By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
ST. GABRIEL – The newest campus of Celebration Church, located in St. Gabriel, celebrated its grand opening in style June 11, witnessing the baptism of three new believers, all part of a special “All In” weekend across the nine campuses of the combined congregation that spans Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the Northshore area.
Held June 10-11, the weekend saw 137 people participate in believer’s baptism — some scheduled already, and others taking place in response to the sermons presented that day.
The event was promoted heavily by Dennis Watson, pastor of the Metairie campus, and the campus pastors on his staff. Leading up to the baptism weekend, Watson and other pastors led a sermon series on baptisms and reached out to the multisite congregation and the community about the biblical basis for baptism through social media, Life Groups, worship service announcements and e-mail blasts.
ST. GABRIEL
A crowd of 109 cheered as each of the three St. Gabriel converts declared their faith in Christ and were submerged in a portable baptistery.
Tiffany Gomez was among the first that day.
She told the Baptist Message that her decision to be baptized was the culmination of a journey that began in 2016 when she felt God leading her to attend Celebration Church on a regular basis. Prior to that, she spent years drifting spiritually and developing anger toward God.
Then, at the invitation of a friend, Gomez and her family began attending Celebration Church and together began to grow in Christ.
Initially, Gomez turned down St. Gabriel Pastor Adam Beach’s invitation for baptism, but she was convicted during one of his messages that “the time to step forward is now.”
“I knew then that God was knocking and it was up to me to open the door and listen,” Gomez said. “I was very nervous waiting in line but once I was dipped and came up for air, it was as if all the negativity, hate, hurt, desperation was gone. I immediately began thinking and feeling more clearly. I now know everything is in His plan and I’m willing to follow it.”
The baptisms signified a recent pattern of renewal for the St. Gabriel congregation, which includes some of the former members of Dayspring Community Church, which ceased to exist.
Celebration Church obtained Dayspring’s campus, and with an infusion of leadership and resources, attendance has steadily increased there, with 60 persons worshipping on Christmas Eve and 83 individuals attending Easter Sunday.
“This has set the tone for our folks as an encouragement to keep on doing what they are doing,” Beach said. “We’ve seen ways God is moving and reaching folks here at our St. Gabriel campus. This has re-energized our core group that was here when we started and is a reminder God has many things left for our church to do.”
Heidi Barrick, whose daughters Lyndl, 16, and Meryl, 14, were baptized, was part of the former Dayspring congregation. She expressed appreciation for the team at Celebration, in particular Beach, whose messages helped her two daughters come to the point of wanting to share their Christian testimony through baptism.
“My daughters have had a personal relationship with Christ for a while but after one of Adam’s messages, they told me they really get it,” Barrick said. “God just spoke to their spirits and said they need to do this. It’s so refreshing because you hope as a parent they are taking it in, and then they tell you that they want to get baptized to show others they stand for Christ.”
FAITH BUILDS FAITH
In the two weekends following the “All In” emphasis, 39 others have taken the step of baptism on the nine Celebration Church campuses – with pastors sharing that observing others’ obedience in baptism set the spiritual example for these 39.
Already, from September through mid-June – the official calendar year for the congregation – Celebration Church has recorded 490 baptisms toward a goal for 720, which would be a record for the church, by the end of August.
Celebration actually has recorded 1,505 professions of faith so far.
Dennis Watson Jr., a Life Group pastor at Celebration Church in Metairie, baptizes a young woman during a special baptism service. Brian Blackwell photo
But Watson says his experience is that new followers in Christ from the New Orleans area take as long as five years to follow up in obedience through baptism.
“You can see we don’t have a high percentage baptized. In the New Orleans culture, baptism by immersion for adults and teens is a new and strange thing,” Watson said. “In the Bible belt where I grew up, most knew that they were supposed to take the step of baptism after receiving Jesus as their Savior. But here it’s a great challenge.
“We want them to know they are not just a believer in Christ but a follower of Jesus,” he continued. “Some people tell us ‘I believe in Jesus,’ but they aren’t ready to go ‘All In.’ However, seeing other people take the step of baptism on ‘All In’ Weekend as well as other weekends does encourage people to take that significant step of discipleship.”
SUPERNATURAL BUT INTENTIONAL
With baptisms that happen nearly every Saturday and Sunday, organization is a key to pulling it off, he added.
Celebration Church has baptism teams in place, who prepare baptism supplies such as towels and special shirts that participants will wear.
Leaders also immediately enroll new believers in a discipleship class to continue their growth in Christ.
Above all, prayer and intentionality are fundamentals, Watson said, as well as the pastor’s example.
“For anyone considering forming a baptism team, prayer is the key before moving forward,” Watson emphasized. “And the pastor and leaders have to be out sharing their faith and winning people to Jesus.
“If you are never planning to share your faith and win people to Jesus outside the services, then you may not have a need for baptism teams,” he said. “We have to be sharing the Gospel every day.”
