As a part of our Homecoming Christmas celebration, ten people chose to be baptized as a sign of their decision to follow Jesus with their lives. Celebrate with us by reading their baptism stories.
Emma A.-A.
My past life has been full of pain and confusion. I have come through so many hardships and heartbreaks in the journey to find myself. My struggle was not only in the physical realm but also spiritual. I could see clearly the huge difference between what manipulative people were telling me about who God is and what He wants for us, and what I just deeply believed deep in my heart. As I progress in this journey to find myself, I realize that God has been with me the whole time, protecting me and steering me in the right direction. Through so many years I stomped my feet and disagreed and asked God "why"? And every time, He's been firm, loving, kind, and always answers me "because I know what's best for you" - and every single time He is right. I am at a turning point in my life where I am rediscovering who I am meant to be. I am letting go of the confusion, sin, wrongness. And embracing acceptance, kindness, strength, and awareness - starting with my own inner self. It's too huge of a task to be done alone or even with a group of people. And that's why I am giving glory and power to God, and asking him once more to show me what's best for me. And that's why I'm giving it all to Him through baptism.
Nancy B.
As I look back on my life through the prism of faith, I see evidence of God’s persistent love for me despite my best efforts to push Him away. I was raised in the Episcopal church. However, I was baptized as an infant into the Catholic church, prayed for by my Catholic grandmother, and all of my close childhood friends were Catholic. I was always drawn to the mystery of that faith. I think I always felt the Holy Spirit’s presence in church, Catholic or Episcopal, especially through the organ music and singing in the choir. Many hymns still make me weep. Immediately after I was confirmed into the Episcopal Church at the age 13, I told my parents that I had decided I did not believe in God and did not want to go to church anymore.
Thankfully God didn’t give up on me; as I look back at the recklessness of the way I lived my life over the next 20+ years, I think He must have had angels watching over me and keeping me safe. I married in 1978, in the Episcopal Church of my childhood. Once married and living in NYC, my husband and I attended church a few times, mostly at Christmas but I do remember we tried out a couple of churches on Sundays. Nothing stuck, but I remember wanting it to. When our children were 4 and 2, we moved to a suburb north of the city. A year or so after we moved in, I went to church one Sunday at the local Episcopal church. In church I was conscious of being deeply moved, and I remember feeling different, changed, after the service. In fact, I have a distinct memory of being back at home right after the service, and making beds almost as a form of worship. I immediately became a regular churchgoer and enrolled the children in Sunday school. My husband started attending as well, and we quickly became deeply involved in the St. Mary’s community. We also had started spending a lot of time with a family that had just moved to New York from Texas. I became very close friends with the wife and she led me to the Lord. During the time that they lived in New York she encouraged and mentored me in the faith and introduced me to other Christian women through her own church. I read through the entire Bible in less than a year, and discovered the joys of group and solo Bible study. It was a whole new world to me and I loved it.
Unfortunately, I gradually started trying to be a good Christian in my own effort, and thinking about how I appeared and sounded to others instead of tuning into what God thought of me and what I was doing and saying. I was trying to get an A+, to earn the praise of other Christians, while deep down feeling like a phony. After a few years it became clear that my all-about-me faith was driving a wedge between me and my husband, and exposing cracks in the foundation of our marriage. We went through a very painful year before he eventually moved out. I was devastated, as were our children. Two years later, in September 1998, we were legally divorced.
At the same time that all of this was happening, our sweet little church was in turmoil as a result of the departure of our much-loved rector, and the arrival of the new rector whose preaching included new age mysticism. I turned at that point to the Catholic church and even converted, but soon rebelled against the discipline. I wanted to sin in order to numb my emotional pain, and I did not want to have to confess or feel guilty about it. I next tried worshiping at another Episcopal church in the area, and that was fine until I got into and then badly out of a relationship with a widower who also worshiped there. I walked away from church and God at that point and fully embraced a life of sin, most notably drinking too much wine every night and, soon, adultery. It could have been so much worse without the nudges of the Holy Spirit. One particularly remarkable example: my Jewish married lover took me to see a Christian play, The Screwtape Letters (based on the CS Lewis book). Seeing that play was his suggestion. As I sat there next to him in the theater, God used the play to convict me of my (our) sin. I wish I could say that I ended the relationship that night, but it continued off and on for many more years. The breakups grew longer and the times back together shorter, until I finally ended things for good in 2017.
In May 2018, after several months of soul stirrings and trying to pray and study the Word on my own, I felt the deep urge to return to church. I was blessed to find a Bible-believing church walking distance from my apartment, where I was fed spiritual food in the worship gatherings and experienced God’s love through Christian fellowship. It was also right about this time that my children finally persuaded me to move to Providence. I’m so thankful that I found my way to BridgePointe once I got here.
I want to be baptized because I finally truly know I am found, and there is no going back. There is nothing for me in that old life, and so much in the new. To quote Simon Peter (John 6:68), “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” I want to be baptized because doing so will show my commitment to the BP community. Mainly, though, I want to publicly and tangibly declare my commitment to following Jesus and my desire for Him to change me and work through me to accomplish His purpose for my life.
