The newness of life, or as the NIV says, the "new life." It was the highlight of the weekend as we witnessed five students publicly promise to commit their life to the Lord. They managed to find a deep enough section of the creek that ran beside the camp where we were staying, and, one by one, they lowered themselves into the icy water to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That wasn't all God had planned though. As we stood in a circle singing praises to our God for new life, the Holy Spirit was moving in the hearts of three more students. Gradually, three more girls made their way forward and quietly requested to be baptized as well. Three more students responding to the call of the Spirit. As they made their way out of the creek, shivering and drenched from head to foot, I gathered with them and a few other students into a circle to pray. Their voices were full of praise and thanksgiving. Five of those eight students are in the Greek system, including Kelsey, who has just been baptized in the picture and is being surrounded by her sorority sisters.
Just two years earlier at Winter Conference, I had felt that same surge of emotions as I stood during worship after hearing Jaeson Ma speak. I could feel the Holy Spirit so clearly urging me to be baptized that I could hardly keep from shaking. After fighting the feeling for about 15 minutes, I finally felt like I was going to burst if I didn't tell someone so I walked up to my discipler and whispered to her that I wanted to be baptized. She looked at me with a huge smile and we walked out of the room in search of some pool of water. We stumbled upon a fountain in a courtyard and that was where I was baptized. About 20 minutes later, thirty or more students made their way to the same fountain to be baptized as well, about 12 of which were from USC. The Holy Spirit is powerful and He was at work that Saturday afternoon at Fall Retreat in just the same way He was two years ago at Winter Conference in San Diego. In fact, my roommate Casey, who is being baptized in this picture, was then able to baptize two of our sorority sisters at Fall Retreat two years after she was baptized.
There is something unique about getting to see students experience it from a staff's perspective though. There was an incredible sense of peace and yet overwhelming excitement with the thought of more students getting to experience this same joy, this same "newness of life." That's going to be my full time job! I get to witness the work of the Holy Spirit in students' lives. I get to be an ambassador of Christ to see lost students become Christ-centered laborers. I get to see hearts molded, lives surrendered, the body unified, Christ glorified and so much more! And this is just a small glimpse of what the Holy Spirit can do in the lives of students!
