-Baptism declares to the world that you have surrendered your life to King Jesus, without excuse or condition, no matter the cost, for the rest of your life.

-Baptism is the first physical step of faith you take on your journey to look more like Jesus every day - what we call, being a disciple.

-Baptism is a physical symbolic picture of Jesus death, burial and resurrection applied to your life - your sin has been killed, buried with King Jesus and you are raised a new creation (Romans 6).

-Baptism is a public declaration and display of the change that is happening within you.

-Baptism shows others that you've decided to look more like Jesus in your life and allows them to celebrate that decision with you.

-Baptism is a symbol and celebration of the salvation relationship you are entering into with Jesus.

-Baptism does not save you. God saves you through the atoning sacrifice of King Jesus on your behalf as you respond by surrendering your will and ways to God's ways.

You are saved by grace, through faith in the resurrection (coming back to life) of Jesus (1 Peter 3:20-21). That faith in Jesus' resurrection is represented by your obedience to each next step God has laid out for you - believe, repent, confess, be baptized and choose to live with and for Jesus every day of the rest of your life. And you can do it too, because the same power that brought Jesus back to life is the power Jesus uses to change YOUR life - and that's worth getting excited about!

The simple answer is, because Jesus was baptized. 

Since our goal is to look more like Jesus every day we should want to do the things Jesus did - that's what being a disciple is all about! But it goes beyond that as well. Jesus actually instructed His disciples to baptize everyone who believed - it's part of the core commands Jesus gave the church before He was taken up to heaven (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus told His disciples that there were 3 things they should make their top priorities: Making disciples, baptizing those disciples and then teaching those disciples everything King Jesus had commanded about how to live in a way that makes present the Kingdom of God in your life.

Obedience to the commands of Jesus shows that we really do believe and follow Him (1 John 2:3). Because Jesus went public about His love for us, we can go public about our love for Him! Baptism represents the choice you're making to turn away from a life of sin and toward a life with Jesus, the only one who can change and save you (Acts 2:38-41).

As soon as you're ready after you believe that Jesus is the living Son of God and your Savior. For everyone who makes the decision to follow Jesus, baptism is the next step. Anyone who commits his or her life to following Jesus is ready to be baptized (Acts 8:12). 

Several times a year we bring in a portable tank and do baptism at the end of service. We have also done baptisms during the summer at the lake and city pool, backyard pools, rivers and ponds.

If you're ready to take this step, we'll work to make it happen as soon as we can.

This is an interesting question because to answer it we should probably look at where baptisms happened in the bible. We know that those who were baptized were either by a large body of water or went to a large body of water - remember the nation of Israel is in the Middle East and is a desert. The reason they always found a larger body of water has to do with the original word for baptism - it most often referred to being totally immersed or submerged. Jesus was baptized this way in the Jordan river where He went into and came out of the water (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10).

Submersion in water is also the best symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Being submersed underwater represents your death to sin and the old way you used to live, being raised up out of the water is a picture of Jesus resurrection from death to life and beautifully symbolize the new life and fresh start that Jesus' resurrection gives you (Romans 6:3-5).

So the answer is... you can be baptized anywhere there is enough water for you to be totally submerged. The lake, a pool, a hot tub or even a horse trough are all perfectly fine places to take this step and go public with your faith.