we were in Iquique, Chile from saturday till monday night.

on sunday morning we went down to one of the local beaches and had a baptism service/bbq/street evangelism time with the folks from calvary chapel mahanaim. a small group of converts were ready to take the plunge and we were asked to be the ones to ‘do’ the baptism.

now, it was the first time that jake, alex or i had performed a baptism. so, understandably, at one point we had to slunk off and figure out how exactly we were going to make this happen. you may not have thought about it (we hadn’t), but depending on your space and location, there are a number of different methods for full-immersion baptism.

it’s interesting how often God’s humbling is also so comical.

what are you guys doing?

oh, nothing…just trying to figure out how to baptize a person without drowning them…

after finalizing out our game plan we trodded off into the surf.

it was…cold.

really cold.

but as each of the 6 or 8 people came out to us, we became warmer and warmer. there was an incredible excitement that we were participating in something unique and life-changing and special.

at one point, while we were waiting for another baptizee to head out, one of the large waves knocked the 3 of us down and pulled us a few yards back. but, as we came up for air, we just laughed and struggled back into position. never before had any of us experienced a morning like this.

it’s hard to express how honored we felt to be a part of something so personal and powerful. as the people came out we prayed together. after they were baptized they went back to the shore, into the open arms of the church body who were clapping and cheering and smiling, waiting to receive them.

the same welcome was waiting for us when we finished and made our way back to the sand.

i don’t think any of us will ever forget the great privilege God gave us that day.

maranatha.

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missions | January 26th, 2010