Water Baptism

Laura Susan and I had such a great weekend as she mentioned in the previous post. It was capped off by an incredible baptism service at our church. Our church has a baptism service about twice a year. The first one we experienced was last fall. CrossPointe doesn't do infant baptism, but believer baptism. (I know there is a lot of debate about this, but we won't really get into that.) God's word says repent and be baptized.

Acts 2:38 “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.’”

Laura Susan and I were both baptized when we were infants, and we are honored that our parents did this. When we first started thinking about being baptized again, I was a little hesitant. Mainly because I knew I had already been baptized. The more I prayed, read, and thought about it, I decided I did want to be baptized. When I was a baby, I didn't have the choice to be baptized and didn't know what I was doing. But now being a believer and studying God's word, I knew that baptism is something God wants us to do to be able to identify with Jesus.

Romans 6:4 says, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

We knew that being baptized was a great way for us to proclaim the gospel. But we also knew that being baptized is not something we have to do to be saved. It is by faith through grace that we are saved, no works including baptism can make Jesus love us anymore. Jesus did tell us to be baptized though in the Great Commission.

Matthew 29:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

So all this to say that Laura Susan and I were baptized on Sunday. First I was baptized by our pastor, and then I had the honor to baptize Laura Susan. Our church also believes that baptism is not just a priestly function. I am the spiritual leader of our house, so I baptized my wife. It was such an incredible time; we could really feel God moving. A couple more folks got baptized after us. A father got in to baptize his son, but as he was standing there talking, he decided that he needed to be baptized by our pastor before he baptized his son. (I was in the bathroom changing so I didn't get to actually see this.) It was such a powerful moment that it inspired a few folks in the congregation who weren't planning on being baptized to come up and be baptized. It was such an incredible service. Afterwards we had some great yard bird (chicken) out on the front lawn. We love being part of the CrossPointe tribe.

We feel like God is doing so much in us through this church. Another great thing we have coming up this summer is a mission trip to Belize. We are so excited about this. For the past couple of years we have felt God put a desire for missions on our heart. But we haven't had an opportunity to go on a mission trip until now. Please be praying for this trip and the support-raising.

Great Weekend

We love our church. God blesses us everytime we are with our tribe.
Just started helping with worship last week, and it is so good to be back. We had a Night of Worship last night at the church, and it was amazing. God comes when you invite Him!

Some of my favorites lines we sang...

"I believe You're my Healer, I believe You are all I need, I believe You're my portion, I believe You're more than enough for me"... As one who has been healed, my heart praised Him in this song!

"I know I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing!"

"Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades, Never-ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame, and the cry of my heart is to bring You praise, from the inside out" ... It is ALL about Him!

"What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS!"

"Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave!"

What a great night! At the end of a looooooooooooooooooooooooong week, I needed to sit at His feet and worship.

In other news, we are headed to Atlanta this afternoon for my friend Ashley's wedding. She is one of my best friends from pharmacy school. I seriously would not have made it through without her and Jenny. We laughed a lot, and I am excited about celebrating with her and Steve tonight.

Tomorrow is our church's third anniversary... and it is a water baptism Sunday. Springer and I are going to be baptized, and we are really excited about it.

Romans 6:1-11
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

G-Day

Laura Susan and I went up to Athens this weekend for G-Day. We had a great weekend. The G-Day game was alot of fun. We decided to sit on the alumni side on the 50 yard line (you can pretty much sit wherever you want at G-Day). After we sat down we saw just behind us that guy who always is on TV with the bulldawg painted on his head. So we had to get a picture with him. He was such a nice guy. the game itself was good, Stafford had a nice TD pass to Michael Moore who made a great catch. Caleb King, who will back up Knowshon, made some flashy moves.

We got to eat at some of our favorite restaurants and got to go to our old church, St. James, which was alot of fun. We also passed along the North Campus frisbee golf tradition to Laura Susan's brother Will. It was a little tough to play in such wet conditions, but we had a good time.

Now I just can't wait for our National Championship run to start in August.
Go Dawgs!!