We see a lot of baptisms around Mars Hill, each one evidence that God is at work. Regardless of the climate and what’s going on all around us, God is working his beautiful plan.
In light of the more than 100 baptisms that were reported this Sunday, we invite you to pause and consider that every baptism is a momentary peek into a very personal story, an entire life that has been eternally altered by God himself. Every person you see coming out of the water is a person reborn and transformed, a new creation with a story, such as this one from Philip Brenchley, who was baptized Sunday at Mars Hill Shoreline. He was washing his car when God nudged him to go to church . . .
“I have known Christ for many years,” said Philip. “I gave my life to Christ kneeling at the foot of my grandmother’s rocking chair more than 30 years ago. I still remember it like it was yesterday. She was an amazing, godly woman with a heart that could hold the world and eyes that could see through steel.”
Philip considers himself a deeds person—he shows the love of God through action, through serving people as “an active tool of [God’s] word.”
“Countless times I have been called to pull over and help folks out of the blue,” he said. “I cannot really explain it other than it is like a whisper in my ear.”
Last year, a friend of the Brenchleys was baptized at Mars Hill in Ballard. The question was raised about when Philip and his wife had been baptized.
“How odd is that?” asked Philip. “I have been to church since I was a child and could not remember being baptized. I remember a confirmation class when I was about 14 as part of membership at a Protestant church, but never remember being baptized.”
Over the last few months, the subject of baptism has been weighing on Philip’s mind and heart. He wanted to get baptized with his wife, but the timing just never worked out.
And then, last Sunday, he went to wash his car.
“I have been going to the Sunday night service for years and had planned on going to church,” reflected Philip. “As the day when on and I was my busy little self, I remember thinking, ‘I will probably skip church so I can finish waxing my wife’s car.’ It was not long before the whisper in my ear was quite loud enough that I put the wax down halfway though and grabbed my keys.”
Philip walked into Mars Hill Shoreline as the opening worship was wrapping up. Then the sermon began, a sermon about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.
“The sermon spoke straight to my heart,” he said. “How much more clearly could God be than to have a sermon about Philip and baptism? As you know, my name is Philip. I have not known many Philips in my life and cannot recall many sermons about Philip. I had forgotten about the baptisms being that day but it was obvious that this was what I was here for.”
Philip obeyed and was dunked right then and there.
“I felt like a yoke was lifted,” he said. “I was light and walked in the light of the Lord.”
