Baptism: Matt Welstad
Before Matt came to Christ, his family went to church regularly. As the only deaf person in the family, he didn’t get much out of church because that church didn’t provide interpreting. There was no spiritual connection accessible to him, so he checked church off the list.
Baptism: Maggie Nye
Maggie’s life was a struggle before she came to Christ. She grew up in a Catholic church and didn’t study the Bible at home. She can remember herself at the age of 7, attending church with her mom. They were at the various “stations of the cross” when it hit her that Jesus died for her sins.
Baptism: Luke North
Luke’s life was pretty normal before he came to Christ. His parents took him to church regularly, and he identified as a Christian. He always prayed, knew classic Bible stories, and celebrated the holidays. But something was missing. He didn’t know what it was until the day he accepted Christ on July 21, 2024.
Baptism: Ryan Smith
Before Christ, Ryan constantly battled between right and wrong. He grew up going to church with his family but was along for the ride. In college, faith took a backseat to academics and athletics. That is where he found his community.
Baptism: Peter & Ezela Tagliente
Ezela always went to church as a child because it was the right thing to do, but she didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. She knew she was sinning. She consumed, partied, and didn’t respect herself. All of her decisions culminated when she got engaged in her 20s to someone who became her abuser. She ultimately lost all of her self-worth. It was after she left that relationship that she met her husband, Peter.
Peter was raised in the Roman Catholic faith and went through all of the sacraments. When he grew older, he realized something was missing. He drifted away from church and felt the void in his life. His marriage and family relationships were in a dark place. He couldn’t get away from the feelings of doubt, resentment, and anger.
Baptism: Mak Hayes
Mak had always believed in God, prayed to him, and understood who Jesus was. But she’d always had faith questions that she never put the effort into getting answered.
Baptism: Chris Eldridge
Chris believed in God from a young age, but he never felt that he had developed a relationship with God. He’d focused on building good morals and making good decisions in life, but he had also been turning to sinful things to try and find happiness. Some of these decisions and actions led him to spiral into a dark place. He struggled to talk to anyone about his sinful actions because he was ashamed of his behaviors, and it was just easier not to talk about them.
Baptism: Ace Maurice
When Ace was younger, she started going to church with her dad after her parents divorced. However, as bad things happened with her dad, she eventually fell out of it because she saw her dad as what a Christian was and didn’t want any part in that.