Many of you expressed interest in the spontaneous baptism piece that we featured in the latest CreativePastors newsletter, so we thought we'd provide a closer look. Just in case you missed the newsletter (sign up here for future issues), we'll start with a quick recap.
On a recent weekend at Fellowship Church, we took a page out of the first century church and organized a spontaneous baptism. The response was overwhelming as 583 people throughout four campuses responded to the invitation to be baptized, a church record for one weekend.
The message, Go Deep, was pre-taped and featured Ed in the church’s baptismal pool demonstrating a live baptism. Showing the message this way at all four of the church’s campuses, he felt, allowed the people to get a real sense of what to expect during their own baptism. He then came on stage live after the video to invite those who were ready to come forward and be baptized.
“I just talked about some basics of baptism, answered some of the most common questions people have about baptism and showed people the significance baptism holds for the Christian life. We decided that if we provided people with an opportunity to respond immediately, they wouldn’t have time to make up excuses and they would find that stepping up is definitely worth it,” he said.
Doris Scoggins, director of baptism for the church, organized the massive effort and ensured that there was plenty of room for people to change into the shorts and t-shirts that were handed out. “We had over 100 volunteers who helped sign in, organize and lead people from the changing area to our baptismal areas at our four campuses,” Scoggins said. On the Grapevine campus four pastors baptized people simultaneously as their names were read aloud. Hundreds of onlookers cheered as their friends, family and neighbors were immersed.
