MONTGOMERYVILLE, Pa., (BRN) – At the beginning of December, Keystone Montgomeryville witnessed a prayer of expectancy come to fruition as Campus Pastor Mark White stood by the church’s long, rectangular baptistry and prepared to conduct what would be their 100th baptism in 2024.
“We prayed that we would see 100 people annually, and God has been sending that to us,” said White, referring to the past three years when Keystone was just single digits away from hitting the 100-baptism mile marker.
Last year, the church reported a total of 92 baptisms, and 94 the year prior. This upward trend in baptisms was something White started to notice following the COVID-19 era (2020-2021).
Since opening its doors in 2001, under the direction of senior pastor John Cope, baptism has been an integral part of Keystone’s philosophy of ministry.
However, just as many other churches experienced, COVID posed a particular challenge for Keystone in following through with this core step in the Christian walk.
“We did baptize people during those days, [but] not at the rate that we see now,” explained White.
The forced slow down of the COVID world caused White and the Keystone staff to reflect and rework the way they pursue ministry, including how they teach about baptism.
“We really began to kind of change the way we thought about everything – not just baptism – but really began emphasizing it (baptism), and sort of teaching on it more, talking about it more and really challenging people in that,” said White.
During the early days after COVID, White and the Keystone staff coupled this reaffirmed emphasis on baptism with several preaching series that honed in on obedience.
Looking at Acts, then Mark and, finally, Ephesians, the culture of the church was being stirred by Scripture that naturally encourages a “high call to obedience.”
“I always tell people, you know, God wants your obedience. And, honestly, it’s (baptism) like the first thing God tells you to do on salvation…the single requirement of the New Testament for baptism is that someone has given their life to Jesus,” said White.
He continued: “So, once they’ve done that, we interview them [and] we make sure they’re doing it for all the right reasons, and then we just do it. We try to get it as close to the point of their step of salvation as possible.”
To promote baptism directly following salvation, Jennifer White, Pastor Mark’s wife, shared that they try to always keep the baptistry full.
“We’re ready and we’re expecting [at] any time,” said Jennifer.
On a typical Sunday, Keystone Montgomeryville has three services. Often during these services, the church will witness at least one person come to Christ, and sometimes that person is baptized the very same day.
Regardless of when someone is baptized, Keystone has a robust interviewing process to make sure that individual understands the true intention behind baptism.
Ministry leaders at Keystone have been trained to have these intentional conversations.
“Before they get up there, they probably talk to two or three people, [and] all of our staff and a lot of our leaders are trained, not just trained, but know how to talk to a person to get them to tell their story,” explained Jennifer.
She continued: “We’re always listening to make sure that they understand that baptism isn’t the thing that saves them.”
So far this year, Keystone Montgomeryville has baptized 70 adults, 17 youth students (middle school/high school) and 13 elementary school aged kids.
Among those 100 individuals, is a lady in her mid-80s, a teenage girl who gave her life to Christ and then led her father to Christ, dozens of pairs of husbands and wives, an entire family from Pakistan and Danielle Carr, a 27-year-old woman who found support in her Keystone family after her father was diagnosed with stage four Malignant Melanoma.
Carr started attending Keystone two years ago, when she returned home after graduating college in North Carolina. Her relationship with the Lord started to bloom during her college days in the south.
Not wanting to become stagnant in her walk, Carr quickly started searching for a home church in the Montgomeryville area, where she stumbled upon Keystone.
“It was really difficult to find a church that was fitting for me. So, I kind of church hopped for a few years, and then I was actually just cutting through Stump Road and I saw this building. Every church I passed I would look up,” shared Carr.
Seeming like a good fit, she visited Keystone one Sunday and has stayed ever since.
“For me, it was more of the worship and the music, but also they read the Bible and they taught the Bible. It (Keystone) was very organic and natural, and I felt like it was just a very welcoming and easy to jump into environment,” said Carr recalling her initial experience at Keystone.
Carr quickly got involved at Keystone, attending regularly and joining a Community Group. It was during this season that she received the difficult news about her father’s diagnosis.
Feeling overwhelmed by this news, on top of buying a home and adjusting to living independently, Danielle found comfort in the fact that she wasn’t walking this journey alone. The Lord was with her and so was her newly found Keystone family.
Through the support of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, she learned what it really meant to openly and publicly display her walk with Jesus, and, eventually, decided to be baptized.
“It was truly an overwhelming emotion. As soon as I stepped out of the water, I felt lighter. I literally felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders,” expressed Carr.
Danielle was baptized on March 10, one day after her dad’s birthday. He was there – cancer free.
“It was just nice to have my whole family there, and just, kind of in a way, honor him, my father, and both the Father,” said Carr.
Carr, along with many other faithful members of Keystone Montgomeryville, look forward to celebrating with others the new life they have found in Christ.
“People know that it’s important, because every person that gets baptized is an individual. So, whether it’s 100 or one next year, that’s an individual. We really guard that very closely [because] this is one of the most important things they’ll ever do in their life,” said Pastor Mark.
From a pastoral standpoint, reaching 100 baptisms in a year has been very personal for White.
“I’ve always wanted to be a part of a church that had a vibrant, outward facing mission to send people. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a church that took baptism very seriously and saw a lot of people come to Christ, and that was very dedicated to the next generation. I got all of those at Keystone Montgomeryville,” expressed White.
“God has given me a gift to give me a church to pastor that is the church I would attend if I was just living here.”
