Baptism Service
We started out the day with the morning service at 12.30pm at the Baptist church building on Fountain St. We had 57 people in total (35 from Derry and 22 from Limavady). David Laverty did a tremendous job leading the music. The message was from Acts 2:1-41 on “The Wonderful Works of God”. The wonderful works we see in that passage are the coming of the Spirit, the fulfillment of prophesies, the resurrection of Christ, and the changing of lives that is still happening today!
After the morning service, we had lunch together. The ladies did an outstanding job with the meal. There was tons of food and tea, and we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship.
At 3.00 PM, we all drove over to Richill Park Baptist Church at 67 Richill Park, Waterside for our baptism service. I wanted to say a special “Thank You” to Brian Gillon who prepared the baptistry for us and to the church there for their generosity in letting us use their baptistry.
We had two young people follow the Lord in believer’s baptism: Andrew Owens from Limavady and Megan Laverty from Drumahoe. The water was cold, but they braved it and took this great step of obedience to the Lord!
After the baptism service, we all went back to Northwest Baptist Church in city centre for an afternoon service together. Some folks had to leave early, so we had 38 in total at that service. Once again David Laverty did a great job getting us into the spirit of the meeting with some uplifting singing. Then we had some special music followed by another message from the book of Acts 4:41-47 called “Continue Steadfastly”.
I preached about how that salvation and baptism are not the end but the beginning of a whole new way of life, and we need to continue steadfastly in nine things: the apostles doctrine (Word of God), fellowship, breaking of bread (Lord’s supper), prayers, fear, ministry, giving, rejoicing, and evangelism.
It was probably one of the most exciting days I have had in the ministry thus far, and I want to thank God for His goodness and all of the people who made Sunday possible. From the greeters, to the car park attendants, from the creche workers to the musicians, from the ladies who prepared the food to those who drove over 30 minutes one way to come to the service – thank you, thank you, thank you!