There’s nothing more beautiful than watching a person give their life to Christ and obey His command to get baptized.
The radiating joy on one’s face after being submersed in water is truly a celebration as they publicly declare their newfound faith in Christ.
But at one southern church, they didn’t celebrate only a few baptisms – in just four months, 1,000 people were baptized and you won’t believe how it happened.
For Senior Pastor Robby Gallaty of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Tennessee, baptizing over 1,000 people in only four months is truly a miracle.
Before the incredible number of baptisms, things had been looking bleak at his church.
Gallaty admits there were problems within, coupled with rising anxieties surrounding COVID-19 cases.
At first, Pastor Gallaty thought the solution was for God to fix the people and the circumstances around him and he prayed for God to do just that – until God answered his prayers in a way he never expected.
Among the silence and alone time with God, God began to reveal the sin in the pastor’s own heart which included pride, jealousy, and arrogance.
Faithwire reports:
“I went to the porch every night to sit with the Lord, thinking that He was going to fix the problems in my church,” the preacher told Faithwire.
“I was really frustrated. … I said, ‘Lord, you fix the problems in my staff. I need you to fix the problems in my church. I need you to fix the deacons. I need you to fix the country.’ And here’s what the Lord showed me.
About two months in, God showed me, ‘The problem is not with your church. It’s not with your staff. The problem is you. You’re the problem.’”
It was only after Gallaty began to see the plank in his own eye that change started to happen.
Gallaty believes the Lord placed it on his heart to offer spontaneous baptisms – and when he did, he couldn’t believe the response.
To put things into context, 222 people were baptized at his church in 2019. But when he began baptizing folks in December of 2020, in just four months, 1,048 souls had come forward to publicly declare their faith in Jesus and be baptized!
While baptism in itself doesn’t save us from our sins, it is a beautiful declaration of one’s faith in Jesus Christ.
Of course, the goal is not to be baptized and go back to life as usual – which is why Gallaty plugged these new believers into local community groups or encouraged those who had traveled long-distance to get plugged into discipleship groups in their own hometowns.
Gallaty’s story is a lesson on humility.
Often times we expect God to change our circumstances or the people around us – when it’s us He wants to change.
When we begin to see the log in our own eye and work with God to remove it, we can finally see clearly enough to turn our hearts towards Him and do what He’s calling us to do.
Let’s pray that all of those who were recently baptized continue to live out their new life in Christ and grow deeper in their relationship with Him.
And with joy and celebration, let us all praise God for the miraculous ways He continues to work around the world and lead people to Him!
To stay current on the latest Christian Life Daily stories, follow us on Facebook and be sure to like and share our posts!
