This past weekend, as most of you know, we experienced 114 baptisms in our weekend services. I’ve got to tell you that in 30 years of full-time Christian ministry, I have never been a part of something like this. I have never seen God move in so many people so spontaneously to respond to the call of faith expressed in baptism. Months ago I made the decision to preach about baptism on this particular weekend. But apart from praying diligently, making sure we had extra towels and baptismal “clothes,” and letting people who had gone through our Membership Inquiry process know that I was going to be sharing a message about baptism, we didn’t do anything on our own to create this response. It’s Wednesday morning as I write this blog entry, and I’ve got to tell you I’m still feeling very overwhelmed by what God did. Here are some of my reflections and thoughts from the weekend in no particular order.

After you’ve baptized your first 22 people, don’t change back into your street clothes because there just might be two more people who come. After you’ve baptized your first 24 people, don’t change back into your street clothes because there just might be three more people who come. After you’ve baptized your first 27 people, just wear your wet clothes home because, who knows, you might meet an Ethiopian man in a chariot somewhere along Bluff Road, and you’ll need to be prepared.

While the Bible makes it clear God moves and works in response to our faith, I’m so thankful there are times when God also chooses to move and work in spite of a lack of faith, or, at the very least, uncertain faith. I’ve never been as bold in my call for people to come and be baptized as I was this past weekend. But after the message in each service I changed into my baptismal clothes, came out of Joey Santos’ office and asked someone on staff, “Did anyone come?” I even did that at the 10:45 service when I had already baptized 64 people. Thank You, God, for all the patience You have shown to me over the past 30 years. Help my faith to grow.

As strong as my conviction is about New Testament baptism (all the things I shared with you this past weekend), driving home after the 10:45 service my heart felt a little heavy because I know there were people in each service who do not understand or share that same conviction. And my prayer was that our relationships will still be strong and open, and that, together, we will trust God to guide and direct our lives.


I can’t even imagine what it must have been like on the Day of Pentecost when about 3,000 people accepted the message of Christ and were baptized.

I’m thankful to be the Senior Pastor of Mount Pleasant Christian Church. I’m thankful to lead a staff who is willing to say, “What can I do to help/serve?” I’m thankful to be a part of a Brotherhood of Churches who has a common goal of restoring the biblical pattern of the church for the ultimate purpose of uniting all Christians as one.

Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris

I wanted to take a minute to write and say what a blessing this past Easter weekend was for me, and I hope and pray it was for you as well. I’ll be honest and tell you I didn’t quite know what to expect in terms of the crowd because Easter fell on one of the two weekends that bookended Spring Break. I’ve never seen anything like Spring Break in Central Indiana (I hope many of you were able to get away and experience a time of refreshment and renewal). But the end result was an attendance of 4,385, which is the second highest weekend attendance in the history of the church. What makes that even more amazing was that Saturday night’s service was far from full (not sure why…maybe it had something to do with the 6pm tip-off of the National Semi-Final game involving a certain Indianapolis area team). If you were at one of our Sunday morning services, you know that the Worship Center was packed. And each Sunday service included more than 100 people in the overflow area. Our Video Venue also had a record crowd of 125. In the end it was simply a powerful weekend. I’m very thankful for all the efforts from our Worship and Arts staff as well as the entire church staff who demonstrated a willingness to serve in whatever capacity they were needed.

On April 17-18 we’ll begin a new verse-by-verse study of the Book of I Peter entitled, “Where is the Hope?” The apostle Peter wrote this letter to believers scattered throughout the regions of Asia Minor because of increasing hardship and persecution that was causing some of them to wonder if God had abandoned them. He wrote to let them know it was possible to find hope and meaning in the midst of their suffering. This series (with a few breaks for holiday weekends) will take us through the summer and provide a great opportunity for growth for all of us. I hope you will pray for me in my preparation, and then plan on being present for each study.

Finally, on a lighter note, I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to have a freezer full of Blue Bell ice cream. I hope you did not miss the April 5th introduction of Blue Bell into the Indianapolis market. I also hope you are doing your part to make sure Blue Bell stays around. Let your local Meijer store know how much you appreciate them for carrying Blue Bell, and fill out a product request form at your local Kroger or Marsh or wherever you shop. There’s an important reason for this that will become clear when I get to share my latest Blue Bell story with you at church. I’m hoping that will be soon. In the meantime, keep buying. My newest recommendation is a flavor called “Butter Crunch.” It’s vanilla ice cream with chunks of Butterfinger candy bars. (I know…I know…this is a little over the top).

Jesus cares,
Pastor Chris