Summer Finale 2016: Baptism Stories
Seeing people declare their commitment to Jesus renews our own commitment. This past Sunday BridgePointe gathered at Warren Town Beach for our Summer Finale, a time of hanging out, enjoying a meal and having some seaside fun. Then together, as a church, we baptized eighteen people as the sun set over the bay. Their commitment, and our commitment to Jesus has never been stronger.
Below, in alphabetical order are the stories of lives changed, stories of finding hope in Jesus. Share with us in celebrating what God has done in their lives, and join join us in Praying for One – ask God to give you one person to share His love with. You'll be amazed at how God can use you to help someone else find hope in Jesus, too
MARIANNE A.
Before I committed to following Jesus, I was lonely, lost an felt unloved. In the darkest times, I did not want to live anymore. I was ready to give up. I decided to renew my faith and pursue a relationship with Jesus because I need to regain faith in mankind. All I had experienced thus far was hurt and pain. I needed Jesus's strength and continue to need it to go on. I needed to feel His never ending love. Renewing my relationship with Jesus has given me the strength to keep trying even in the most difficult times. He has taught me how to forgive and bring peace to my soul. I feel this act of baptism is the final step in showing Jesus just how committed I am to Him and just how much I love Him and appreciate His love. I am most excited about feeling closer to Jesus and the other members of the church who have taken this step before me. Thank you for praying for me, I am one. I also pray that Jesus will bring a man into my life that will have a loving heart like His.
KEVIN C.
I began pursuing a relationship with Jesus after spending years of suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression. I'm committing myself to Jesus, so that I can have a clearer conscience in serving those in despair and to thank him for providing me will the guidance needed for being a more loving and caring father, husband, brother, and son. I'm excited about this commitment with Jesus and his Church because I'll finally be engaged in an environment of love, peace, and forgiveness.
VINCE D.
The main reason I have decided to be baptized today is that I simply want a closer relationship with Jesus and God the Father. Although my parents had me baptized as an infant, I believe making this decision for myself as an adult is an important choice to totally identify with Jesus. I've had several difficult things happen over the last couple of years that sometimes lead me to wonder, "What does God really think about me?" or "What does Jesus really think about me?" I know as a believer in Christ I have God's approval, but still doubts have crept in at times. I love the passage in Matthew 3:17, right after Jesus is baptized, the Father speaks from heaven and says "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Although Jesus always had the Father's approval since birth, this statement from God the Father isn't recorded until He is baptized. As a son of God, I very much want to follow in Jesus' footsteps and know that one day the Father can make the same statement about me. I believe being baptized, being completely identified with and submitted to Jesus, is the next step toward having the Father's ultimate approval on my life as a Christian. A good friend once told me that if you take one step toward God, He will take ten steps toward you. That is my desire, that this is my next step toward God, and that He will take many steps closer to me.
REBECCA D.
I've known for years that something has been missing in my life. When my husband and I started coming here it was an immediate satisfaction that bringing Jesus into my life is what I needed. I look forward to raising my family with Jesus in all of our lives.
ROGER D.
What started off as something I was doing for my daughter ended up being a next step in re-establishing my faith. I've noticed a significant difference in myself, my wife, and the relationships I have with people in general. BridgePointe has been very welcoming and an incredible source of information. By helping me get to know Jesus more, I have discovered a great sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in life. I hope one day I can do for at least one other what has been done for me.
THERON
I have thought about getting baptized before but I never felt I deserved to be because I used to lie a lot and was rude to my teachers and friends. Then one day I had finished reading the book I always bring to church and so I actually listened to what Jared the pastor was saying and he was talking about how God would forgive you and love you no matter what. That was when I realized that I really wanted to get baptized and get closer to Jesus but I never knew when to ask. The chance arose when Keith asked me if I wanted to get baptized and I knew God gave me that chance. Thank you for praying for me. I am ONE.
GISSELLE I.
