On July 4th, at Rocky Point in Warwick, the Nashed family and friends gathered together and stepped into the waters of Narragansett Bay expressing their faith in and commitment to Jesus. Read their baptism stories in their own words.
Pavli N.
I grew up in a conservative church and remember serving with my family. Church was a big part of our lives until some negative experiences drove us away from the church. A few years later I met my friend and he would later reconnect me to church. We would stay up talking about Jesus and it made our friendship closer.
When I became a father and husband, I decided that as a leader of my home, I needed to focus my attention on Christ to lead my family. I can say now that based on the guidance of my friend and the teaching and community at BridgePointe, I rekindled my faith. I started to believe in Jesus again the way that I did as a kid. I was able to see His works and experience His goodness all around me.
I want to take this next big step and set an example for my family by being baptized. I want to declare my belief in Jesus and commitment to live my life for Him.
Jessica N.
I started going to church with my family because my son wanted to go. I did not want to be that mother that kept her son from something good. After we came in, I knew that sitting and hearing the teaching would help us live as better people. I wanted to raise my kids to be good people and so we kept coming.
Somewhere along the way, I started to believe and my faith became my own. I started to feel like I was missing out if I missed a message. I found myself praying by myself and inviting others to church. I was no longer going to church for my family, but for myself.
I am choosing to be baptized to express my belief in Jesus and commit my life to Him.
Isaiah W.
I started coming to church with my dad because I did not want him to come alone. I asked my mom and dad if I could come and they said yes. I started to go and I really enjoyed it. I would talk to my dad to and from church and continue to learn about Jesus. I wanted others to come and invited my family to Easter service.
I believe that Jesus is the G.O.A.T. and since He died for me, I will live my life for Him. I want to get baptized because I want to devote my life to God and His Kingdom.
Abijah L.
I woke up one morning and realized there is more to life than just living. I then mentioned to my mother that I’m going back to church on Sundays and she thought it was a great idea. I didn’t go for a while until one day Jessica asked me what do my Sundays look like? Then her husband Pav invited me to his church. I knew it was a sign from God.
Now that I’m here I realized God is what makes life liveable. I am choosing to be baptized because I want to have my sins forgiven and to start fresh.
Justina N.
Before finding God again, I was struggling to deal with life’s up and downs on my own wishing for something to come and make it easier. I tried to find that something in many relationships that left me alone, abused or in dangerous circumstances.
I was also estranged from part of my family for several years. I lived with much hurt from the world around me in the silence and rejection of my family. I felt constantly lonely, angry with the world and struggling with my mental health and isolation from those I loved.
I found God again when my family who I was estranged from sought me out for a gathering. Over time they invited me to BridgePointe where I saw what truly was the reason we were brought together.
I was raised following God and so engulfed in God and practices of God growing up that in my late childhood I grew to resent the idea of church , and those around me who hurt me because of it. In my early adulthood I tried again to allow God into my life but become more engulfed in my life and struggled to let God lead me through them.
Because of the invitation I received to come to BridgePointe and in seeing the way God changed my family and reunited us, I came to choose God again. On my terms not terms given to me in my childhood. I chose God because He is always the answer. He is the answer to everything I cried for, prayed for, and longed for. What my heart truly desires cannot be found in people, relationships, or in worldly things.
I chose to be baptized to say to God and myself that I choose Him. That I believe in Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit. That I am not perfect but I want to be more like my Father, to share my gifts with His Children, and to heal myself of sin that I can only do with Him. I chose to be baptized because I believe that through all things God is with me and wants nothing more than to know me and I want to know Him.