12 Baptized--"I Have Decided To Follow Jesus"

Today we joined the celebration of 12 Cebuano members getting baptized on family day at the local pool. Here is the group--the family of God!

Pastor Brian spoke and confirmed the faith declaration of each person. Then the one who helped to lead them to Christ would also assist in the baptism. Here you can see my great friend, Emi, helping to baptize her disciple!

Submerged "In the name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit" (it was spoken in Cebuano).

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Romans 6.4

Men following Christ...After each of the 12 were baptized the whole group clapped and sang "I have decided to follow Jesus...no turning back, no turning back."

Elijah really touched my heart when I saw him sit on the front step of the pool and, with a serious and attentive expression you can see here, he listened and watched the whole celebration. I saw him singing along "I have decided to follow Jesus." At the end he went in as though he wanted to get baptized right then. I took him aside to explain to him about trusting Jesus and getting baptized.

He said, "I want to do that. I want to get baptized and follow Jesus." Precious! Pray that this little boy will follow Jesus all his days and lead many others to faith in Him too. I was only 3, just like him, when I remember praying with my sister to receive Christ. God accepts the faith of a child!

This picture gives you a feel of being there too...

Here is Weng-Weng with one of her disciples. I wrote about her in a post below and shared that she has the gift of evangelism. Praise God for this lady in her Bible study who turned her life over to Christ. Pray that God will continue to use Weng-Weng to bring many people to the Lord Jesus.

At the end, the 12 who were baptized joined hands and then the whole body of Christ prayed for them.

Here are the 12--pray for them that they will stay true to the Lord and grow in their faith. Pray that they will be lights to many people as they live for Jesus.

We believe baptism is an "outward sign of an inward grace." We believe salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Christ, and that baptism is a symbol or public sign of our commitment to Him in the death of our old self and the new life in Christ.