Sunday, September 30, 2007

the big plunge

For the past year and a half Steph and I have been going to Grace Community Church, an incredible church which we enjoy very much. Pastor Scott is amazing, the music is great, and we've made a lot of great friends (who are actually our age, married, and don't have five kids... not that there's anything wrong with kids).

So we figured, this is the place, so we're going to become members. Well, Grace Community is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Baptists love their dunk tank. That's all fine and well, but for a guy who grew up Methodist (and was baptized as a baby 26 years ago) that's always been a bit of a hurdle for me to get over. I mean, what, was my orginal baptism not good enough? What's the difference if I get baptized as a baby, or if it's actually by immersion?

Well, this Methodist was finally broken. Baptism was originally intended to be a public symbolic act of believing in Christ, once they became a believer. And the death and resurrection of Christ is symbolized through the going-down and coming-up from the water through baptism.

So today I got baptized and became a member of Grace Community Church! A cool experience and worth the 26 year wait. As I was telling someone earlier, the Methodists got me on the Heaven waiting list with infant baptism... glad I've got my reserved seat now though. Thanks Stephanie, Brian and Krista, and Rachel Ray for coming!! Here's a post-dunk picture for ya, note semi-wet hair.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good stuff brother burns. It's a beautiful thing.

uncle tim said...

somewhere John Wesley cries out in horror...what have you done?!
We all know the Bible says "get baptized twice and they cancel out". It's in there.

The worst part is, now that you're a baptist, you'll have to make decisions...no more fence riding mister!