Hi Buffalo Cov!

We had a great baptism service on Sunday! 

It was great to baptize 17 people at that service, plus three more in a private baptismal service earlier in the day, for a total of 20 baptisms in a day. It was wonderful to hear the testimonies of those being baptized and to celebrate life in Christ. 

But how do these baptisms fit into our mission as a church? 

Jesus gave us our final marching orders as the church in Matthew 28:18-20:

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This is called the Great Commission. Just before Jesus bodily left this planet He told us as a church that our primary mission was to "Make Disciples" (Mt. 28:19). What does that mean? That means that Jesus wants us to tell the world about Him, and persuade others to trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He wants us to help create additional followers, or disciples, of Jesus. When we locate these new disciples, we are supposed to "baptize them" and "teach them". 

Baptism has always been tied in directly to our mission of evangelism as a church. When people trust Christ as their Savior, then we are to baptize them "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (28:19). 

Baptism is tied to Evangelism. So our task as a church is to focus on Evangelism. That is the first step to fulfilling the Great Commission. It was great to hear some of the adults share about how people from BCC witnessed to them, and helped them to come to a saving knowledge of Christ! That is what it is all about! There are friends, family and co-workers whom you know who need to trust Christ with their life. Pray and ask God to give you those opportunities to share. The men's ministry is talking about this. Just this week, one of the men shared about how he wanted to speak with his neighbor, and was kicking himself because he didn't have the courage to speak up. So he prayed and asked God to give him the opportunity, and then this week as he was driving by he saw his neighbor out in his yard. He stopped, and talked to him, and told him of his personal faith in Jesus. He then had a chance to pray with his neighbor! 

Jesus said that the harvest is ripe and ready. He is just looking for people who will pray and obey.

May that be you.

May that be me.

May that be BCC together.

Yours for the Kingdom of Heaven,

Pastor Bill