 – 11/1 during 1st service

Rooted in the Old Testament:

How does the Old Testament tell the God’s story?

Can’t see the forest for the trees? This class will help you gain a richer understanding of God’s unfolding plan for His creation as told in the Old Testament. How is the OT structured? What were the major events and who were the key people? Why does all this matter?

Schedule: 4 weeks, 1 hour class, 10/4 – 10/25 during 2nd service

If you don’t think you would benefit from these classes, I’d respectfully ask you to reconsider why not.  If you don’t think you can take a class because you serve on Sunday morning, I’ll offer to help find you a sub to cover for you.  Parents, offer to attend the Old Testament class with your MS/HS students.  Spouses, take the initiative to invite your spouse to be encouraged and challenged by the Marriage class. 

We do need to know how many people to expect for these classes, so you need register for these classes on-line.  If you know someone else that would benefit from them, please pass along this information to them. 

I and sixteen others leave for La Ceiba, Honduras tomorrow morning at 8:30am.  As I finished 1 Corinthians in my devotions this morning, I found two verses that will be my prayer for our team this week.

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love. – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NLT)

This is such a perfect verse as we go. 

• We will need to be on guard physically and spiritually.  I pray especially that God will protect our team from spiritual attacks meant to discourage, distract and disrupt our team.
• We will need to stand firm in the faith as we see conditions many of us have only seen in pictures.
• We will need to be strong, literally, as we spend many hours a day doing good old-fashioned manual labor.  Personally, I want to have boldness to share my faith and to interact with new people in a new culture and a new language.
• But most importantly, we will need to remember why we are there in the first place.  For love’s sake, and not our own.  We go to show the love of Jesus Christ to those who have little else but Him.

Would you consider praying this verse for us as well?

May God richly bless your week…I look forward to writing when I return!  I can’t wait to see what God teaches me and the team.

Here is the video from our July 12th baptism at the beach.

I did a quick Google search on ‘baptism’ this evening and got roughly 13,700,000 hits!  I found sites attempting to define baptism, defend baptism and denounce baptism.  There are sites that declare the practice necessary for salvation and sites that insist that it should never be done by Christians.  I read what fifteen different religions say about it, each implying the other was wrong.  Arguments, debates, definitions…on and on and on.  13,700,000 pages!

Guess what I didn’t find, though I’m sure such pages exist?  Baptism celebrations! 

I didn’t see any stories of people willing to publically confess their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! 

I didn’t see any celebrations of people willing to die to themselves and live for Him!

I didn’t see any pictures of people simply being obedient to their King!

Well, may this be such a story.  I witnessed today what to me what was a spectacular event in God’s Kingdom.  Fifty one men, women and children got baptized at the beach in Lewis Center, Ohio this morning!  Fifty one!  We heard stories from ten of them about their journeys toward and into the arms of Christ!  Hundreds came to watch their friends and family.  IT WAS AWESOME!

I don’t have pictures yet, but they are coming.  For now, let me just praise God for allowing such an event to happen in the Grace Point family!!!  I pray this is a day that we won’t soon forget!