Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

My first ministry outside of serving in my home church and leadership in the Christian fellowship group on my college campus was in the city of Chester. It’s a little place south of Philadelphia. It ranks high in unemployment and all such things including violent crime. Back then I was still a teenager, nearly 30 years ago. I ran a summer camp and then a Saturday program for kids in the city.

Maybe five years ago I got invited to speak at a church in the city. I met Tameka. Actually, I went up to her and gave her a hug. I thought I knew her. She looked so familiar. Turns out I knew her brother, a camp kid. We got connected and I started visiting her regularly, about once a month for awhile, to encourage her in the Lord. She sometimes calls me her “mother.”

Just the other week, the Lord told her to have a “revival meeting” on Friday. She told me that I was a name she heard that was to be there. She wanted me to teach on baptism. I asked her if we had a way to baptize people. She said no. I said, “Well, I teach on baptism, I’m going to say that it’s your death, burial, and resurrection. It would be weird to say to people you can get your new life in Christ next week.” She got a pool from Family Dollar and put out on Facebook that you could come from 6-8 on Friday and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and be baptized. She’s just awesome like that.

I showed up along with some family of hers. They set up tables of free food and clothing. No one came the first hour, so there was no meeting as we might have imagined. But in the second hour people came and I ended up baptizing three people. The first video they cut off when she came out of the water. Then they learned to film the rest. The first girl said she “felt it come off in the water.” I talk to them about the old passing away and the new coming. I command anything unclean to leave and ask for the Holy Spirit. I don’t know what to expect next. [Update: They have asked me to lead a Bible study for them, but it hasn’t gotten organized yet.]