April 3rd, 2011

What an intense day at New Community. We wrapped up our God's Idea Series today. It was the 10th week in the book of Ephesians and we landed the plane with Ephesians 6:10-18 (put on the full armor of God). Let's just say...God moved in a big way.

Let me set the stage for you...when everyone showed up this am there was a 12 foot wide, 4 foot tall above ground pool set up in the middle of our auditorium. It was heated and was the centerpiece of our convesation today. We discovered through the scriptures that when Paul says put on the Armor of God, he is saying put on Christ. We see in Galatians that the way to do that is to be baptized...to literally clothe yourself with Jesus through immersion.

Then, we had an open baptism for all who wanted to be baptized and to take that next step in their faith today...no waiting...no excuses...we had shorts, shirts and towels. There were a few people already scheduled to do this but once it was all said and done...16 people came foward and were baptized into Christ as we worshiped and sang together as a faith community. It was intense...so intense that if I had hair on my head...it would have been standing.

As I have taken time to reflect on this today, the only thing I can compare the emotion and energy to was the day New Community came to life 4 years ago. February 25th, 2007 was a game changer for Jackson County because NC was born...April 3rd, 2011 was a game-changer for NC because many people clothed themselves in Christ. This will impact their life, their family, friends and neighbors and will impact New Community.

Thanks to Chris McClay, Tim & Andrew Evans, Stephen Saxton and Patti Simpson for making the logistics of this day possible. The Church being the Church is a beautiful thing.

I cant wait to see what God is up to and to experience where He is taking us....TOGETHER. I love you guys dearly....grace and Peace!