Mars Hill gets a surprising amount of good press from Seattle. Today we made the front page of the Seattle P-I, including a very large photo from last Tuesday's 57 convert baptism at Golden Gardens. (The pastors are wearing wetsuits because they had to stand in the very cold Sound for a long time.) I didn't get to attend because of a scheduling conflict, but they put together a booklet of testimonies from each of the new believers*. (Warning: that file is 1.5 MB. If you don't have a fast connection, don't try to download it.) I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
I went to a Mars Hill outdoor baptism two summers ago, and the people's stories were really powerful. One in particular stands out in my memory. A man had planned to drown himself in Lake Union. When the time came, he found he couldn't go through with it. Shortly after, he was searching for truth and meaning and learned of Jesus' completed work on our behalf and the forgiveness available in and through him. (I don't know if he was going to Mars Hill at that time.) But at the very place he had planned to die several years earlier, he demonstrated his death to sin and self and his rising with Christ. He's since become a real leader in the church.
*Looks like the opening "What is baptism?" section didn't translate into the PDF. The explanation appears in sections throughout the booklet. I also heard that the the pastors gave a verbal explanation for those who did not get a booklet. Very simply, baptism is a visual example of Jesus' death and resurrection on our behalf. It is also symbolic of the believer dying to sin and his old life and rising again to eternal life in union in and with Christ.
Posted by jonhanneman at August 29, 2005 8:37 PM | TrackBack