In a great display of faith and obedience, several members of LifePark Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and the surrounding community came together to celebrate new life in Jesus through baptism. 

On October 6th, members of the Church at LifePark baptized over 115 people, including 32 children, in the ocean waves at the Isle of Palms County Park. According to Mike Gaskins, the KidsPark director at LifePark, two of those children accepted Christ at KidSalt, an overnight camp for elementary students held at Charleston Southern University, and 15 at LifePark’s Vacation Bible School.

To the Beach

After a brief worship service, unsuspecting beach-goers watched on as the beach was rushed by hundreds of people, eager to watch or participate in the baptism event. The atmosphere was full of excitement and joy as people stepped into the water and proclaimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

The Church at LifePark has been doing baptisms on the beach since their opening, each time with more participation than the last. It has become a tradition for church staff and members to hold baptisms on the beach at least once every fall, and they still hold a few in-service baptisms each spring during their morning worship services. 

Lives Changed and Faith Proclaimed

One of this year’s participants, Hayden Pinto, a high school student from Wando High School, said, “It was a special moment where we were surrounded by family and friends worshiping together.” Hayden made the decision to follow Jesus soon after he went on a mission trip that his father signed him up for, where he began to see and experience the love of Christ. He saw the value of baptism and signed up for the next event. “Baptism isn’t what saves you, it’s your faith in Jesus. A lot of people think it’s the water that saves you, but it’s not. It’s Jesus!” said Hayden. He expressed that he had support from his friends and family, and from Tom Meara, the student ministry director at LifePark, who helped him work out his faith and come to the decision to be baptized. 

“I’ve known Hayden for five years and have seen him grow so much in the Lord. It was a true honor to be a part of his baptism,” said Meara. 

Lifelong church member, Jessica Jones, and her family experienced overflowing delight for her twin daughters, Emily and Lily Kate, who were baptized that day. “My whole heart was just filled with joy, just to see them know what it meant, and still want to do it, and tell everyone that they love Jesus!” she said. “The whole way there they were so excited. They wanted to tell everyone.”

“I felt excited and happy to follow Jesus,” said Emily. “There were a lot of people there, and it was really crowded, which is a good thing!” said Lily Kate.

Reaching the Community, Sharing the Gospel

The opportunity to share the experience, and with it the Gospel, with people on the beach is one of the biggest reasons why LifePark chooses to do baptisms in this way. Rogers Hook, the associate pastor for missions and evangelism at LifePark, shared how much he enjoys being a part of the experience and baptizing others. “One of the best parts of the day is watching the church members engage in conversation with those folks enjoying a day at the beach,” he said. “This opens the door for Gospel conversations to take place. How cool is it to think someone’s Sunday plan was to sit on the beach, but instead they hear the Gospel that can radically change their life for eternity?”