The Worship Pastor gets baptized!

Yes, it's true! I got baptized this morning. I had been baptized at age 7 - the year I first walked an isle and decided I wanted to become a Christian.

Thinking back, I think I walked the isle that day because it was the thing to do. I didn't want to go to hell, and I did like Jesus... But did I really understand what He had done for me and how hopeless I was apart from Him? Not really. If I did, I believe the next 23 years may have looked a bit different than they did. I mean, the Christian life is a journey and the closer I get to God the more I realize how far away I really am. Not that I wasted 23 years, or didn't love Jesus during that time... just not sure I was really living for Jesus. Wasn't much fruit coming off my tree!

Truthfully, my life begin to change some 7 years ago and in some ways that is when I have to say I put a stake in the ground. It was no longer I who lived but "Christ who lived in me". Change. We can say we have changed but the proof is in the walk not the talk. I can say I am a piece of bread but just because I was born in a bread pan doesn't make me a piece of bread. I grew up in a Christian home and walked an isle at 7 but growing up in a Christian home and giving myself the name "Christian" is not what saves me.

What saved me was the grace of Jesus Christ. Nothing I could do - He did it all. He paid a debt that I could not pay - one that I owed. And now that I fully realize what He has done for me, I want to do nothing less than live for Him. Do I still struggle? Do I make mistakes? Yes! But now it's different. I don't want to sin, rebel, go against God's will for my life because His sacrifice compels me to live for Him! As the apostle Paul says, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain". I want people to see me and see Christ! That is my goal!


So, today I got baptized. I got baptized to show that I identify with Christ. Was it humbling to be baptized as a worship pastor of a church of 1500? Yes. Was it humbling for my Savior to be the King of the world and be beaten and crucified by His own? Yes.

I want the rest of my life to be...

Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me. Christ.

Thank you Lord for identifying with me. The least I can do is show the world that I am yours!

Christian