Be sure to listen to this episode and them come back to the blog and help others pastors by offering your comments and ideas.

David

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Pastor David Chrzan, Saddleback Church

Be sure to listen to this episode and then come back to the blog and help other pastors by offering your comments and ideas.

Rick
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Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

1. Mention the value, purpose and benefits of baptism regularly in sermons.
2. Videotape some of your baptisms. Prepare a music video of baptisms to show in your worship service so people who’ve never seen a baptism can witness one.
3. Have clothes ready for people who decide spontaneously to be baptized after a service.
4. Make it a party atmosphere. It’s a celebration, not a funeral. Applaud baptisms!
5. Invite small group members to witness the baptism and identify them before each baptism.
6. Prepare a beautiful leatherette-bound baptism folder to hold their certificate.
7. Have a required membership class that explains the meaning or baptism in detail.
8. Always baptize on special days when relatives may be in town – Christmas, Mother’s Day, New Year’s Eve, etc.
9. Always baptize on special days of the church. (We baptized over 400 on the day we opened our Worship Center.)
10. Allow entire families (after confirming that all are believers) to enter the pool together.
11. Hug each person after they have been baptized!
12. Interview all candidates at the water’s edge to hear their story of how Jesus changed them.
13. Build a Baptism Team of volunteers who assist with all baptisms. Have matching shirts to identify the Baptism Team and the pastors leading the service.
14. Have a professional photographer there to capture the moment and include a picture of their baptism along with their certificate of baptism.
15. Print a “Why Be Baptized?” brochure. Use scriptures and lots of testimonies.
16. Put the brochure information, baptism pictures, and even videos of baptisms on your website, so people can forward it to others.
17. Have pre-printed invitations for the baptism candidates to use in inviting lost friends and relatives to a service and to witness their baptism.
18. Make the baptism pool and surrounding area beautiful and inviting and non-threatening. (Many baptisms are perched up so high inside the church that it feels distant and disconnected. Our baptism pool is outside in our patio area so people can gather up close around it for a more intimate feeling.)
19. After the baptism service encourage people to go out afterwards for coffee or dessert to celebrate and find out what the experience meant to the person baptized and to the family and friends who watched it.
20. Publicize the baptisms with posters around your church. Elicit “one line” testimonies from people who have been baptized, take an 8×10 photo of that person, and mount their photo and quote on a 2’x3’ foam board sign. Put this on a tri-pod in a visible area after the service where people can sign-up to be baptized.
21. Have all small groups get people in their group to sign up in the group for the next baptism.
22. Identify and celebrate other special moments at the water’s edge (birthdays, anniversaries, spiritual birthdays, etc.)
23. Train your Baptism Team volunteers to greet and make everyone comfortable.
24. Provide a sound system that will allow spectators gathered to hear the testimonies.
25. Always have the baptism pool warm and chlorinated before services.
26. Have a corporate prayer of celebration at the end of each service to thank God for those baptized.
27. Sing a great chorus or hymn about the power of God to change someone’s life.
28. During warmer weather offer baptisms at the beach or lake or slow-flow river.
29. Develop a “Baptism Party in a Box” kit that includes ideas for a family party following baptism.
30. Have outdoor heaters if you baptize outdoors in the winter.
31. Set up good lighting if you baptize outside after evening services.
32. Have hand towels available as a gift with the church’s logo as a memory keeper.
33. Ask each small group in your church to take a week where each person shares their baptism experience and what it did for their Christian life.
34. Use banners and signs the week prior to baptisms to draw interest, especially beach or lake baptisms.
35. Build a baptism service into an extended spiritual growth campaign (like Saddleback’s Millennium Member Campaign). Build on momentum.
36. Constantly emphasize baptism as the next step after committing your life to Christ. Have sign-ups everywhere.
37. Give a follow-up booklet, a button, and a free gift for those who obey Christ’s command to be baptized.
38. Have a special Christian’s baptism class as a requirement for baptizing children. Insist that at least one parent attend with their child.
39. When baptizing grade school children, have the baptizing pastor hold their hands lifted high after they come out of the water, like you would with a winner in game.
40. Address Frequently Asked Questions in a brochure they can walk away with, and deal personally with every fear or hang-up about baptism.

Do these 40 things and the number of people wanting to publicly demonstrate their faith through baptism will rise dramatically.
Rick
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Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

Be sure to listen to this episode and then come back to the blog and help other pastors by offering your comments on being and staying vulnerable.

Rick
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Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

Be sure to listen to this episode and then come back to the blog and help other pastors by offering your comments on being and staying vulnerable.

Rick
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Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

• Bil Cornelius is the senior pastor of Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, TX.
• Jud Wilhite is the senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Henderson, NV.
• Brad Powell is the senior pastor of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, MI.

Be sure to listen to this episode and then come back to the blog and keep the conversation going by adding your comments.

Rick
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Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

What we didn’t know was that an hour before Tom joined us he’d received a phone call from his daughter with troubling news about her pregnancy. And yet he still made the show and shared his wisdom on how to maintain joy. What a great example of serving even when we may not feel like it.

Because we often record other items after a podcast is completed, we don’t turn off our microphones right away. We captured this additional conversation right after the show, and Tom has given us permission to share it with the network.

Please take the time to send a card to Tom’s family. I know they will appreciate it.

Rick

“The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis” Alan Jacobs

“Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything” Steven D. Levitt,Stephen J. Dubner

“Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” Susanna Clarke,Portia Rosenberg

“The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order” Samuel P. Huntington

“Letters to a Young Catholic (Art of Mentoring)” George Weigel

“The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success” Rodney Stark

“Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe, from the French Revolution to the Great War” Michael Burleigh

“Introduction to the Devout Life” Francis De Sales

“Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror” Michael Burleigh

“The Lighthouse” P.D. James

“Dissolution” C. J. Sansom

Be sure to listen to this episode and then come back to the blog and help other pastors by sharing what books you are reading right now. Let’s keep the conversation going,

Rick
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Pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

Be sure to listen and then come back to the blog and help other pastors with your advice / comments / concerns as we continue to learn from each other. I am sure it would help many pastors if you could share how you personally maintain your joy in ministry.

This blog is a place for us pastors to help one another…

Rick

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Pastor Rick Warren
Saddleback Church
The Purpose Driven Life