I want to get baptized because I need Jesus in my life. After my cousin died, I realized that life is really short and that we can be called at any moment and we need to be ready. I also believe each of us have a mission in life which is to serve and to be more like our Creator.
MYA L.
Before I committed my life to Jesus I was in a dark place, Jesus is my light. I think it’s safe to say I’ve been through a lot for being as young as I am. I learned that I can always talk to God, even though He may not reply right away.
Jesus being that light at the end of a very dark tunnel made me want to pursue Him. I’ve seen Jesus work in so many ways in my life. I am committing my life to Jesus through baptism today to wash away the darkness and become a better person with Jesus beside me. I am ready to accept the Holy Spirit into me. I am so excited to enter my new life with Jesus Christ and spread the word about Him. Thank you for praying for me, I am one.
JORDAN
I want to be 100% Christian and give my life to Jesus. He was the best man that walked on Earth and He is everyone's Father. I am all in with Jesus.
JOHN M.
I have had a long and winding spiritual path. I grew up Catholic, was an altar boy, went to Sunday School, was confirmed, pretty much your standard Catholic boy. I went through some trying times, divorce, foreclosure, repos, etc... I tried to take comfort in the Catholic Church but there was none to be found. I was divorced after all. That led me down many different spiritual paths, mostly new age paths looking for my spiritual home, the place I fit in. This went on for about 10 years. I have always been a history nerd and one day I felt the calling to buy a Bible and read it merely for historical education. That was my only intention. Once I read the gospel of Matthew I was hooked. I finally understood why people would choose Jesus in that cliche question "If you could have lunch with..." Ever since then I knew following Jesus was the only path, the only Way. I believe the paths I took were all paths searching for Jesus, really, without me knowing. I thank God everyday for the path He has given me because He has given me a great career, a beautiful and loving wife and family, and a home we can grow in. His grace is good!
NICOLE M.
I have been going through some difficult things the past few weeks and I was starting to feel distant with God. Today I choose to make a step to help me get close to God and show Him that I have not lost my faith in Him. Today I choose to get baptized for a fresh new look on life.
CLOEY N.
When I was a baby my parents chose to baptize me Catholic. Now as a young individual I am making the choice of choosing my own faith. After coming to BridgePointe for a few years, attending and serving, I have grown closer to God and have learned so much. So today I'm taking the next step and I do so because I believe with my all, that Jesus is the Savior and that I am a child of God. I also may have never seen God but I truly believe He is out there and I am never alone because He is. Thank you for praying for me. I AM ONE!
JERMAINE R.
I used to party and drink with family and friends, but I realized it was not the kind of life I wanted to lead. So I knew I needed something different and that was to find a church. I wanted to live a better life for myself and for my kids.
Inside I knew I needed to set an example for my family and friends, and that’s when they turned against me. I was in a dark place, and I struggled in life. I talked with a few pastors and then decided that it was time to surrender my life to Jesus.
Then I got invited to BridgePointe and from the first time I heard Jared preach I knew this is the place I wanted and needed to be. Shortly after having a conversation with Keith, I knew today would be the day to be baptized. Thank you for praying for me, I am one.
ROCIO R.
I was baptized when I was a baby in my country. I grew up like many others in the catholic religion, but as a kid my cousins and I attended my aunt's church which I believe was Pentecostal or something similar. We attended that church every other Sunday and it literally scared me as a kid to hear things like " the world is ending soon and we need to repent" and as a kid all I heard was that the world was ending, or that most will go to hell. That terrified me, so I stopped going to church and even got scared as a young teenager to get those " scary" pamphlets saying things to do " in these last days".
I avoided religion as much as I could all my life but always had my faith in GOD. In 2011, my husband and I welcomed our sweet baby girl Amy and baptized her at the church we started attending in downtown Providence. In 2013, my husband and I got married in the same catholic church in Downtown Providence where we had baptized our daughter and attended every Sunday and we loved it! In 2014 we welcomed our sweet baby boy Ryan and baptized him there as well. That church means a lot to us, but it was more of a go in for Sunday mass and go home, I wanted more sermon but that part was always like 7 minutes and that was it. I couldn't apply anything to my life once we left church every Sunday morning.
