109 Baptized in less than 24 hours...

By Mark Edlund
Colorado Baptists Executive Director

On Monday morning (February 23rd) I received a phone call from Charlie Jones, pastor of Fellowship of the Rockies (FOR) in Pueblo. He started the conversation by saying, “Mark, you need to sit down.” I had no idea what was coming – had there been a tragedy? So I said, “I’m sitting.” Charlie then said, “We baptized 109 people this weekend! 89 adults and 20 youth.” As I caught my breath, I asked him to tell me what happened. Charlie said he had become more and more frustrated with people (especially those out of the Catholic background so prominent in Pueblo) becoming believers but refusing to be baptized for fear of family or community reaction. Being bothered, he decided to preach a special sermon in all three of FOR’s weekend worship services beginning Saturday night. He preached on the mandate and meaning of baptism. He emphasized that baptism was not optional for the true believer – that it publicly marked the believer as a follower of Christ. He was rather blunt – if you are truly a follower of Christ, you will follow Him also in baptism. Charlie ended the service by saying that the baptistery was full and ready and any believer that had not yet been baptized was invited to the front after the service and Charlie or the other staff would baptize them.
There was immediate response. Many came forward. Many crying and celebrating. Many came as families. Charlie said, “It was simply a Holy Spirit thing.” A couple of the families from the Catholic background left Saturday night and then showed up at the first Sunday morning service with other family members they had led to the Lord and who were ready to be baptized. Charlie said that it was beautiful chaos. They had people running back and forth to the Laundromat to wash and dry towels and baptism robes. Staff and other church leaders counseled all to make sure that legitimate and fully informed decisions had been made. It was a miracle. And now the task of discipleship begins. Praise the Lord. He is a God of miracles.

By Mark Edlund
Colorado Baptists Executive Director