There are times when my focus gets blurred and I think about all the things I don't have or I get consumed with the obstacles that seem to be blocking my way rather than seeing what resources I do have.
This past Friday night was an historic night in the life of The Stone Church. Eleven people made an intentional decision to take a significant step of faith and go public with their faith by being baptized! We heard a nine year old boy share how he asked Jesus to be his Forever Friend while he was walking his dog in the neighborhood; we listened to one of our "Classic Citizens" in her seventies share a beautiful story of God's love while her daughter and grandson stood with her and were also baptized. We were humbled as students declared their faith and love of Jesus; and we cheered as a former professional wrestler went down for the count for reason. What's baptism got to do with focusing on your resources rather than your limitations? One of the first things you may notice at our church is that we do not have a permanent (or even temporary) place to baptize--which is a limitation if you're a church that practices baptism by immersion. So what do you do? Do you whine, complain, and grumble? Do you jealously wish you had what the church down the road has? Do you focus on the limits or the obstacles or do you start looking at what you do have? Do you have a Tractor Supply Story? Then you can build something out of a cattle trough like my church planting buddy Spencer Breedlove at Statham Community Church chose to do? (Which is very cool by the way!) Do you have anyone who lives in a subdivision with a clubhouse pool? Yes, but that didn't work out? Could you partner with another church in the community that does have a baptistry? Yes, but we didn't sense that this was the right time for that? Do you have a state park with a lake nearby? As a matter of fact... That's a great idea! We rented one of the picnic pavilions on Lake Allatoona at Red Top Mountain State Park and I'm glad we did! We could not have had a more beautiful setting for our first baptism celebration! It was idyllic! The weather was perfectly delightful for mid-August in Georgia! The fried chicken was perfectly crispy for chicken connoisseurs , and the glory of the night was perfectly aimed at Jesus! I'm glad our limitations forced us to seek God's resources. This night felt so much like I imagine baptisms in the days of Jesus. An excited believer standing in calm lake with numerous families and friends seated on the banks, crying and cheering. Here we were with people of different ethnic backgrounds from different generations with different spiritual stories all declaring their salvation in Jesus. It was a thing of beauty! His resources and his ways are always so much richer and higher than anything we could imagine.
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