Our Vision

Coming soon!

 So today, what we're gonna be talking about, and this is kind of in our generosity series. It's a little out, but I wanted to make sure we took this opportunity as well. We're together as a church family to kind of talk about something that I think is really cool and very interesting. So we are here as a church and there's a couple things that some of you guys know. So many of you know, like we have like a mission statement as a church and we base this mission statement out of Matthew chapter , verse  and . And in fact, I'm just gonna read that right now. It says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, "all authority in heaven and on earth "has been given to me. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, "baptizing them in the name of the Father "and the Son and the Holy Spirit "and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you "as surely as I am with you to the very end of the age." We believe as a church that Jesus' great commission in Matthew chapter  is the mission for every local church. That at the core of every local church, their goal is to do two things, like in the really just basic structure. There's two things that every church is supposed to do. They're supposed to make new disciples, so have people who don't follow Jesus become followers of Jesus, and then take people who are followers of Jesus and help them become disciples of Jesus and grow in spiritual maturity. Like those are the two things. So new believers and discipleship, like that's the goal of every church. And the way that we phrase that, the way that we state that is our mission statement as a church, many of you know this, is we stated as know Jesus and show Jesus. We want you to come to know Jesus, to come to know Him intimately and personally, and then as a result of that, through your life and through the process of being formed into His image, be able to show Him to the community and the world around you. And so that's how our mission statement as a church came to exist, this know Jesus and show Jesus. But we have another thing that we do, and we've shared this in different contexts over the years, but we also have that we keep in front of us as a staff especially, kind of what we call our vision statement. Our vision of where we see ourselves going, what we feel like God is calling us to in the upcoming season. And the first time that we did this, and we kind of started this process, would have been towards the end of  and going into . We started becoming intentional in our process of nailing down like, hey, what's our mission statement? What's the vision that God has for us? And we went through a pretty cool process internally to try to help us create some common understanding and knowledge. And so we feel like this vision is important. We feel like this vision is important. And after that initial time in  that we wrote down and we did this, which I'll share some things that we were able to accomplish as a church from that over that time, at the end of last year, we kind of did like a vision refresh. We said, okay, it's been about three to five years since we did this originally. And we took some time to pray and discuss and talk and say, God, where are we going in the next three to five years? Where do we see ourselves and you leading us to in this next season? And vision is important. There's a lot of verses about vision. I just read one from Habakkuk that I think is really important. And I love that part where it says, "Make it plain and write it on the tablet so the person who reads the vision can run with the vision." That the person who sees it, like once they get it, they're able to immediately begin to run with this idea, with the concept. And so having this vision and writing it down is so important. I love in Proverbs chapter , verse , it says, "Where there's no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraints, but blessed is he who keeps the law." There's an idea of what vision keeps us together in the direction of where we're going and what we're doing as a church.

 And so I wanted to take some time and share with you what God's laid on our heart. And some of it you've maybe already heard, we've been talking about it, and you just didn't know that this was a thing. But as a family, what we're here from our youngest members, all the way to our oldest members and together in this community, I think it's just a really cool time to be able to share about it. And so, but before I share about the new vision, I wanna tell you about the previous vision and some things that we went through. When we did this, this was not too long after our transition from Pastor Mike to myself as the lead pastor. And then of course, when we started really walking through it, it was at the tail end of COVID, which was a really wild time and it really reshuffled a whole bunch of things, not just within the church, but just within our culture and community. And so we kind of wrote this, where do we see ourselves moving forward? And when we looked back at the vision statement, which some of you probably hadn't read to you or you were able to read it at a different training or a different thing that we shared over the years, but many of you slept since then, so you probably forgot like me. But we walked through this process. And so here were a few things that we felt like were really important in that last vision statement that we as a church walked through. The first one was that we wanted to walk through the transition, the pastoral transmission that we went through and we wanted to do it well and we wanted to do it with honor and we wanted to do it where we could walk through that process together as a church and being open and transparent in that process. And I think we did a really wonderful job thanks to the staff and the board and the leadership. I think it was really, really great. The second thing that we talked about was that we wanted to kind of realign and refocus after COVID and all the disruption that I created in our society and our culture. And in many ways, I think we've completely shed that to the point where we don't really even think about it. This was pretty important. And maybe you noticed this, maybe you didn't. And I can share some stories. We wanted to create a common culture and a common staff language of phrases and words that we used and then also begin to teach that to our church and how we're able to use some of that consistently.

