Ever since I was young, I remember that I always loved going to church.  Church has been a positive experience and going to church on Sunday was a fun family ritual that we did every week. When people ask me what it means to be baptized, my answer would be to show everyone that I want to be closer to God, to the church, and to all the people I love around me.  Throughout my life, I have had many people help me through the difficult times, whether that be a test that I didn’t understand, a voice of reasoning I needed to calm me down, or even someone to…

College Park Baptist Church has been a part of all my life.  I’ve been happy to have all these people here to help me understand more about God such as Lin and the other youth leaders.  I also learned some things from my past Sunday school teachers and really appreciated learning about God through my old music teacher, Christian.  Learning about baptism means that you are being put in the hands of God who will care for you whenever you need it the most.  Baptism also means spreading the word about God to both people you know and people you’ve never met. Being baptized doesn’t mean you will be perfect,…

Hello I’m Iris Pickard. I have been going to College Park since before I was born! This community is like my second family and the people here are the best! My Sunday school leaders I’ve had throughout the years, Lauren Grubbs, Allison Blay, Walter Pickard, and Nancy Schloss have all influenced me in many ways. They have taught me to be kind and to always know how much God loves me. I wish I could give a shoutout to everyone at this church who has had the biggest influence on me but that would last all day. Ever since the start of 1st grade I have experienced anxiety. Second Grade…

Jazmin Allen-Gregory, Baptismal Statement March 6, 2022 A few weeks ago, our youth group played a giant game of Jenga. It was funny to watch as people tried to find the right block to wiggle loose. You had to be just as careful not to place the block on top in a way that might make the whole thing fall. We had a lot of fun with the game! After we played a few round, we sat together to talk about how Jenga is kind of like life.  For me, more than anything, Jenga reminds me of the importance of foundation. I believe my foundation is within the community where…

May 2, 2021 Read by Kara Toole My journey with faith started when I was baptized for the first time… in the kitchen sink. I was three weeks old and my grandmother, who I adoringly call Maws, was in town visiting. In the midst of discussing whether or not I should be baptized as an infant, my parents took a walk. Maws and I were alone for all of fifteen minutes. While my mom and dad walked around our Denver, Colorado city block, Maws blessed me and poured water from the tap over my head. While my first baptism was not technically legitimate in the eyes of any church, my…

Baptismal Statement by Isaac Cravey April 5, 2015 I like looking at the picture books that my mom made when I was little. In the picture book from my first year, there are pictures of my grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins but there are also lots of pictures of people from this church. Even when I was just born, this church was taking care of me. Most of my family lives down in Florida so when I have a soccer or football game, people from my church come out and watch me. It makes me feel good and gives me motivation to try my best. As far back…

Baptismal Statement by Jason Hensley February 2015 College Park Church has been a part of my life since I was born. I grew up going to Sunday school, singing in children’s choir and going to passport youth camp. The kids I grew up with here I still consider good friends today. Stephen, Alex, Marty, Anna, Sarah and Kevin have always been there for me like brothers and sisters. My sister Katie has been not just a sister, but, also a good friend. After Lin became our leader, we started Club Jesus’ and that really brought out my goofy, dependable, great sense of humor! Now, I’ve added, Caryanne, Kate and Hayatt…

Baptismal Statement by Brant Moll December 30, 2012 I am a strong believer that God has plans for everyone. If you really knew me as a person you would know that I haven’t always thought like this. I knew that I didn’t have a plan. In other words, I was lost. I’ve been through some pretty rough times throughout my life but none of the other times even come close to the time when I lost peace, hope, and patience. This period of time is also known as seventh grade. I started to become a victim of severe bullying and I never told anyone until I just exploded one night…

Baptismal Statement by Hannah Usey February 14, 2010 I am being baptized today to show that I want to be Christian and to me, that means following Jesus.  It means trying to do everything Jesus said.  Doing what Jesus said means to me–doing the things He said to do, like helping others and showing God’s love.  Honestly, being a Christian feels right to me, because, for me, everything makes sense in becoming a Christian. When I was little, I remember learning about some miracles and stories, like the one about Noah and the ark.  But I slowly grew older and matured and learned a lot more through Sunday School classes. …

