Just a quick thought for us all. Biblically, baptism was the method of publicly professing faith in Christ, as well as the means of local church membership. In the New Testament, baptisms were done in public places, not in the shelter of a church building. What a novel idea! Making a public profession PUBLIC!
I'm not against baptisms within the confines of a church building, I'm just all FOR public professions of faith in Christ. I never realized what a difference it is. We went to Lake Lowell and "interrupted" the swimming area to perform a baptism. EVERYONE was told that Jason had realized he was a sinner and had put his faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse him from sin, and that he was being baptized to identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I'm a people watcher: it's a hobby. In my "expert" opinion of body language, people were not generally put off: they were intrigued. They were intrigued!! This event INTERESTED them!! The words of Pastor struck their hearts. And I think it would be a great idea to make baptizing publicly at Lake Lowell a common occurrence.