 And so there are certain things that you've maybe heard over the years, not just like know Jesus, show Jesus, but maybe ideas like living hands up in worship, hands out in service, hands open and surrender, like things like that that we've been slowly integrating and talking through and trying to create within the language of who we are as a church. And what always gives us really great joy is when someone's sharing something to us or they're writing something down and they use one of the words, the languages that we use as a church because it's like, look, it's working and it takes a really long time for some of these things to catch on. But we've been slowly creating this culture and this language of what we've been able to walk through and do. We really had a strong emphasis on small groups and relationships, which we've seen grow over the last three to five years. We had a really big goal that we wanted to move our kids where we were all in one building and not be across the parking lot. We were able to do that thanks to your generosity, which was a huge thing that we were able to accomplish. Yeah, that one's like pretty exciting.

And then the last one that I just wanna highlight, but we felt like it was really important was services like today, that we wanted things that were milestone moments in people's lives to not just happen, but to be intentional and to be purposeful and to be shared. So whether that's baptism or communion or salvation or many other milestones that people walk through, whether they're students or adults, we want those moments to be honored and to be given the dignity. That's why we have family services because we want all of our church family to be able to see this. And here's the thing that I know, if you're a parent and you've got little kids, young kids, family services can be hit or miss. They can be the funnest time ever, or you can feel like you're about to lose your salvation because they won't sit still, they're quiet. You've got to go back and forth. Some of them are the nursing mothers right now shaking their fists at the screens because they're like, this is hard. And if you're sitting here and you're like, but I love the family services, it's because your kids are all like over the age of seven or something and you're like, you forgot. You forgot because that's what the brain does. You forget the torturous years when they're like one, two, . No, I'm just kidding. You forget all that stuff, right? And so, but even this, it's important because we want our younger members to see and to celebrate a milestone in someone's life. Is a seeing to celebrate a milestone in someone's life. Like it's important. And so we think those are really important things to be able to walk through. And so if you are one of the people who do have a kid who's younger and they're like stealing all the offering envelopes and they're running up and down the aisles and you're like, they won't be quiet, don't worry. It doesn't bother me. If I had to wait for quiet in my house to talk, I would never talk in my entire life. So don't worry, I'm good. I'm really good about that. So that's kind of where we're been.

