baptized by waves

One foot at a time. One foot in front of the other.

Every missionary loves the great commission. Jesus stood on the mountainside surrounded by His disciples; encircled by the men, women and children who had chosen to walk His path, to follow His voice, to practice His resurrection.

Go.

Make disciples of all nations.

One foot at a time.

I remember my short twelve year-old legs walking into the rolling waves, in a group of new followers of Jesus, alongside my father. Looking toward the shore we saw a great cloud of witnesses standing beneath a canopy of tropic green, celebrating our confession. I stood there shoulder-deep awaiting resurrection.

My life is the product of a missionary who heard the Lord say, "Go and make disciples." Surrounded by the nations, men and women from Guineano tribes, I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One foot in front of the other.

Our feet carried us to Northeastern Africa. We walked down into the Nile baptizing, and celebrated the public confession that comes through discipleship. We have brothers and sisters in the deserts of closed countries because men and women heard the Lord say, "Go and make disciples." Today we lift our praise together with people who have heard the good news of the Messiah, men and women who have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One foot at a time.

From the heart of Parcelles Assainies, one of the most populous arteries of Dakar, we made our way from the church to the shore. Before a cloud of witnesses, six men and women stood facing toward the crowded buildings along the coast and confessed the Lordship of Christ.

One foot in front of the other.

Our toes slipped into the shifting sand. Our feet, our knees, our waists submerged under the rich blue waves rimmed with white foam. Our bodies rocked by hard waves. Our eyes tight as sun rays pierced through the sky and bounced off the water like crystals.

We walked down into the breaking waves, backs braced and feet set against the surging sheets of water peeling away from the undertow. Half swallowed by the waves we baptized them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the heavy lifting waves we found ourselves sharing in their baptism, soaked with resurrection, filled with rejoicing. We lifted up our brothers and sisters before the watching world as new creations, peace-filled peacemakers, reconciled sons and daughters called to the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5.17-18). We stood there, drenched in resurrection, commissioned ambassadors for Christ.

And now, their new journey begins anew—disciples called to go and make disciples—to the unreached frontiers. One foot in front of the other. One foot at a time.