We recently held a special baptism service during our regular meeting.

The presence of God was strongly felt from the beginning of the day as the people came with an attitude of expectancy for God. The hotel was transformed from a quiet place to sleep into a place of worship and unity. The hotel pool was a very bizarre place to hold a baptism but as the people worshipped from their hearts and prayed, it could be seen that God was there among the baptisms.

The day that the baptism was held was postponed to a date when a visiting team could join the time when 80 people would make a public declaration of their faith in Jesus. This decision was not taken lightly. Baptism is something that is very special in the Philippines as the religious tradition of the culture is to be baptized into the church as a young baby.

In addition to our normal baptism preparation we held a special night targeting the youth from our cemetery to further explain water baptism and be available to answer any questions they had about what it means. It is always a challenge for us to ensure that all those that are being baptised are doing so out of a passion for Jesus and not coming from their strong desire to please us. Despite the large number of people being baptized on the day, great care was taken to make sure that everyone received individual prayer and time so that this day would remain very special to them and not another time where they were just one of many.

This was one of our reasons to postpone the event, so that the visiting team could assist us and at the same time provide the visitors with a rare opportunity to participate, something a little out of the ordinary in the west.

As you can see by the photo there was four groups that were baptizing, each person that was being baptised had 4 people praying, assisting, baptizing… The whole day was awesome and was probably the best baptism we have ever held, the presence of God was there and afterwards a dinner was held for the people for worship and fellowship.

That day the sense of belonging to Gods family was evident. We were certainly a mixed and diverse group of people that were gathered, eating, laughing, and playing sports. Young and old, rich and poor, foreign and national, educated and uneducated, yet there was perfect harmony … it was truly a special day for all.

Everybody left the day with a great sense that Gods presence had been upon them. For those who might remember the story of Jolito, Jun Jun, they were among the 80 that were baptized… to God be the glory.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me 19 therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the son and of the holy spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”