Indiana

The family metaphor is one that permeates throughout Scripture. We are brothers and sisters in Christ with God as our Father. It is always a blessing to see a baptism, but there is always something special that happens when one sees a family baptism.

Greg Taylor, youth pastor of the Glendale Church, baptized five youth from one family. Greg had many opportunities to get to know the young people through various church activities and was able to develop a relationship with them, so they approached him and asked to be baptized. He used a variety of sources to share with them, resources he gained from teaching Bible at Grand Rapids Adventist Academy and Spencerville Adventist Academy. The young people were also given the opportunity to ask any spiritual question as they studied the basic topics and reviewed Adventist thinking, in addition to the basic 28 fundamentals.

Ashley, Samantha and Allyson Tambunan, sisters, wanted to be baptized together while their cousins, Marko and Chloe Phillips, asked to join them in baptism a few days later. This was due to the closeness of the two families as each set of parents revealed the love of Christ in their homes and helped ground their children in their desire to follow Jesus.

Marko, oldest of the Phillips family, shared a family scripture with the congregation before their baptisms while Ashley, the oldest of the Tambunan sisters, offered a prayer of dedication following their baptisms.

This family baptism was also a reminder of the responsibility of the church family to nurture, love and support their new members.

Bruce Babienco, volunteer correspondent, Lake Union Herald, as shared by Greg Taylor, youth pastor, Glendale Church