But I wanna look just real quick and kind of go over because there's three areas in the upcoming vision of where we feel like God's taking us to church. There's three areas that are really impacted, right? So our church family is impacted, right? And we'll be impacted. The second group is something that maybe you've heard. This is another one of those language things. And we call it like our ones. And if you don't know what I mean when I say our ones, what we believe as a church is that every single one of us in our lives, in our relationships that we have outside of this church, or even maybe within this church, in our work, in our families, in our school, that we have ones in our life who are currently far from God. And God is inviting us to partner with him to help those ones who are far from God be drawn closer to him. That we believe that the biggest reach that we have in our community is not like how many people come to church here on a Sunday and hear me preach a message and give a salvation altar call at the end. Like that's great. And we will do that. And we will keep doing that. But really the greatest way for people to be entered into a relationship and to be drawn closer to God is through relationships with the people who are sitting in these seats this morning. That each one of you have a reach zone that's far beyond what I could ever reach. That each one of you have workplaces and communities and coffee shops and grocery stores and the many different places that you go where only you have access to. And when we open our eyes to ones who are around us, we can say, "God, who is it in my community? Who is it that I have access to that's far from you that you desire for me to partner with you to bring them closer to you?" Like if we just were to look out here and to see how many people are represented and how we all come to this place on Sunday, but then we disperse all over our city and our community after we leave here, the impact could be incredible. And so we believe as we move forward, the ones in our lives, the ones that are represented throughout each and every person here, which could be, by the way, of your parent, you could have a one that's one of your children. They may be somebody who hasn't yet made that decision for Christ or a grandchild. That could be someone who's in there or a coworker or an extended family member or someone that's a neighbor who you just slowly build relationship over time. Ones can have very different looks and very different directions, but every person here in my belief should have someone in their life that they're in the process of saying, "God, how can I reach this person?" And if you don't, that's okay. We get to begin that process. "God, can you show me?" Open my eyes, open my eyes and let me see. And so we believe our ones will be affected. And then the third thing, or the third group that's really affected by this vision and moving forward will be the community at large, like our local community, the Broken Arrow Tulsa community. Like I believe that our church has an opportunity to make an effect beyond just what these four walls are and into the community at large and to be able to see some experience. So let me just go over a couple things of what we feel like are really important, like for our church family. And then at the end, I'm gonna read kind of all that culminated in kind of a narrative script that we have written out that you can find on YouVersion or you can scan that QR code and see the notes I have it there at the end for you to look at and see if you wanna read it later. But so here's some key things. With our first church family, here's the thing that we believe about our culture here at our church family and what we want people to experience. So the first thing is this, is that we are a welcoming and nonjudgmental community,   

 a welcoming and nonjudgmental community. And let me tell you, maybe when you first hear that, you're thinking about strangers walking in who look or believe differently than you. And in that case, the answer is yeah, we're still welcoming and nonjudgmental. But as much as that is true,

 welcoming and judgmental is, but the first thing I have in mind is actually not about strangers walking through the door, it's how we treat each other.

 Welcoming and nonjudgmental. God has been teaching me lessons about being judgmental because I don't know if you know this or you've ever heard me talking about it, I can maybe be judgmental. I actually think I'm really good at it. And I think most of the time I'm right. I'm really good at nailing it. Like I can just judge someone and be right. And then whenever I turn out the right, be like, see, nailed it. They were exactly who I said they were, right? But here's the thing about being judgmental. And this is the problem. It takes just as much of an assumption and a belief to assume and to judge negatively about somebody than to judge positively about someone.

 And you can't know the heart of somebody. And so sometimes you may have an interaction and someone may be a little rude and that's not up for debate. They were rude, but you get to make the choice. Am I gonna judge that they're just a rude person or can I believe the best in them and assume that maybe something else is going on? Can I overlook the offense of a brother or a sister and be able to still be loving and kind and welcoming to that person? That there are ways and opportunities for us to be nonjudgmental. And I don't even just mean about like political beliefs or ideologies or theological differences. What I'm talking about in the way that we interact and love with people. I can have an experience with someone and my first reaction, and listen, I would be embarrassed to say this, but the very first thing that I have is a very negative judgment about someone.

 And what God's teaching me is like, you know, that may be true, it may not, I'm not even gonna tell you, but how should you treat that person?

 Doesn't it take just as much energy to assume the good in that person?

To assume the good in that person to be able to allow that to happen? And when we assume the good in someone, it changes the way that we act towards them. And he's like, and even if they're wrong, you should be acting in love even when they're wrong. So if you assume the positive, guess what? You begin to act more like Christ.

 And so when we create a culture and an atmosphere that is not judgmental, that is nonjudgmental, that is welcoming to people, I'm not just talking about, oh, look, they've got a tattoo or a piercing or they're an Eagles fan or something like that. I'm talking about a full wide opening

 of understanding that I can look at you through the same lens that Christ looks at you, which is the blood of Jesus. And I can leave judgment to God. That's his job. My job is to be able to offer love and to walk in truth. And so that's what we get to do. And the side thing of this is combined. It's the second thing is we walk in forgiveness. We walk in forgiveness. The third thing that we think is really important is, and we're already seeing this, and I like this, like I'm a sports guy, right? Like I want a church and I see a church that has a deep bench.

