Ministry News

Sin City Goes Wild … With Baptisms

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Friday, 22 May 2009 09:39

When 1,200-plus people are baptized after a worship service, it's amazing. But when that occurs in Sin City, USA, it's something worth reporting.

That's exactly what happened at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas two weekends ago when a planned baptism following weekend services at the church's three campuses turned into an unexpected move of God. According to Central Christian's Web site, church leadership hoped to see at least 500 of the church's 15,000 regular attendees baptized. Instead, an open invitation—both for salvation and baptism—at the end of each service resulted in more than 1,200 people coming forward.

"Nothing in the past 15 years of ministry prepared me for what I witnessed," senior pastor Jud Wilhite said. "I still don’t have words to adequately describe it. All I can say is, 'Only God.'"

Because Central Christian allows any baptized believer to baptize another, the scene turned into a mass celebration with teenagers baptizing their parents and grandparents baptizing their grandchildren.

"I watched college students, CEO’s, soccer moms, bikers, models, entrepreneurs and every other kind of person you could imagine climb into cold water in their street clothes with no regard for themselves, for their clothes, or for their appearance—only Jesus," Wilhite said. "I stood by a thirty-something guy decked out in $1,000 clothes who couldn't care less about them; he just wanted Jesus."

Though he's watched more than 2,500 people accept Jesus into their lives in the past five months at Central Christian, Wilhite said there was nothing unusual in his sermon delivery two weekends ago. Rather than deliver an over-the-top emotional plea, he simply concluded by asking those who had never been baptized if they wanted to make a public confession of faith.

"I haven’t been able to fully process it," the 38-year-old pastor said. "I doubt I ever will. What I do know is that this was not about great programming, but about our great God who chose to move in people’s lives in a tremendous way, in one of the world’s least likely cities. … We are boasting about the Lord today and so thankful that we could witnesses His move."

For highlights of this amazing weekend in Vegas, check out the video below. [press release, 5/15/09]