Sunday, April 2nd, we celebrated with five people who decided to take the next step in their faith journey through baptism, declaring publicly that Jesus is king of their lives. Below are their baptism stories. If you feel like baptism might be your next step in following Jesus, we invite you to visit our baptism page to find out more.
Jennifer J.
As I sit here and think about my personal story that lead me to Christianity and baptism, I reflect on my childhood and early adulthood. I grew up in a Catholic church. I made all my sacraments and received marriage in 1999. I continued to follow Christ with my own family. My children attended Catholic schools and also received some sacraments. As time went on, we were slowly losing our faith. I would go to church but left without truly understanding why we were there. This went on for a few years. I do not regret any of the special moment and traditions. I am happy that I was raised to follow Christ and have morals and values instilled within me and my family; however, I started to realize that was not enough. I became lost and I started to lose faith in humanity all together. I did not know where I belonged. My family became apart of BridgePointe and I still questioned everything. I was uncertain that I wanted to leave the Catholic religion. I felt like I was betraying myself in everything I had learned. My husband started to attend BridgePointe and I decided to follow. My family around me were receiving baptism but I was not ready. I told myself I will not do this until I am ready. The more I went to service, the more I became comfortable and at peace. I was happy; I was enlightened. I felt the spirit of Jesus run through my bones. I never had that feeling before. Now, I am truly grateful that I followed my heart. Today, I am ready to continue to ask for the Lord’s guidance in a time of baptism. Through these last two years, I have felt a stronger love and commitment to my family. I feel blessed and I will continue to pray for peace, love and health. Thank you BridgePointe for helping me see the true light of Christ.
Skylyn F.
I’ve known of Jesus my whole life and I've been raised in a Christian household for 12 years now. I feel I've heard of Him, but have never been this close to God. I’ve changed a lot from then to now. I’ve never read the Bible a lot. I still don't as much as I should, but I try. Jesus changed my life by guiding me to BridgePointe. He sent me to Berea, and the speaker there every morning and every night really spoke to me. He mentioned my life as a jungle, having to fake a personality that wasn't really me. Always feeling like you have to be a certain way to fit in. He showed me it’s not. I was living for the world and not for God. He told me to shatter my personality like a window and be myself, because God doesn’t want that for you. He wants the ugly, gross you. After that night, we went back to our cabin, and hearing one of my leaders, Rachel, speak about her experience with God, make me see how wonderful mine has been. God has opened a new window in my life; I want to live for God, not the world. With that being said, this is my story about my journey with Christ.
Hanna M.
I was about six years old when we came to BridgePointe. From the very first time, I loved the way people at church cared for us and loved us. They made us feel like family even when we were brand new and they had only known us for a little while. As I have grown up in the church and got to know more people, I have seen their love for God. I love to hear people's stories because you get to see their love for God and how God has been working in their life! I started going to the kids group on Wednesday nights and every time we turned on a worship song, the kids were all singing and praising God. It was a cool thing to be a part of. This year, I moved to the student group and I’ve loved it! The leaders have shown me God’s love and have taught me more and more about Jesus. I am so thankful that I can learn about God every Wednesday during student group and it helps me get through my week! In February, we went to Camp Berea and I felt God working in my heart. We would have a church session every day and then we would go back to our cabins and talk about the message. During one of the sessions, I felt like I needed to fully open my heart up to God. When we came home, I felt way closer to God than I had ever felt before. I have been thinking of ways that I could apply that to my life and when I heard about baptism, I knew it was the perfect way for me to take the next step in my faith. From now on, I am ready to live my life for Jesus!
Amelia V.
I want to get baptized to cleanse my soul to start over and live the life He wants. I don’t want to live for me anymore. I want to dedicate my life to Him but in order to do so, I feel like I need a chance to be forgiven for my sins. I never lived life without Jesus, but I wasn’t as close as I wanted to be with Him and I feel like getting baptized is my first step to a better relationship.
Ashley V.
I want to get baptized because even though I grew up learning about God and attending churches all throughout my life, I feel as if I could be closer where I could just converse more regularly. I want to not only turn to Him when I’m in need or asking for help but to talk to Him as my father. I need more guidance and control in my life and not to be so lost in emotions and learn to self love. I feel like being closer with Him will fix and release all my anger and confusion and this is the first in doing so .