In 2015 it took for my mother to get diagnose with a disease and change her life to serve Jesus in order for me to get that wake up call. I felt devastated, I was depressed, I was angry, I asked why so many times as I cried. Then I began to listen to Christian music to give me some sort of peacefulness. Then the more I spoke to my mother and she talked to me about her church and the Christian faith I decided to search for one as well, something close to home and that's when I found Bridgepointe Christian Church. My family and I started attending here in January and we really like it here, our kids enjoy as well. I feel blessed! My mother is better, my children are learning a lot about Jesus and really changing and growing in faith and my husband has impressed me so much with his devotion. My husband and I have started attending classes at Bridgepointe every week and we love it, we are learning so much about Jesus.
Jesus Christ has come into our lives and has given us a chance to better ourselves, to live for him and that's what we're doing. Honestly, my husband and I started this broken and with little knowledge of it all. I see my husband listening daily to his bible apps, and so changed and I see the miracle that our Lord has made in his life. I felt that I needed to overcome a lot of things before making the big commitment to get baptized. I thought that I wasn't ready to be a " perfect" Christian, because I still have a lot to change but Jared and others at the Church let me know that I had it mixed up because I didn't need to be a perfect Christian first, I needed to take steps because I was broken, I needed that restoration now! It is a process they said. So today I'm committing to our Lord, I'm getting baptized by the people in my life that have impacted my faith in Jesus Christ, that their faith and growth have made me see what is like to be more committed and changed, more happy. I'm ready to be restored in faith, I'm ready to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, our Lord!
JEREMY R.
I know what is like to know of love but never feel loved or love for anything or any one, even myself. Though I heard of Jesus while I was young I never listened to His Word. I saw His image on the cross and never felt that His sacrifice was for me. I convinced myself that I could never matter enough in this world to be accepted by Him. I knew my horrible actions , my disgraces and no one as doomed as me could ever be saved because I never expected anything good to happen to me or any good to come from me.
But Jesus never abandoned me. Instead, He showed love mercy and grace. He sent me an angel. He blessed me with my beautiful wife. Through her, Jesus has ignited a flame in me that I thought to have been extinguished by my life of sin in this world. Since coming to BridgePointe I realized that the vow I made to her on the alter is the same vow that God had made to all of us so long ago. To love us unconditionally.
Through the eyes of my children that my wife and I made, I feel the love that God has for me. Life created in my image that fills me with the uncontrollable joy that brings tears of love down my cheeks. I realize that Jesus loved me enough to sacrifice His own life so that I can be set free. Because of this I have never felt so alive, so loved as I do now.
Now I am truly free to live my life the way that I want to. I am free in God's love. I am free to devote myself to the Lord, as a faithful disciple of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ .
MAEGAN S.
Getting life into a hierarchy of putting God first, then family, then work, then everything else in life has been my main priority in life for a while now and I am happy to say that I am overjoyed in the way that my life is. I'm getting my ducks in a row, one at a time, with God's help. I believe fully in Jesus' death and resurrection for my sins both past, present and future. I'm all in. This is my commitment. This is my promise.
CHRIS S.
My life was very empty before I decided to commit to following Jesus. It felt like everything I achieved, and everything I tried to fill the emptiness with wouldn’t work. Then my girlfriend Mya introduced me to BridgePointe, I started going to youth group and church on Sundays. Since then that emptiness has been filled.
I found out that I have the ability to love because God loved me first. Those are the reasons why I decided to pursue a relationship with Jesus. I’m committing to baptism because I want to wash my sins away. I want to enter new life and accept Jesus into my heart and body. Thank you for praying for me, I am one.