The week of Oct. 2, Gardendale First Baptist Church saw 50 people pass through the baptismal waters: 30 during the two Sunday morning services and another 20 Wednesday evening. Another 27 people are scheduled for baptism in early November.
“We baptized people from young children to retirees. I recall a husband and wife being baptized together as well as a father and son. And we’re reaching diverse ethnicities,” said Mark Harrison, executive pastor of ministries for the North Jefferson Baptist Association church.
What triggered such a response? On Sept. 25, Senior Pastor Kevin Hamm concluded a three-part sermon series on Christ’s Second Coming.
“The idea began as we were planning to honor 9/11 respondents. America wasn’t prepared for that attack; we must be ready for Christ’s return,” Hamm explained.
He followed the series with an Oct. 2 sermon titled “I’m Saved and I Know It.”
“It began out of my concern that most people don’t know how to share the gospel. The message then turned from one of teaching how to witness to warning that a person can’t give away what he doesn’t have,” Hamm said.
“One reason there’s so much conflict in some churches … is that there are so many lost people on church membership rolls. If you’ve got a lot of conflict, you’ve got a lot of lost people. We want our church members to be sure of their salvation, and we want them inviting and reaching the lost.”
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