THIS IS WHAT CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT
This congregation was organized around the turn of the last century, and for well over 115 years, we have done our best to embody the grace of God in Christ to each other, to the community of DeRidder, and the world beyond.
I can promise you those who were fortunate to be in attendance for last Sunday's worship service, in which part of the response to the reading and proclamation of the Scriptures found us celebrating the baptism of the Muma family and witnessing Johnny and Sarah exchange their marriage vows, saw the church at it's absolute dead-level best. Being the family of Christ in which two young people without roots in our community discovered the grace of God and the love of Christ in such a way that they committed to professing faith in our Lord and presented themselves and their young son for baptism is what we are all about.
To be a community of faith in which their faith was developed in such a way they wanted to be baptized before marriage and wanted to get married in a low-key way as part of our Sunday morning services speaks volumes about how those of you who choose to be regularly involved in our ministries influence more lives than you can possibly imagine.
For the ladies of the church to arrange an elegant yet simple and low-key reception for this beautiful family so that we could all celebrate this sacred occasion bears witness to a love that mirrors our biblical call to celebrate with one another the truly monumental moments of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I want to say a special word of thanks to my dear friend Shannon Lewis for coming up to be a part of this great day as our event photographer. Although life has taken her away from being involved in our congregation's ministries and part of our ministerial staff, she, too, is still a part of our community, and she captured the day in ways that Johnny and Sarah (and all of us) will treasure forever.
Sometime in the near future, we will be posting more pictures from this day on our Facebook page, but this picture just couldn't wait to be shared. At the moment LJ was being baptized, the picture speaks for itself.
It is, after all, what church is all about.
Grace and Peace,
Lamar
