LIBERTY, Mo. (BNC) by Stephen Lord — I’ve been preaching an evidence-based series on Jesus — as a real person, gospels are trustworthy, resurrection an historical fact, why he came, etc.
I wrapped up the series with an old-fashioned presentation on how to respond to and accept the gospel . . . with a twist.
One of our elders had read of a preacher doing this somewhere, so today I thought I’d give it a try. I wrapped up the message with a standard invitation, but I also encouraged people not to just go with the emotions of the moment.
I told the congregation my wife and I would go to lunch after services, but then we would be back at the building from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., if someone didn’t like crowds, but after thinking about the message wanted to be baptized.
We had three people come to be baptized during that afternoon period and one in the evening service.
Stephen Lord is a gospel preacher working with the Liberty, Mo., congregation. He posted this story Nov. 1 to a Yahoo group and allowed BNC to reproduce it. For teaching on biblical baptism, see this WiseBible entry.
2015-11-02 at 12:47 pm
I like this approach. Too often we appeal to emotions with the message of “get dunked now, you could get hit by a bus after services.”
2015-11-23 at 3:54 am
I haven’t heard of any preacher telling someone to “get dunked” but then I haven’t been everywhere in the world. Just remember that if your heart is not right with GOD you can be “dunked” over a million times and it won’t mean anything.
As for emotions, on the Day of Pentecost, did Peter tell the crowd to wait for a later time to be baptized because their emotions were high?