do you want to heal quickly from previous ministry situations that were difficult, painful, or what you can only describe as downright evil? then come to CCC and live life with the people, experience their joy, excitement, exuberance and passion for ministry—and i’m not just talking about the staff, i’m talking about the entire church! i’ve never seen so many people excited about being the church in my entire life. in just a little over 2 months the wounds of the past have quickly scabbed over and are healing in tremendous ways, and i am quickly being rejuvinated with a strong passion for ministry once again… in fact, it’s rather difficult to explain!
this morning was another amazing reason why CCC is making waves. as we gathered at the shorewood campus for worship this morning we had 9 (yes, nine) baptisms this morning bringing the total for the year to 67! (yes, you’re reading those numbers right!) it was an astounding and exciting display of people relinquishing control and turning to faith in beautiful ways.
shorewood is only a campus of roughly 500+ people and to have 67 baptisms in one year is more than remarkable—it’s a sign that God is certainly at work! i’ve worked in and attended a lot of different churches in a lot of different shapes and sizes and i’ve never seen anything quite like this. in fact, in the 2 months we’ve been here we’ve seen at least 25 baptisms—i don’t think i’ve seen that many baptisms in all of my previous church experiences combined! (that’s probably an exaggeration.) there is such a wonderfully missional culture here at shorewood and throughout all of CCC and i have been extremely priviledged to be a part of it!
our volunteer baptism coordinator, mary kay painted a beautiful picture of baptism this morning and it was so powerful that i wanted to share it. she said, “you’re only under the water for a couple of second, but you have this beautifully personal moment with God. and when you come up from the water you see the world in different colors.”
just another reason why i love CCC.
Related posts:
- save me.
- a million baptism march.
- ‘give war a chance’
- a postmodern meditation on romans 12. (part 1)
- tired… but not finished.
Aaron,
I’m glad to hear that God is at work in a the local body like that, I can remember when our church was the same way. I am really glad that God is also renewing your spirit, as I can empathize with some of what you’ve been through. Praise the Lord!
P.S.
I love what you’re doing with the header graphic, but the drop of water hitting the surface graphic has been the background for our churches worship slides, the background for a series mailer, and I think the background for one of our ministries’ logo for a year or two. Just thought you’d get a kick out of that…
that’s really funny about the graphic. i found it browsing the web from a free photo site! nice.
Nice… we’re headed out to Clinton Lake on Sunday for about 10 baptisms : )
wow mike that’s awesome, and extremely exciting to hear!
you’re doing some really cool things in that little ol’ town of monticello! keep it up!
I’m so glad to hear that you’re being healed.
dave ferguson just blogged about the number of baptisms at CCC throughout the entire year:250 in 235 days this year ! that’s absolutely remarkable!