That\’s it!

More of the story of Desiree’s baptism as told by Mike, who baptized her:

“Desiree showed up to Wednesday night Bible class about 15 minutes early and it gave our members time to meet her and talk to her. It was the first time she had been to our church so we told her our Bible class times and how our Wednesday worship service went. She told us about what she learned and was learning from the WBS courses and knew it was time to be baptized. She also told us about her Catholic background and how her decision to be baptized has caused controversy in her family.

“After Bible class we have a 5 minute devotion with an invitation song and our minister walked with Desiree to the front. I asked her if she believed Jesus Christ was the son of God and she replied; ‘Yes.’ After her confession, one of the ladies of the congregation went with her to the changing room to help her get ready. When she was ready, I met her in the baptismal and she was ready to be baptized before I had a chance to open the baptismal curtain for the congregation to watch. I held her off long enough to open the baptismal curtain and said the words; ‘Desiree, based on your confession, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ When she came up out of the water, I hugged her and welcomed her into the family of Christ and my wife said when she came back to the changing room she stood for a couple of minutes crying tears of joy.

“Afterwards, the members of our congregation came over to Desiree and hugged her and welcomed her into the Church and congratulated her. Desiree was very gracious and said she really enjoyed the Bible class and looked forward to Sunday Bible class and services. We gave her our bulletin and told her about our Sunday morning and evening services and the meeting times. Desiree is a new Christian and we will have to continue to study with her and encourage her to help her grow in her Christian life.”

I received some information from a preacher friend today. He sent me a link to some interesting data in a report from USA Today. It was interesting, not only because it is relevant to what we are all doing with World bible School, but also because I happened to overhear two people discussing this yesterday.  One of the comments I overheard on this topic was this, “…people are tired of religion and all the rules. They just want to be spiritual…”  I’m not sure I agree.

The data from the USA Today report.

Then, in a related USA Today article about the decline of religion in America, the author said religion – particularly Christianity – is on the decline in America by 11% over the “last generation”.  His conclusion was that there has been “considerable softening of the edges in doctrine, politics and social values”.

Ok, I accept the statistics from the report. But the author’s conclusion makes me think.

The perspective I see on a daily basis from WBS is a little different.  The WBS picture indicates that there are people in America who are looking for something. Lots of them!  As I pull up the stats for the last year, 21,695 new students have enrolled in WBS from the U.S.! A good number of Americans are not only wanting to study the Scriptures – they are actively engaged in doing so.

I can’t help but wonder – could it be that the free-for-all-love-and-grace-at-no-cost-fest that is so tolerant that it stands for nothing is not what people need deep in their souls? Maybe the decline seen in American religion as it is offered to people today is not a point for chagrin, but it is a point of hope for the Gospel. If I am correct, then this is a great opportunity for Christians to take the Message and once again be the evangelists we were commanded to be.  World Bible School is the perfect tool with which to seize the opportunity.

Well, that’s it!  I’d like to know what you think.