 Let me tell you why I'm being a deep bench, and we already have it. Like we don't just have one person that can go out there and make it happen. We got a lot of people who can lead small groups. We got a lot of people who can lead discovery classes. We got a lot of people who can come up here and share a message or sing or teach in kids' classes. We have a deep bench. Why? Because many of you are walking in the strength and the power of the Godgiven gifts and the authorities that he has in you. And it's there. And we already have people in this room who are stepping out of this, and we have others that God is beginning to stir things inside of you because you are called to do more.

 To do more because he's wanting to grow your influence and your opportunity to show his goodness and his love. And so we have a deep bench. Another thing, and we kind of already talked about this a little bit, but we want our people to feel comfortable bringing their ones who are far from God and inviting them to come to church.

 If you've ever been of something that you like, but you're embarrassed of, that's not a fun place to be. Like if you've ever been like, I really like this, but I'm embarrassed that I like it, and I'm so, I just don't invite anyone. But when you're like all about it, you invite people and you invite a lot of people. And we desire for this to be a place, no matter what they're standing with, no matter what their current belief system, no matter what their church background or their hurt is, is that this is a place that you're like, you know what? I'm gonna invite my one who's far from God and say, come to church with me. And this is a group of people that will welcome and embrace and love and encourage and point to truth. And that's what we desire to be so much. We believe that this is a place where lives are transformed by the power of God. That no matter where anyone walks in, no matter what your background is, you do not leave this place the same because God's love is transformative and it changes people's lives. We think that that's such an important part. We believe strongly, and many of you have seen this, that we have a call, a purpose as a church to disciple and make better believers, to make people who are walking more in the image of God, who are having their lives transformed by Him, who are becoming and looking more and more like Jesus. And we are creating a more formalized process in which we can walk and grow and learn about who we are and how we're made in His image and how we can become more like Him. And we think that more and more people will participate in that as we continue to go through. We want this, and this is part of what this service is, we believe that this isn't just a church that comes here and we gather and we want, we believe that this is a church family, that you are called to be part of this family and that when you are here, you are family. And so that isn't just by words, but that's actually by action. When there's need and when there's loss and when there's hurt and when there's decisions and hardship and questions, we are a community that can pull together, just like family pulls together and be able to help meet needs, find individuals and do all those kinds of things. Like that, we think that's really, really important.

 The next thing that we think is really important is we really desire, we really desire that prayer, and we've been working towards this for years, that we really desire that prayer

 becomes like our comfort zone and our default. That prayer becomes the thing that we are here and we're not awkward around prayer, we're not nervous around prayer. Whenever we say, hey, we're gonna pray together, I know for a fact that when I say, hey, let's stand up and pray, some of you are like, yes, I can't wait to pray. And some of you are like, oh, dear God,

 I hope we don't have to hold hands.

 I hope they don't start saying that weird things. I hope they don't ask me down to the front

 and I hope no one tries to knock me over. I know that that's where some of you go and that's okay, but I believe that prayer and the power of prayer, which we're gonna be talking about, we have a series coming up on prayer. I believe it's something that's transformative for us and it should be our default. That when we struggle with something, we pray. And when we're talking in the lobby and we say, hey, what's going on? Oh, I'm really dealing with this. The first response is like, oh man, that stinks. Oh, that's really hard. Like that's okay, but our first response is like, hey, can we pray about that? Can we pray over that together? Can we agree together that God's gonna do a miracle in this situation? That that becomes our default, not just from this stage, not just down front after service, but in our community that we believe that prayer becomes a super important part.

