Never Be the Same Again

Dear Worshippers,

I can think of almost 30 thirty people who will never be the same again, having just been baptized this past Sunday. I am also confident that the same could be said for the 90 and more who will be baptized over the next four weeks. Pastor Myron is calling what God has decided to do in the month of May “Soak the Church”, but you need to understand that as much as a declaration it is also a prayer.

We are going to baptize over 15% of our average weekly attendance this month. People young and old, some who have just recently given their lives to Jesus and others who have walked with Him for years. But this soaking that we are praying for is not limited to having people pass through the baptismal waters, and I am hope you realized that on Sunday.

The song I introduced [I Will Never Be (the Same Again)] could certainly be my theme song as I come out of this trial the Lord has carried me and my family through recently. If you have been reading my Tunings you can see the correlation. Here are the words of this great song.

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I've closed the door.
I will walk apart, I'll run the race
And I will never be the same again.

Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff,
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas,
Whatever you need to do, Lord do in me.
The Glory of God fills my life,
And I will never be the same again.

Over the next few weeks we will take some time here to unpack and ponder what these words mean while at church we will sing the song.

I struggled with the title of this entry because of this double meaning this concept has for me right now. Certainly, “I will” never be the same again, but also “they will” never be the same again either, those being baptized that is. But even as I write I remember Pastor Myron’s words from Sunday, as these wet people rub off on us, we are going to get wet too. Maybe not literally as much as spiritually. So a third meaning comes as certainly “we will” never be the same again after this unprecedented month in the history of North Mar Church.

Did you realize you have a part to play in that transformation? I said it Sunday, you do not have to go through a life-altering illness, or be baptized this month to say “I want You to change me, Lord”. Don’t you want to be more like Jesus? Don’t you want to know the joy, confidence and peace that was evidenced by those friends in the tank on Sunday? As we learn and sing this song this month, may it become more than a song.

May it become the prayerful anthem of our church. I have included the words here so that you can pray this with me. Prayer always precedes revival. We are becoming a praying church. We don’t want to be the same. We want You to have Your way in us Holy Spirit. SOAK YOUR CHURCH!

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy