By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
BALL – The baptistery at Tioga First Baptist Church was a little crowded in late June but Pastor Tim Hisaw did not mind.
Four children who accepted Christ during the church’s Vacation Bible School walked into the water and, as Hisaw baptized each child, thunderous applause broke out from those packed in the pews inside the worship center.
“It’s nice to have a full baptistery isn’t it, bud?” Hisaw told one of the children nearby. “If we get too many it will overflow and flood. It’s a good thing the choir’s not up here or they’d get wet.”
Before VBS, Hisaw prayed that four families would join Tioga First Baptist by the time it was over.
But God answered his prayers by drawing these four children, instead – confirmation God was at work during VBS, which averaged 85 in attendance each day.
Though the children took part in recreation and refreshments, Hisaw said the end goal was sharing the Gospel.
“That’s why we do Vacation Bible School,” Hisaw said. “We do this to make an eternal impact on them by introducing them to Jesus.”
Church member Misty Stewart said the excitement of accepting Christ during VBS has not waned for her son, Matthew, who was baptized with the three others. Now, Stewart said, her son shares with anyone he comes in contact with about the life-changing decision he made.
“His favorite thing to tell people right now is that he has two fathers,” she said. “I looked at him a little crazy the first time he said that and said, no, you only have one and his response was God is my number one father and daddy is my second. I’m so thankful for Matthew’s profession of faith and can’t wait to see him grow in his walk with Christ.”
Tioga First Baptist reflects what other churches are reporting to the Baptist Message – higher than average baptisms resulting from VBS.
Jacob Crawford, pastor of Life Point Community Church in Mansura, baptizes Trey Moras, who was baptized along with his mother, brother and grandmother.
ACROSS LOUISIANA
At Life Point Community Church in Mansura, 23 children and their parents accepted Christ during VBS. Of those, 15 already have been baptized, including three from the Plaucheville campus.
The highest attendance on any single day was 142.
Pastor Jacob Crawford attributes those results to a recent event God used to spiritually grow his congregation.
Earlier in the month the youth participated in a mission trip to Grand Isle, he said, when a traumatic experience left an eternal impression on them – they were swimming and witnessed a man trying to save his son from a riptide die.
Crawford said God used that as a catalyst to open their eyes to the fact that death is real, causing many of the youth to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
A week later, most of those young people used their newfound faith to share Christ with the children attending VBS at Life Point Community Church.
“We’d gone several months without baptizing anyone and have been under intense spiritual warfare,” Crawford said. “We continued to persevere and reach out. Then, all the sudden it was as if there was a major breakthrough.
“I see movement of God due to the fact that for months it has felt like a spiritual drought and then suddenly people’s hearts are being touched by the spirit of God. Lives are being changed and people are publicly professing their faith in Christ.”
For its part, New Hope Baptist Church in Calcasieu baptized three children who attended VBS and even saw one of its volunteers commit to full-time ministry after the event concluded.
Pastor Robert McLane said in the past they have introduced the children to the Gospel through VBS but few were baptized. This year, McLane said the seeds that were planted finally saw a harvest of baptisms, in turn igniting excitement into his congregation. He baptized the children during a special service on the Sunday following the final session of VBS.
“When these children got saved, it lit a fire in all the workers,” McLane said. “VBS is hard work and our volunteers gave 100 percent to everything they did. The baptisms were icing on the cake.
“We’re small but this is big to us,” he said. “VBS is one tool that works. It’s our bread and butter for evangelism.”
Sara Howard, a sophomore at Nicholls State University and a VBS volunteer, called the week life changing.
She helped lead music during the group assemblies and sensed the Holy Spirit moving. Not long after VBS concluded, Howard felt God leading her to accept the call to Christian vocational ministry on a full-time basis.
“The Lord has been working in my heart since last September,” she said. “It all comes down to the fact I have been trying to fit God into what I wanted to do instead of embracing His plans for me. Finally I surrendered and gave up the fight. Now, I’m on this adventure.”
Further north, Airline Baptist Church in Bossier City had set a goal that 10 percent of those attending its VBS would accept Christ. Throughout their outreach, they targeted mostly unchurched children and families in the community and in the end, 64 who came indicated they did not have a church home.
By the time VBS concluded, the church accomplished its goal.
Nearly 20 of the 200 children who attended made a profession of faith, including six who were baptized on the Sunday following VBS.
Instead of holding a traditional family night, the church staff chose instead to invite all the families whose children attended VBS for a special Sunday morning service that included songs during the week, a baptismal service and meal.
“We feel there are a lot of churches, but still there are a lot of people in Bossier who aren’t churched,” said children’s minister Lynn Puryear. “We wanted to give them an opportunity to come to our church and see what it is all about, including our special Sunday service. By having a baptism celebration, it gave me and others on staff an opportunity to call people and have great conversations, with the goal of connecting them to our church and Jesus.”
First Baptist Church in Port Barre hopes in the near future to baptize many of the 45 who made a decision in what was their largest VBS in 90 years, with 260 in attendance. Pastor Benji Richard said the VBS teachers and other youth leaders in the church will follow up with the parents of the children who made decisions before determining dates to baptize.
“One of the most important things we did was not prepare physically but prepare spiritually,” Richard said. “We were praying up and began preparing months ahead of time that we would see a move of God and revival through our Vacation Bible School.”
FOLLOW UP
In the coming days and months ahead, all of the churches plan to enlist the children who were baptized into discipleship training.
Hisaw said his congregation will use the curriculum “I’m A Christian Now.” He said Christians are called not to just make converts but to make disciples.
“When we baptize we fulfill part of the Great Commission,” Hisaw said. “But if we stop there, we don’t fulfill all of it.”
In coming weeks, McLane will meet with each child he baptized, and will work to get each to participate in the church’s Bible skills, drills and thrills program that meets Wednesday evenings.
“To me it would be a tragedy to just baptize them and do nothing else,” McLane said.
“A lot of them we might not see again if we didn’t do anything after baptism. We are going to make a big effort in that direction and we want them to keep coming and growing and discover God’s will in their lives,” he said. “That Sunday we baptized them was an exciting day, but that was just the first day of work.”