Baptismal Statement by Marty Privette August 8, 2007 Being a Baptist is awesome! The idea of being able to chose when your ready to take on your religion and make your own choice of what you believe in is the whole idea behind beliefs. People sometimes get carried away in having a religion before they know what they believe in and the good thing about being Baptist is you chose to be baptized to your beliefs that happen to be shared by others. Faith means different things to different people. Some people are born into their beliefs because their parents believe things forcing them to share those beliefs. Other people…

Baptismal Statement by Clemarie Thomas May 27, 2007 When the light is green you go. When the light is red you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue, with orange and lavender spots? Okay, that’s a pretty big decision; I mean what would you do? We’re all faced with rally big challenges in our lives. Like choosing to be a Christian; who you hang out with; how you act. Doing what’s right. It’s a pretty confusing world. Life happens to be very tough at times. Then there are the days where one good decision makes the whole day very good. Every day that I wake up is…

Baptismal Statement by Laura Kate Ireland April 29, 2007 What does baptism mean to me? Baptism to me means thinking of God more and trying out new things. One of the new things I’m doing is helping people a lot more. A person in my class was having trouble with a math problem. I was able to show them how to work the problem out. Why I decided to get baptized is because I felt like I was ready. Sometimes my teacher tells us to pray before a test so we won’t make a bad grade. And I do pray. Sometimes at night before I go to sleep I talk…

Baptismal Statement by Katy Thomas August 13, 2006 Where do I begin? I grew up in the tiny Midwestern town of Marion, Ohio. You may have heard of it if you’re a big fan of cows or corn. I grew up with a very busy Christian mother who rarely went to church, but I did spend a few of my summers visiting Vacation Bible Schools with friends. I grew up knowing that I was a Christian without actually knowing what being a Christian meant. I tried to put together the pieces of the Christianity puzzle at a very young age, sometimes very unsuccessfully. Take for instance, me as a seven…

Baptismal Statement by Samantha Bridges February 19, 2006 When I think about God, the first thing that comes to mind is love, pure love. There are different ways to love, like loving your family or your pets. My relationship with God is a strong family bond. When I think about all the people in my life like family and friends, I realize that God placed them in my life in order for my life to be complete. When I was younger, I didn’t attend church. I didn’t know a lot about God either. When I first started to come to College Park Church, I liked the sermons. I learned from…

Baptismal Statement by Zachariah Usey January 1, 2006 To me, being a Christian means choosing to follow God, trying to do what’s right, and following God’s call. I can’t remember any specific time I chose to become a Christian, but I have always seen myself as one. I have always felt like one. In a way this time seems no different than when I was 3 or 7 or 9, because I have been raised as one, and always loved and wanted to follow God. In fact, I didn’t know being a Christian meant also being baptized. It just didn’t occur to me for a while. Then I went through…

Baptismal Statement by Hayley Turner May 22, 2005 I am being baptized today because I am deciding that I want to make a commitment to God. I believe that Jesus was the Messiah and that he was crucified on the cross and that he rose from the dead. I think that Jesus was crucified because God loved us so much that he sacrificed his only Son for us to forgive us from our sins. I like to think about God as someone who goes on Earth very often and is everywhere around me when I am sad or angry. What God means to me is someone who is just pure…

Baptismal Statement by Christian Burkhead April 24, 2005 I have decided to get baptized this spring because I feel I am ready to accept the changes it will bring. To me, baptism means always working towards doing good. I will accept that Jesus will be guiding the rest of my life. I think that God and Jesus will be my guidance when I’m not sure what to do. In my spare time, I can usually be found reading a book. I mainly read fantasy books about slaying a dragon, saving the land from evil, etc. Most of the time it’s a teenage boy who goes on the quest, like the…

Baptismal Statement by Nathan Usey March 27, 2005 As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a follower of God. I can’t remember any time that I didn’t feel loved by God or consider myself a Christian. To me, being a Christian is having a relationship with God. I wanted to be baptized ever since I understood what it symbolized—publicly letting people know you choose to be a Christian. I think I was nine when I first asked if I could be baptized. My dad said to give it a while. I actually asked many times but my dad asked me to wait until I was 12 so…