 So that's the thing that has to our community. For our ones, listen, I believe and I see this by faith because as I mentioned those ones, some of you were thinking about people in your minds, people that that maybe meets the goal. And here's what I believe. I believe our ones, the ones who are far from God, in the next five years are gonna have stories of God's faithfulness of their own. That they're gonna experience God on their own and they're gonna have expressions of that for themselves. That we're gonna be able to help and support families in our community and create a stable place. Whether that's people who are a family that it looks typical and they've got a mom and dad or maybe they're a single family or whatever the situation may be, that we can be a place that comes along families and helps create stability. We believe that we're gonna be able to help be a place where we can create solid relationships with ones and parents and within our communities so they can have support structures. That we can help ones in our lives take charge of their spiritual development and growth. That we can help walk alongside them in the discipleship process and the formation journey that they get to walk through. That we'll see our ones who are rooted in God's love and see them being transformed by who they are. That as a result of being loved by God, they'll be known, they'll have their own value that's not established by their past or what the world says about them, but that's truly designed and created in the image of God and what that value means. We believe that there'll be some of our ones who are far from God that maybe at one point they were connected to God in the church, but they were hurt by something, maybe something happened, they fell away and they felt disconnected, but they rediscover that disconnected faith. And they realize that, hey, I was maybe hurt by a church or a church leader or a person or a theology or a thing, or I felt like I was judged, but God's love drew me back and I'm here in this place and our ones were able to see this. We believe that we'll be able to have our ones see a sense of freedom, that their kids will be part of our kids ministry, that they know how loved and accepted they are. And even this, and this is important,

 that despite the fact that they have fears and failures and past hurts, they will know that this is a place, that this is a church, that they are comforted, that they are accepted and that they're loved and that they belong to this church. And then the last thing, the last thing is in our community, and this one's really important, that in our community, the church, both our local church and the church as a whole, has renewed value, that the church is needed and necessary. One of the questions that church leaders ask, or at least they should ask, and I hear it, is if your church disappeared tomorrow, what would people notice is missing?

 And if the only thing they notice is missing, it's like, well, traffic is better on Sunday mornings.

 That's an issue,

 that's an issue.

 That's an issue, thank you, brother.

 Shout me down.

 That's an issue. Like we can't be a church that is like, oh, I don't know anything about that church. I don't know what they do in our community. I don't know who they are. I don't know the impact. If they disappeared, I don't know if anything would change.

 Now we know it would change for the people who are in this building, but the question is, what will it change for people who are out away from God and we get to be his representatives here on earth? What does it look like that we can make a difference in? How in our community can we make a difference and being able to see that lives are transformed? And so that's the thing that we believe that we'll be able to accomplish in these next three to five years is more and more opportunities to serve in our community in ways in which we can express the goodness of God and that he can be glorified. That if there's anything that they know that's like, wow, Destiny Church, not just like, oh, they do this, they do that, but that's like, those are people who live in a way that looks very different than everyone else. That the way that they love and the way that they interact is very different than the people that I interact with on a daily basis.

 And we believe that that's gonna change and really renew our reputation because here's the thing, and this is okay, and this is part of the process that we get to. If you've been here for long enough, or maybe if you have it, if you go around and ask people, hey, what church do you go to? And then you say, oh, I go to Destiny Church, I can guess one of three answers you probably get

 because I get the same answers every time.

 People ask me all the time, what church do you go to? They don't know I'm the pastor here. And I say, oh, I go to Destiny Church. And the first thing they say every time is like, oh, Eastman's Church. And I'm like, that was it? Yeah, Eastman Curtis, .

 Thank you for remembering.

 Your memory is so strong.

 Like that is what happens. Or if you're in Broken Arrow, they say, Destiny Church, Destiny Church, is that the one that had a building that had a hole in the front of it for  years?

 Yes, that's this. Thank you for remembering.

 You are so kind and compact. Now some of you don't even know what I'm talking about. You don't know who Eastman Curtis is. And you're like, what hole? This is just part of our history that we get to walk through, right?

