On Sunday January 9, we celebrated with three members the BridgePointe family who chose to profess their faith in Jesus through baptism. Read their baptism stories, in their own words, below.

Jeremy M.

I am an unashamed follower of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Before I was able to make the above statement, and know it to be true, I had to take a full inventory of my life… and it was honestly disturbing in many ways.

As far back as I can remember, I always believed in God, and I believed Jesus died for the sins of the world. Unfortunately, I was very passive with this gift from the Almighty. I spent many years living my life for things, that I have come to understand, just don’t matter.

My life prior to truly acknowledging Jesus Christ as King was very turbulent to say the least. Prayer to me was like a child asking a parent to just fix something but not showing any gratitude. I now think I used my belief as a crutch, or an excuse to do things that were not in line with God’s plan.

I always felt that acknowledging God and believing that Jesus died for my sins was pretty much all that I needed to do. Even though my thought process didn’t contain any malice, I have come to understand that “believing” really is just a first step.

Several years ago, I heard someone speaking about Jesus. This person was making a point that if he asked people what “The Gospel” is, most would probably say it something about the first 4 books in the New Testament. Well guess what? I was one of those people. So, I began listening to this man talk about Jesus as if he had met Him in person. That’s when I honestly believe the Holy Spirit began really prompting me to learn more. I obliged … I started reading the Bible and going to Bible studies.

At that point, I was still very passive. I read, listened, then moved on and did whatever I normally would. I came to understand very quickly that the Holy Spirit is very persistent and does not like to be ignored. The more I felt compelled to learn about Jesus, the more I kept looking at my life and I did NOT like what I saw.

At that point I prayed to God. I asked Him to please remove this thing or that thing from my life so I could be a better person. Again, that was me asking the Almighty God to do something for me just because I wanted it. Not because I wanted to do anything, I just wanted God to fix me. This statement is directed at myself, not at anyone going through this … but I will tell you, that was about the most selfish way a person could ever pray, in my humble opinion.

After quite a long time of doing this, I woke up one morning feeling even more lost than ever. I began to cry like I had not cried since I was a child. I curled up in a ball, took a deep breath and began to talk to God. I told Him how sorry I was for being so disobedient for so long. To me, I believe the next thing that happened was the most beautiful experience of my entire life. I fully surrendered my life to God’s will. I acknowledged Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. This conversation went on for quite some time. I spoke directly to Jesus and told Him how sorry I was that He gave his life for me, and yet I had taken it for granted for so many years.

That was the first of some very honest conversations I had with God. But it was that full surrender that opened those lines of communication.
I witnessed more transformations in my life than I can write down. Jesus stepped in and began removing things from my life that didn’t belong there. He also began healing my heart and changing the way I think about everything. Learning how He treated people with such compassion changed how I view people and how I approach new friendships. These new things are not of me … they are 100% Jesus. Once I surrendered to Him, he took over and just started doing so many amazing things. I am in awe of Him. I thank Him every day for many things … one of those is how patient He has been with me.

I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn. I’m actually very happy about that, because every time I learn more about Jesus, it just fills my heart with more joy. I don’t think I will finish learning while I am here … but what I do know is this: Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I love Him with every part of myself, and desire to become a little more like Him every day.

Working with the wonderful people at Bridgepointe has been inspiring to me; therefore, I was very happy I was able to be baptized with my new family present. It is a day I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
I have a version of this Bible verse hanging in my living room:
“He must become greater; I must become less.”
(John 3:30)

James D.

My story starts off when I was born with heart disease. I was very sick and I had a lot of people praying for me. My suffering helped people turn to God. Later, as I grew older, I started to understand the power of God. God's power can help those who were suffering (like me when I was sick) and can transform lives. Now, my life is devoted to Jesus. He bestowed on me a miracle and I want to give back to Him by becoming a disciple of God. Even though I still have health issues and anxiety, I know Jesus will help me through it.

Laura G.

I wanted to get baptized as an adult. I made this decision for myself to be closer to Jesus. I feel like it took me forever to get here. I grew up as a Catholic and decided I didn't want to attend Catholic mass anymore as a teenager. I felt lost for a very long time. Before we were married, my husband introduced me to a non-denominational Christian church. It was very different, but I felt closer to God. Eventually, we were married in that church. When we moved back to East Providence, we stopped attending service, but we wanted to go to a church closer to home. Not until Covid did my husband start to watch BP online. When BP opened back up in person, we began to attend regularly.

I wanted to be there so badly, but it felt like I didn't belong. I didn't feel like I was good enough for God. I'm learning that's not the case at all. He wanted me here. My heart is changing since coming back to church and involving myself in discipleship. This world has made me so angry. I was becoming someone I didn't recognize, someone I wouldn't want to be around. I also had the least patience with my family and those close to me. Only Jesus can change your heart, and my heart is changing. God is pulling me toward Him, and I feel the pull getting stronger and stronger. I feel like a better wife and mother. One of the best things I've ever done was get baptized in front of my daughter. I want to show her how important it is to have Jesus in your life.