Celebrate!

I love our church in Dallas. This past weekend was my favorite Sunday of the year. It was Watermark’s Baptism Celebration day…and a celebration it was!

Outside our church building, there is a little pond (it’s actually a swimming pool, but it was made to look like a pond). It has a little waterfall and it’s surrounded by steps, rocking chairs and other benches.  Every year in May on a specific Sunday, the church has a "Baptism Day” where anyone who has accepted Christ to be their Lord and Savior gets an opportunity to share their testimony and be baptized.

The day is all spent outside. We start the morning off with some incredible worship by our worship team, followed by some amazing testimonies, then hundreds of baptisms….and after that, its time for some SERIOUS celebration!!!

Here are some pictures from last year I found on the Watermark website.  These are not my pictures, but the product of some amazing Watermark photographers. I wanted to post these because it truly captures the JOY that fills this special day!

Last year, one of the guys in our community (newly married) group was baptized.  Kyle and the rest of the guys in our group got in the water with our friend & his wife and they were all there to help baptize him. It was one of those incredible moments we’ll never forget. 

I grew up in a church that did baptisms in a more traditional way on Sunday mornings during the service.  So, to do baptisms this way was really different at first.  I think BOTH ways are excellent…but I just love the concept of truly CELEBRATING all of the new lives that have been dedicated to the Lord and are now at work to enhance His kingdom & bring Him glory! And, do this is altogether as a church body! This really does call for a day full of celebration!

I love the picture that it portrays to the little kiddos running around & the people who have never been to church before.  Or, maybe people who have attended church all of their lives, but they never really understood the JOY of salvation through Christ alone!  It’s a great opportunity to share the gospel to others in such a natural way.

 

Here are a few pictures I took from THIS year. 

After the baptisms, they served hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, & drinks for lunch.  They also had popcorn and snow cone stands! And there were some out-of-control air castles, obstacle courses, zip lines and other awesome games.  Kids were running around everywhere.  It was so much fun…

We even got ourselves a snow cone with The Collins!

Can’t wait til’ the next Baptism Celebration Day!