Down With The Old, Up With The New!!

“Baptism, A Matter of Obedience”

Matthew 28:18-20 esv
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

On July 4th of this year we were privileged to Baptize our youngest son Evan in front of all of our family’s, our kids, grandkids, parents, siblings nieces & nephews & even great nieces & nephews!! Evan asked Jesus to be his Savior in our living room while sitting on the couch with me when he was just a little boy. He just never took that step and made the decision to get baptized. When we got back from reviveTX he asked us if we would baptize him together. When we asked him why he wanted to get baptized, he said, ” IT IS TIME”

Blessings overflowing!! God is Faithful!! Our hearts are full!!

Luke 6:38 NIV
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

This is our friend Norma. We served on the same team in Texas, in the yellow region. Funny little story, She had asked me to baptize her but she was worried that I wouldn’t be able to pull her back up out of the water so she asked us both to Baptize her. This was a special night. What a blessing!

Josh a Chic-Fil-A owner baptizing one of his employees. (above left) Brett & I had went to Chic-Fil-A and prayed and shared with this young man a few days before. A few days later he asked Jesus to be his Lord & Savior and wanted to be baptized. How amazing that an Employer would Baptize one of his employees. And then chose to walk beside him and show him how to follow Jesus.

Picture above right, William to my left, Mercedes and Zach to Brett’s right. These three young people chose Jesus over addictions, anger and bitterness. Then they decided to get Baptized. This was an amazing night. Right after These three were Baptized several more stood up, One of the girls on our team met with them and they had received Jesus as their Savior but never had gotten baptized. Brett had the honor of Baptizing all of them.
See the pictures below.

Acts 22:16 ESV
And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

As we were getting out of the water from baptizing our son Evan above left, our nephew Brock said, “wait Uncle Brett, I’m coming in.” Brett was blessed to Baptize our nephew Brock above right. The previous week Brock said a prayer asking Jesus to be his Savior underneath a big tree in the presence of our son Lee, Brett & I.

In Texas the Lord had a theme that kept resonating in me. It was about trees and how the roots go deep towards the water and become strong. All of these things are associated with trees in God’s word, like deep roots, fruit bearing, strength from strong roots, shade and rest. This is a picture of us in Christ. May our roots grow deep in Him, may our strength be rooted in Him, may we bear much fruit, & may we find shelter and rest in Him.

This is the picture of Brocks new life in Christ, it started under a Big tree. Praying for his roots to go deep!!

Psalm 1:3 NIV
He is like a tree planted by streams of living water

Genesis 18:4 NIV
Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree,

Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Ministry Update

– We made a couple of trips to WI to deliver & pick up campers for the reviveWI team.
– Working on training in previous city’s with revive hub
-We were blessed to have the opportunity to help with our home church’s Elkhart County 4-H Fair outreach.
-Working with other local outreaches.

Briggs, Paxton, Monica
Gage, Jaimene, Evan, Lee, Brett

Prayer Requests

For God to continue to open and close doors.
That the Lord will continue to burden our hearts for the lost.
For Brett, he will be attending a 4 day retreat.

Praise Report

For our son Evan and our nephew Brock’s Baptisms.
For the Faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.
Our great nephew Declan Judah was born on August 27th.