My name is John F. and I have made the decision to get baptized today. Baptism is something that I have thought about for most of my life, I knew (and still know) that it brings us closer to Jesus, that it is the next step in following Him and that it would be the next step for me to take in my faith. I made the decision to get baptized a long time ago but never stepped up, I just kept putting it off.
My Story:
I was born Roman Catholic and baptized at birth (I still have the cute little outfit that I wore). At age five I started to attend Third Baptist Church Sunday school and junior church (as they called it). Shortly after that, Pioneer groups on Wednesday nights as well (this was something like cub scouts). About two years later, I was a student at the Third Baptist Church Christian School. My summers were spent at vacation Bible school (or Bibletime, as it was called). I loved being involved with the church, the people, attending church events (such as feeding the needy, the living nativity, picnics etc…) it was like having a large extended family.
Six years later I decided to go to a vocational high school to learn a trade. Unfortunately, I didn’t know many people and didn’t like the way I was treated by the “popular” kids. Despite knowing better and having the tools provided for me to make responsible decisions, I started making irresponsible decisions and avoiding going to church so that I wouldn’t feel guilty making them. Although I wasn’t going to church the guilt was still present, I knew what I was doing was wrong. I found myself praying for forgiveness when I was alone and had time to reflect on the way I was living my life but still avoided baptism (probably because I knew that I wasn’t ready to make any sort of change). Sometimes in prayer I would pray to find a new church, many people I had gone to Third Baptist with no longer went and I was very close to them. This was just a secret excuse for me to continue living life the way I wanted. I prayed one day that I would find a job making good money and I did, I bought clothes, motorcycles, cars, trucks and any other thing I thought would make my life better but still felt empty and never gave anything back. I avoided long term relationships because I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted and didn’t want to ruin anybody else’s life.
I started hanging out with my friend Candice and we shared similar interests and had gone through some of the same life experiences. We helped each other through some rough times, eventually fell in love and though I may not always admit it to her, I am grateful for her. We decided to start a family, got married and had kids (maybe not quite in that order). My wife and I had never discussed church, I knew she had gone to a Catholic high school and I told her that I had gone to a Christian school but that was about it. I guess I just assumed that one day we would figure it out. Inside I reached a point where I realized I was much happier going to church, helping OTHER people and I felt I had a responsibility to my children, so they would have same the tools that I was provided with, to make their own life decisions. I would occasionally bug my wife and tell her that I wanted to find a good church (this confused her because I had never mentioned it prior), she humored me and said, “find one and we will try it out.” Caught up in life, I never looked but would still mention it every now and again. One day, one of my wife’s work clients invited us to one of BridgePointe’s Halloween events and we have been members ever since. I love everything about BridgePointe (especially the part where people from all walks of life are invited in and I’ve never felt judged). I’m happy to call BridgePointe “my church.”
I’m glad to have one of the pastors from BridgePointe assist me with this next step in my faith. Thank you for praying for me, I am ONE.