Baptism
Out of the Dust

DSC01821 DSC01826 DSC01837 DSC01865A few weeks back I had the opportunity to host a baptism service right there in the garbage dump in eManzana, South Africa. This is the place where part of my local ministry work began 2 years ago.  Since we meet at the garbage dump each week it seemed appropriate to reclaim that area while the women reclaimed their lives for Christ.  So Tendai (my ministry partner) offered to help transport water in his truck to the dump in order to fill the pool we had for the baptisms.  It was a lot of prep work, but the whole day symbolized so much more than just work.  So two trips with his truck with countless number of 20-liter (5 gallons) buckets we had the pool filled and ready.  I felt like a kid on Christmas morning giddy with excitement for each one of these ladies. The service was beautiful with lots of singing and worshipping.  God showed up and the women one by one began to explain how Lydia’s Circle had affected their lives and their testimony of God at work in their lives. It was powerful and I felt like a proud Mom. I can only image what God felt in that moment.

Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Lydia’s Mission is focused greatly on these two verses.  To go and make disciples not just to the comfortable places but everywhere; even if it means to the forgotten farm village or to the local garbage dump.  It doesn’t mean going to make a name for myself but going because the Lord has directed it.  God is the heartbeat of Lydia’s Mission.  God is the heartbeat of my life.  Without Him Lydia’s Mission would fail and be nothing. Without Him I am nothing.

Baptizing them in His name.  Baptizing in order that they make a public confess that Jesus is Lord.  That the women of each of the different groups would have a personal relationship with God that is much more than just our weekly meeting or attending a church on Sunday but that every moment they would encounter him through the thick and thin, through the good and the bad, through the highs and the lows of life.  “This is what love does: it moves us toward other people, not away from them, even when their needs are overwhelming.” Loving the Way Jesus Love’s page 55.

“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage dump” Psalms 113:7 NLT.  God revealed this verse to me and I have taken it as God’s promise for these women.  God has been doing a great work in the women’s lives that are apart of Lydia’s Mission.  He is truly reclaiming their lives and lifting them up out of the dust and the dump.  I can only dream of the day that the women would rise above their circumstance through God’s help and no longer live in poverty.

Empower a Woman. Impact Generations.

Lydia’s Mission empowers and teaches women skills in rural South Africa to feed, educate, and care for their children by earning a living wage. When a woman begins to grasp her value in Christ through discipleship and Biblical training, her life becomes the first ripple of hope…that will last for generations.