First Internet Campus Baptism

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

It was a historic weekend at Flamingo Road Church because we experienced our first baptism through our Internet campus. Our baptizee was Alyssa, who the Holy Spirit nudged to follow Christ and be baptized;

she sensed His nudge and obeyed. But since Alyssa lives in Georgia and we are a thousand miles away in South Florida, what do you do? Enter the power of innovation…

Our Internet Campus Pastor, Brian Vasil, was the voice; Alyssa’s step mother-in-law, Lisa, was the hands; the bathtub was the baptistery. For a month, Pastor Brian worked with Alyssa to prepare her for Baptism; and then yesterday at 4pm it happened. In a bathtub of water, as Brian spoke the words, "I baptize you in the in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," Alyssa’s mother in-law immersed her into the water and the whole thing was live streamed over the Internet. It was amazing; it was the first of many.

Again, through baptism, the picture of what Christ did for us--birth, death and resurrection--portrayed to the world.

Technology leveraged for the kingdom…and while the computers buzzed, Christ smiled.