Landon F.
When I first made to the decision to be baptized, I had been going to church with my dad and I thought to myself “I would really like to get baptized." I want to make Jesus my savior forever. A person that has played a part in getting me to this point is my dad. My life before Jesus was always hard and our family was saying hurtful things to each other, until one day we started to go to church and all of the sudden I loved it! And ever since I started being a follower of Jesus, I personally like that I have somebody to talk to when i need to! I am One.
Celia and Mike C. had the joy of baptizing all three of their sons.
Connor
I am a sinner and only Jesus can forgive me of my sins. I also want to make sure I go to Heaven when I die. I love Jesus and want to accept him into my heart. I am One.
Patrick
I know that I am not perfect and will never be. But because I love Jesus, he accepts me and forgives me of my sins. I want Jesus to be proud of me and my life. I am One.
Gavin
I love Jesus and I want to serve him. He has forgiven me for all of my sins. I want to let Jesus into my heart to guide me through goodness even when I am bad. I am One.
Shanique M.
I always knew God but I was just living a negative lifestyle. I didn’t care what happened to me. I felt like God took His hands off of me. I remember I got into a car accident. My car was damaged, but the person I hit wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t hurt either, but I was shaken up. I just remember that I could’ve lost my life within a second. But God had something better in store for me. After that moment I realize that was my wake up call. I decided to purse God even more. Today I’m committed to giving God my life. I’m getting rid of my old self and allowing God to renew the right spirit in me. I’m excited to walk this road with my father. He has been amazing to me and my family.
Hubert S.
I grew up in Haiti with my mom and Dad, three brothers and one sister in a pretty descent family, not rich but comfortable. At about 9 or 10, I was playing around my living room. Down the hall there was a mirror. I stopped and looked at myself and a question pop to my head, “Who is this person?” I took a long time to explore this question and ask myself “Who created me? How did I get here?” Since then, these thoughts have haunted me .
At about 19 years old my curiosity of the unknown allowed me to use my musical talents to tour the world with the Haitian band Boukman Eksperyans. I toured the world experiencing many different cultures and people until 9-11 happened. My reality was shaken and I began to question my life again. I decided I did not want to be traveling especially not on planes. My parents never wanted me to be part of the band. They always prayed that I would leave the revolutionary political and spiritual (voodoo) band I was a part of. I always felt that there was something missing in my life. When my parents passed away in 2008 and 2009 my life got worse. I didn't want to live anymore. I had no purpose, I was always miserable.
At my brother's reunion party one of his neighbors invited me to church. God was always knocking on my door; I always denied it thinking that is for old folks. I remember seeing a change in my Dad when he became a Christian. He was transformed to a new version of the man he was. He was kinder. He no longer drank or smoked. He became a wise man with unbelievable wisdom and forgiveness. He always greeted people by God bless you, or peace be with you. I saw that and I realized only God can transform you like this, bring you peace and comfort like this. I feel like it has taken me too long to follow Jesus; to live for Jesus. I have seen him do a lot for me by protecting me and guiding me, helping me to be a better husband and father. By entering this new life I know I will be challenged by this world but I will be strong in God. My folks have told me over and over about Psalms 23. The best part is I will continue to serve God for the rest of my life.
Kate S.
I was raised Catholic and regularly went to church, but never felt a connection to the Catholic church. With this disconnect, I never was really able to understand the Gospel. One day, my friends Seth & Jen A. asked if I would come to BridgePointe and experience a service with them. That is when my life started to change and I began to understand the Gospel for its true meaning. BridgePointe always made me feel welcomed and a part of the church community from the very first moment I was greeted at the front doors.
I had been going through a very dark stage in my life for a while and it wasn’t until I started coming to BridgePointe that the dark cloud started to lift and the light started to finally shine through. There was a point when I never understood my purpose in life and the reason why I'm alive. I now want to live for the first time in a long time and I am beginning to understand my purpose.
Since coming to BridgePointe, I continue to grow in understanding the Gospel, I’ve joined an amazing group, and I'm expanding in my faith which touches more aspects of my life. With Jared's words and knowledge of Jesus and the support and help from my group, I now have that relationship with Jesus I've always wanted. I know He isn't going to give me anything I can't handle and that He is always with me. Learning how to pray and realizing it’s a conversation with Jesus, has created a path for so many blessings to come my way. Praying has opened my eyes and heart to finally see all the blessings He sends me while strengthening my faith. I have a job that I love, the first time I've ever been able to say that; amazing family, friends, work family, and an awesome group, pastor, and Church.
I know He has forgiven me my sins and has always and always will be with me during this adventure of life. I finally want to be here and live life. All of these blessings have led me to the decision to get baptized, commit my life, and continue my walk with Jesus.Thank you for praying for me, I am ONE.
Chase W.
Over the years I have learned more and more about Jesus. When I was eight years old, my mom and I would read the Bible and I started to learn the truth of the world and about what Jesus did for us. When I was nine, I felt Jesus reaching out for me and that's when I asked my parents if I could get baptized. The second they said yes, I had that feeling that Jesus was present with me and today I am accepting Jesus into my heart.