By Andy Baker
This week, I met with one of our Romanian church leaders, Adi Galiger over Zoom. He is the pastor of Impact Church Oradea, which is celebrating their 10th anniversary in June. This church has spent the last 10 years serving the people in Romania spiritually and physically—they’re a huge blessing to their community.
As Adi reflected on his church with me, he shared 2 special baptism stories that I hope are an encouragement to you!
Story 1: Experiencing the Love of Christ
Last Sunday, Impact Church baptized a 14-year-old girl. She was recently rescued from trafficking, is in a group home, and is presently pregnant. Adi says she was drugged throughout her ordeals and has no recollection of how she became pregnant or what happened to her exactly. She does have memories of significant abuse. A local missionary has been mentoring this young lady and helping her through her recovery. A few Sundays ago during worship time, the young lady felt this overwhelming warmth come over her, and she began to experience emotions she could not understand. After the service, she asked Adi if that is what love feels like. She said if it is, that she wants more of it, and began to ask questions about faith, love, and trusting Jesus. It came to a beautiful celebratory time in her baptism last Sunday.
Story 2: The Gift of Baptism
A young man had been visiting the church for several months. He had been living in a homeless shelter and had no family. He was baptized this past Sunday as well. Adi said, as the young man entered the water, he broke down and began to cry. He said at that moment that he had requested baptism in another church, but because of his homeless status, they had turned him away. He said this was something that he had wanted for his life, and that he was trusting God to help him move forward. After church, a man in the congregation offered him a job and they are working now to help him secure housing.
When people ask me why new church work is important, life transformation does not only happen with orphans finding new families, it also happens when these orphans outside of our family structures find Jesus through the churches we help establish. Impact Church is a huge testament to the transformation that can happen through a local church!