Marty’s Baptism Story

With our all-church baptism coming up this summer, we asked Marty to share a bit about why he decided to be baptized at a previous Summer Get-Together.

I was raised in a Catholic family with six older sisters. Church was part of the family routine for the oldest four kids but faded for the youngest three. I lived a pretty free and easy life with the usual kid stuff like fishing, sports and big family get-togethers for the holidays. Love was at the core of our family network! But in my mid teens through my early 40’s I used alcohol and street drugs which led to addiction and criminal activity.

While incarcerated at Lino Lakes Prison, I entered into an 18 month Christian program called Prison Fellowship Academy. This is where I was introduced to our Lord Jesus and fell in love! Woodland Hills sent volunteers to the prison who spent about 90 minutes ministering, doing studies and helping us. Because of these volunteers, I searched out Woodland Hills when I was released.

Woodland Hills was offering baptism classes and I looked into it because my heart told me it was time to declare publicly that I belong to Jesus. The classes were very helpful and confirmed what I had already learned. The baptism was fun and a special experience for me. In Romans 6, the apostle Paul describes our baptism as this: dead to sin (the old me) being submerged and alive in Christ (the new me) coming out of the water as a new creation in Christ!

Afterwards, Rob Kistler (Woodland Hills Care Pastor) encouraged me to get connected to the church through a group which is exactly what I did that fall. I continue to attend church and our group on a regular basis. Fellowship and community are very important! I’m a work in progress and it’s amazing what the Lord can do with our brokenness!”

Amen—thanks for sharing, Marty!

If you are interested in being baptized at this year’s Summer Get-Together, you can join the 3-week classes starting July 21. They’ll be offered right after church, and you can sign up here!