 But here's the thing, at some point,

 at some point, and we really believe that we're on the precipice of experiencing this, I believe that it's not that those things disappear because they're part of who are. You can never change your history. That's part of who we are. The things where we came from are what made us the people that we are today. The experience that we had yesterday is what allows us to be where we're at today. And God redeems all things and makes all things new. But we believe that our information and our reputation in the community will be transformed. And that we'll have new things for people to be able to talk about and expand. Not because like, oh yeah, look at that guy. He's a really great preacher and he wears really cool shoes. Like I don't care about any of that.

 The thing that will change our reputation

 is the things that you all, the members of this church do out and about and how we love people and reach our ones in our community. It will change the reputation of the church. It will change the history and the trajectory because we're not building a church based on a personality, which is my personality. That's not what we're building the church. We're not building it based on, oh, he's a really great preacher. And like, that's what you got. Like, we're not doing, that's not what we are. We are not here for personality or for personal gain or for me to get a bigger social media platform or to become famous because I don't want any of those things.

 I like being incognito.

 We are here as a church because we desire to grow in our understanding and our love and our relationship with God. And as a mandate of that, it means that we go out into the world and make new disciples and share the love of God with the people that we get to interact with. And so, here's the thing.

 I'm gonna read this to you and then we're gonna pray and we're gonna get into some worship. I'm gonna celebrate a milestone moment for the people who've made this decision. But just as we think about this, and if you wanna follow along again, you can scan that, it's in the YouVersion notes, or you can get it later. Here's the thing.

 So, I'm gonna read this. You just listen, just settle in.

 It says, "Destiny Church is full of the ones we have reached. They have stories of God's faithfulness that stem from relationships with church members who have brought them stability and family support. They have become rooted and grounded in God's love and know their true value and worth. Many of them have rediscovered a disconnected faith that has resulted in renewed trust in God and the church. They have confronted their fear of failure, allowing for a fresh sense of freedom in Christ and a strong feeling of belonging to the church. They have taken ownership of their own spiritual growth and have taken steps in leadership, which is impacting their family and friends. Their children are an integral part of kids' ministry, and they know they are loved and accepted everywhere they go. We are a church that is welcoming, nonjudgmental, and tightly knit together. Prayer is our comfort zone, and therefore is the new default as we have become more mature in our faith. We have a deep bench of believers who can do the work of the ministry. Our people are aware and are utilizing our spiritual formation process. Our ones are inspired and now on mission to find their own ones because of how confident they are to bring them to destiny. The good vibes are here and because of the moving of the Holy Spirit in our church, and we are developing a reputation of transformation.

 In our community, the church has renewed value as people have found that church is not optional, but a necessary part of their lives. Even people outside of the church are noticing the transformation of our community and the people who live in it. Broken arrows are more loving and compassionate, Christlike, and kingdomminded, living lives that are surrendered to God. Destiny has a new reputation and is more visible in the community. The traditions and the customs of the world have been found to be lacking. Traditional church culture has been disrupted and the new church culture that loves the Lord above all else has emerged.

 This is our desired church. This is what we feel like God is leading us to in this next season. And here's the biggest thing, how it looks, how it flushes out, the individual opportunities. God will be able to lead this, but this is the biggest part.

 You are a huge part in the vision of where we're going.

 Each and every one of you who are sitting here, no matter how young you are or how old you are, you are part of the vision of where we're going as a church. That God is calling us deeper into relationship with Him. That He's expanding us beyond our comfort zones and inviting us to reach out and to say, "Hey, do you see that one? I want that one back.

 Will you help bring them to me?"

 And I know that sometimes that can be intimidating and scary and overwhelming,

 but what a beautiful invitation God's given to us, that He desires to partner to us and partner with us. And although I feel strongly and I believe God's laid several things and ideas and processes and messages and concepts in our heart, the truth is the best thing that God has for us in these next three to five years, we won't experience or know until we're in the middle of seeing Him move.

