One of my favourite things to do is baptize new believers! We have literally baptized hundreds of new believers in the last couple of years, and it is such a joyful time. We walk, sometimes quite a hike, down to the nearest river, water hole, or creek which is often occupied by resident crocodiles, and sometimes such a small trickle of water that we have to dig down deeper first and dam it up a bit to make it deep enough to baptize in. Needless to say, we have become pros at dodging crocs, praying for protection and baptizing in knee high water!
Through all that, we are surrounded by the sounds of the people singing and rejoicing as we walk through the bush, and as we send people down into the waters of new life!
One day, I was at the river with a few pastors and about 30 new believers waiting to be baptized. We asked the locals if there have been any crocodile sightings in the area and they replied that, “Oh yes, this is their home! But don’t worry, they are swimming around a bit further upstream right now!”
I thought to myself, well how on earth do they know that? Can’t the crocodiles just swim back downstream in a moment?! But at the same time I knew that we would be fine. Can you imagine taking new believers to be baptized in the name of Jesus, ushering them into the Kingdom of God, only for God to turn a blind eye and allow them to be eaten by a crocodile? Absolutely not! There is absolutely no way that God won’t protect us while we are about His business! And so, with all confidence in our great God, I walked down into the waters together with one of my Pastors, grinning the whole way, and baptized those new believers with great joy in my heart. And guess what? The crocs left us alone, as they do every single time we baptize.
Jesus told us to go to the nations, teaching them everything He taught us, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that when we go down into the water, we go down into death, dying to our old sinful nature, and when we come back up out of the water, we rise up in newness of life, partakers of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ! What an amazing and powerful thing we get to be a part of! Go and teach someone about Jesus today! It is the best thing you can do and you will be filled with joy as you partner with Great Holy Spirit in the earth!
Here is a short video I have made of some of our joyful times baptising in the bush. Enjoy!