Wow! Is all I can say. God definitely made Himself known in a big way @ The Ridge today! We did a special worship gathering as part of our “got hope” series. Today’s message was “got hope?…get soaked!” We taught about biblical baptism and challenged people, if they had not already done so, to be obedient to the Lord through baptism on the spot today. We provided everything they needed and broke down ANY barriers we could think of that might keep people from being obedient to Christ in baptism.
By the end of the day 54 people had followed Christ in obedience through baptism!
Everyone received a copy of an NLT New Believer’s Bible (which had been provided us by the senior adult group of my dad’s church in Florida) along with an “i got soaked @ The Ridge” t-shirt among other items. It was an amazing day! I still am in awe of what God did.
At the point in the first worship gathering when I called for people to respond, I thought, “Okay God, here we go. This is in your hands. Will people respond or will I be standing up here alone and dismiss everyone early?” I came out the side door from back stage and looked out to see many people actually responding! I turned back into the darkness of the backstage area and wept as I thought about lives being changed by God at that moment and how humbling it is to be a part of His work. In the first gathering we saw 17 baptized and that was awesome enough. However, God wasn’t through by any means. In our second gathering, another 37 responded to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. At the end of the second gathering when the last person “got soaked” there was a spontaneous standing ovation of praise to the Lord! An Awesome day! Amazing response of obedience!
It would take all day to tell some of the stories. Entire families came and were baptized together. Husbands and wives together. Dad’s coming and helping baptize their teenagers. Even two of our small group leaders who decided to get their baptism and obedience in order!
Major PROPS to Bill, our Assimilation Pastor and the Guest Services Teams for their amazing work this week and the weeks leading up to it! Wendell also pulled extra weight as did Doug and the Creative Arts Team. Everyone did an amazing job of coming together for this special day. Also, thanks to Shawn and the folks at Mountain Lake for leading the way for several churches on this. (It’s funny how many older folks said how they remembered as kids that they regularly did spontaneous baptisms in the churches they grew up in.)
In addition to all this, we had over 425 in attendance! Our highest non-Easter attendance ever!
Can’t imagine what God has in store next. But I can’t wait to find out!
stevewhipple.tv 
As a former traditional pew-sitter, I am used to the altar calls where you sing Just As I Am a hundred time until your mouth is numb while no one responds. I found myself hoping and praying that someone, anyone, would respond to that incredible call to get baptized, fearful that it would be one of those awkward moments. (doesn’t say much for my faith, does it?) But when I saw all those people get up, I started to cry. I just kept thinking “God is so AWESOME”.