Emmanuel Lutheran Church baptized 45 adults and children in a Holy Baptismal Celebration followed by an outdoor cook out and service Wednesday evening.
Although the words outdoor cookout and holy baptism may not seem to go together, the Emmanuel Lutheran Church offered the baptismal ceremony for the parents and children of those who attend their Joyful Hearts Early Learning Center Day Care. Assistant Pastor Kelly Bedard noted that as he got to know the families, he discovered that many had never been baptized. When he offered the special night, he was surprised by how many people said, yes!
CADILLAC - "Got water?"
That catch phrase, a take-off on the "Got Milk?" ad campaigns, is on everyone’s lips at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Cadillac.
T-shirts with the phrase are being made and worn with pride.
And the congregation is buzzing with excitement over what the shirt represents - an unprecedented mass baptismal ceremony and outdoor cookout that was held on Wednesday.
A total of 45 adults and children experienced the sacrament of baptism in a public celebration. Before the event, 150 family and friends gathered for an outdoor cookout.
"I have served in huge congregations and know of no place in our country where a church has that many baptisms at one time," stated Rev. Dr. Bryan Salminen. "This is something simply unheard of in the Christian church."
The idea evolved when the new assistant pastor, Rev. Kelly Bedard, started calling and meeting with families enrolled in the church day care center, Joyful Hearts. He asked for feedback on how to improve the facility.
"I’m glad you called," one mother responded. "I’ve wanted to talk to you about baptizing my two boys."
"That’s how it started," explained Bedard, who moved here from New Orleans to assume his new duties last November. "Now there are so many stories. We set a date for those two boys to be baptized and I continued calling the parents, not pushing, but saying we are having a baptismal celebration and we don’t want to leave anyone out. I think the less formal approach appealed to people. And it just snowballed."
Not only did parents want their children baptized, some asked to participate as well.
"One man told me he’s bringing 30 people just from his family to witness his baptism," Bedard reported.
The Pastor confessed that this approach to the sacrament, an outdoor ceremony with tents and a cook out, has caused some concern from those who would like to see the new converts attend classes and Sunday church.
His response: "God loves you no matter what, even if you don’t come to worship."
"We consider baptism a gift which gives us faith in the Holy Spirit," Bedard explained. "It’s an adoption ceremony. ¦ You become part of God’s family. They will be baptized into the family of God, not a certain church. The big job is following up."
Bob, Ginny, Mike, and Carol are sponsors for Alex and Josh!
**BAPTISM** Alex and Josh both did a wonderful job getting baptized...no tears from either one of them. Of course Josh only decided to take a morning nap at daycare from 10 to 12 which then left us with a child who did not want to sit still or be where he needed to be. Considering the lack of sleep he did really well though. Dinner was at 5:30 and ceremony was at 6:30 and we finally arrived home at 8:00. To then try and get both boys ready for bed. Thank you for all of that had attended...we really appreciate your support.
Through the baptism you could order t-shirts and the boys were able to wear their shirts along with mom and dad!!! Will post more pictures as I recieve them on the boys baptism.
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