Sunday was a day that will go down in the books as won of the most exciting days in the history of Journey Church. You could feel the expectation of the day as it started at 5 am as Joe and I drove to the theater to drop off the baptismal tank a.k.a. cattle trough. We started filling it with water as we prayed the our heater would be sufficient to heat the tank in the 34 degree weather. I knew that it was going to warm up but putting people into a tank of 50 degree water was not what I wanted to be known for. But thanks to Shane Hall, we turned our cattle trough into a redneck hot tub that was perfect for baptism. All total, we baptized 11 people on Sunday from ages 7 to 70. You can catch some of their stories on the website (www.churchonajourney.com) and our facebook page. Baptism was their demonstration of their new found journey. May they always pursue the HIM with an uncompromising commitment. My prayer is that today will serve as a CRUX in the life of those eleven who confessed Jesus as their Savior. May their commitment never fade. As Maxwell said, "Until I am committed, there is a hesitancy, a chance to draw back. But the moment I definitely commit myself, then God moves also, and a whole stream of events erupts. All manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, persons, and material assistance, which I could never have dreamed would come my way, begin to flow toward me - the moment I make a commitment."
Not only was Sunday the first day of baptisms at Journey Church but it was the first time we decided to do our worship time, acoustic. Sometimes new churches are forced to do an acoustic set because a drummer doesn't show but that wasn't our case. We found that Pablo, our drummer, has incredible ninja skills and can actually play the shaker and text at the same time (or so I am told from the guys at rehearsal). The most exception part of the worship besides Blair showing his ability on the djembe was Aaron bringing it with his standup, "doghouse" bass. I honestly wanted to cry for joy when I saw and heard Aaron pull out the bow and start sawing on that huge fiddle! Awesome time of worship!
As I continued our series, Crux, that highlights the cross of Jesus being the dividing line in history and our life, I felt the passion of God as I communicated what it was like to find true conversion. True transformation. True life-change. In our closing prayer, I ask for hands to be raised by those who were wanting to put their faith in Jesus. Several hands went up and I was able to pray with one man in particular who described to me how over the past few weeks while attending Journey, God has been drawing him closer and closer and today he wanted to affirm his faith in Jesus. What a great day!
God is blessing our new church beyond our expectations. It's not about being hip and cool. It is not about being impressive and catchy. It is about the life changing power of the Gospel. I realize that more every day. For that Gospel, I can and have given my life. And why shouldn't I, HE gave his!
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