More Baptisms

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The last three weeks we have had folks "walk the aisle" and come forward seeking baptism in celebration of their new found faith in Christ. The breakdown by age is still about the same for my ministry as a whole, one high school freshman, a twenty something new dad (his wife joined our little congregation by the most Baptist of ways...The Moving Of The LETTER) and a sixty-five year old man. The sixty-five year old gentleman told me in the hallway right before the service that he had just prayed with his Sunday school teacher to receive salvation.

God continues to pour out His blessings. Many preachers comment/write/brag about numbers. Sunday school is X. Worship is X. We've baptized X number of people. I'm a numbers guy myself. Heck, like most preachers I'll count anybody who is not moving. When I go to Luke's football games I'm counting the people in the visitor's stands. Preachers also love to exaggerate numbers. Be careful if a preacher says his church had "almost" 500 Sunday. He really had 200, which is ALMOST 500...ministerially speaking. There is also the combination count. 100 in the early service, 200 in Sunday School, 175 in late worship, so we "touched" 475 people today. The numbers may be hyperbolic to emphasize my point, but yes, the "almost" and "touched" numbers are frequent lunch conversations with ministry insiders.

I love numbers, as I mentioned, as much as the next preacher. But one of the numbers I like to tout is age percentages in regards to baptism. Those under 18 make up about 1/3 of the baptisms that I perform. The rest, obviously, are adults, and most of them out of their thirties. I like this trend because it is the opposite of every other ministry that I know or have read about. All churches mostly baptize the young, and for good reason. Jesus said that unless we have the faith of a child, we could not become a disciple of His. Most adults loose the ability to act with that kind of uninhibited faith.

Well, at any rate, my record holds. Three professions of faith: three baptisms: one child and two adults. To God be the glory!