 And when I look back over the last three to five years, we had an idea, we had a dream, but we had no idea how God was gonna do it, and I can tell you the thing that He did is He did it bigger and better and more unexpectedly than we could have ever imagined.

 And that makes me anticipate and excited about where God's going. And most importantly, it makes me excited because of the people that I get to do it with in the journey that we get to be on as we move forward.

 And so as we take a minute and we pray and then we get back into worship and we celebrate baptism this morning,

 I just wanna encourage you in this moment

 to invite God into this process and to say, God, how would you have me participate in what you're calling us as a church to do?

 How would you invite me to walk through this process

 and to be able to step through that?

 I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna give a couple of invitations today.

 And I'm gonna give one at the beginning of the prayer and one at the end. And the one I wanna give before we walk into prayer is this. Maybe you're here, and I know this message is not like the most evangelical or the most storybased of them is, "Aha, this is like an idea of where we've been "and where we're going." But maybe in this process, you've been being stirred and something inside of you, and you're like, "You know what, I'm sitting here and I was someone, "I am someone who's far from God "and I wanna make that right today."

 In just a minute, I'm gonna give you a chance to say a prayer, to invite Jesus into your heart

 and to make that decision today.

 And if that's you, you get to do that today and we'll celebrate with that. And at the end of this prayer, I wanna give one more invitation. So let's do this.

 Can you just stand with me where you're at?

 Just join me in prayer. Father God, we thank you so much for today.

 Lord, we thank you for this vision of where we're going. Lord, we write it down because we believe you're calling us to run.

 And we long to run in the direction that you have for us.

 Thank you for your goodness and your mercy to bring us to where we're at today. We love you, Father.

 I just wanna invite everyone to repeat this prayer after me. This is just an opportunity for us to invite Jesus to be the Lord and the King of our lives. If you've done this before, you just get to repeat it. And if you're doing it for the first time, just with all your heart, just believe these words as we say them, just everyone repeat, say, "Dear Heavenly Father,

 "thank you for sending Jesus to die for me "so my sins could be forgiven,

 "so my heart could be set free."

 It's in Jesus' name I pray.

 If you made that decision, here's what I encourage you to do. If you made that decision and today was the first time, would you tell someone, maybe you're here with a friend or a family member, tell them that you made that decision today. If you don't have anyone, our prayer team after service will be down here. They would love to celebrate with you or you can come by me or any other church staff. We would love to just hear and celebrate about that decision that you made this morning because we think it's powerful. And then the last thing I wanna do, we already have some people who have signed up for baptism. They knew they were getting ready for baptism. And so if that's you, you can go ahead and start making your way over to Pastor Andrew and get yourself finished up and being ready. But maybe you're here and you're sitting here and you're like, man, there's just something happening. And it's not because of the words I said, it's not because of the thing, but that the Spirit is moving inside of you. And you're like, there is something stirring inside of me and I feel like today is a day that maybe I should get baptized, that maybe I should make that decision. Whether you just made a decision to follow Jesus or just God is stirring something inside of you.

 Maybe didn't sign up, you maybe didn't come prepared, but we have everything that you could need if that's you. If you say, hey, today is a day that I wanna be baptized and I wanna make this decision, we have everything that you can need. We've got clothes, we've got towels, we've got everything that you can need. And all you have to do is in just a minute, we're gonna start singing, Pastor Andrew's over here and he can walk you over to where you need to go and you can make that decision. And often I think that sometimes there's something, there's really a powerful thing about celebrating and planning and having all of our family here, that's a really amazing moment. But sometimes just like the story in the New Testament where the eunuchs saw the goodness of God and all he said was like, look, there's the water, let me get baptized right now. The water's right here.

 And so maybe you need a moment today to make that decision. But if that's you and God's doing something inside your heart, you just go see Pastor Andrew and we'll make sure we take care of you. So Father, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for those who've made this decision to get baptized this morning. We thank you for this opportunity to come into worship. We just love you so much. It's in Jesus's holy name we pray, amen.