“What? They cancelled? They were our only planned baptism for the 11:15 service!”

Honestly, my first thought was to call this person and talk them into it for the sake of consistency and our service presentation. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord; by His grace, this made it no further than my brain synapses before conviction and repentance kicked in. I’d just gotten done opening our Good Friday services, pastoring our people in that this was NOT a “show”, and so much MORE than a “production”. How terrible my first thought was not about this baptismal candidate and where they were at spiritually. I repented of my preference for presentation and rested in our good God to give us whatever Sunday he destined for us.

Dressed in white, out of bed at 5am, leading services all day, I was so excited I was bouncy like a Tigger hopped up on Pooh’s honey. I came down off the stage to sing with the crowd and within minutes, felt a tap on my shoulder. Members Morgan and Tiffany Hudson stood there beaming, as she felt compelled to get baptized despite any preparation. They hadn’t contacted us in advance, hadn’t planned it, but felt led by the Holy Spirit to get it done. Bounding back up on stage, we had a spontaneous testimony and baptism and an elated Morgan got to baptize his wife. Dunked in their only clothes in Jesus’ name and for His fame, we wrapped them up like towel mummies after service and sent them home. 

Across all Mars Hill campuses on Easter, there were spontaneous baptisms beyond the ones we humans planned and scheduled. It’s an even more powerful testament to God’s provision to see the Holy Spirit humble the pastor and then reveal His plan for our service that day; “spontaneous” is just another word for God’s predestined service order that trumps the best efforts of our production team. The congregation was cheering and everyone left blessed by at Lake City for certain. Whatever Mars Hill campus people attended Sunday, the stories are quite similar.

Praise be to God for the multitude of life-changing stories this day, and for personally chiseling another slice of cynicism from this imperfect pastor.