“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28: 19&20

“So those who welcomed his [Peter's] message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.  They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” – Acts 2: 41&42

If you were to come to a Baptism at our church, you would notice that we only use a bowl to hold the water that we pour over the infant, child, youth, or adults head.  We do not have a pool for full immersion, though if full immersion is an option that the individual or parents would like, we just find a pool or a lake (at Camp Wapogasset for an example).  For Lutherans, it is not the amount of water that is important, but the water with God’s Word received by faith, that is most important.  Baptism is a means of God’s grace, trusting in Christ’s command and promise, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved,” (Mark 16:16).  And while Baptism is only needed once, it is a life-long journey of faith, a daily dying to our old sinful self and rising to our new self, our True self in Christ, that begins in the waters of Baptism.

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend almost a whole week at Camp WAPO with our kids.  For a weekend (Seeds Camp) or a whole week, children and youth, not to mention the young adult counselors and somewhat older church staff (no snickering!), are fully immersed in Christian community.  They are totally surrounded by people of faith and the practices of faith, as they are learning by doing and becoming a community of faith.  Then it struck me, church camp is a Faith Immersion! 

If you’ve ever been to a church camp you know that every day there is Bible study, devotions, prayer, praise and worship, serving others, building of Christian friendships and fellowship through faith and life discussions and by simply having a lot of fun together.  To riff off my friend, Rich Melheim’s ministry of the family and church being Faith Inkubators, church camp is like a faith particle accelerator!  And that is an incredible gift and blessing from God!  BUT…

What about we parents and adults who maybe haven’t had our own Faith Immersion for a long time, if ever?  Kids need families and church homes to continue the Baptismal faith incubation and nurture that was accelerated at camp!  Once they have had their Faith Immersion, they need adult and peer Faith Inkubators at home, in the neighborhood, at school, and at church.  Case in point…

Our friends invited us over for a BBQ dinner Sunday night, and it quickly became a neighborhood event as our friends neighbors wanted to know if they could come join the party and share a “little something I’m whipping up.”  (The little something was marinated, grilled chicken and a herb/veggie puree to slather on good bread!).  The food was laid out and the kids went first.  Mind you, my kids had only just met these neighborhood friends, and soon they were singing grace together, without parental coaching!  “Oh, the Lord is good to me…”  These new friends had been to WAPO too!  The Faith Immersion continued at a back yard BBQ with neighbors!

So, last year, I wanted to increase the number of kids going to camp, and with the financial support of folks from church we doubled the number of kids!  This coming year, the goal is a family camp weekend at WAPO!  Wouldn’t it be great if our parents and adults from church get their own Faith Immersion so they can be better equipped, empowered, and inpsired (in-Spirited) to continue the Faith Inkubation at home and at church that was kick-started at camp.  My challenge and hope is to have a family camp at WAPO in mid-July after the kids have their weekend or week at camp.  This will be for families and adults of all ages!  I would love to have our SWAT Teamers attend the week of TIM Team Training at WAPO, so they would be prepared to lead the family camp in July.  The SWAT Team would be the CV Family Camp Counselors, leading Bible Studies, games, free-time activities, and the worship services (s-k-i-t, whoop whoop, s-k-i-t, whoop whoop!).  I don’t know if anyone would be interested, but I think it is an idea worth working on if we are truly committed to growing up as disciples and raising up disciples of Jesus Christ.  Who wants to join me on a Faith Immersion next summer?