Street Stories - A Ringside Seat To Over 4 Decades Of Taking Jesus To The Streets Of The World

I waited for some of them to decline my instructions. To my surprise, they all agreed. We all packed up in trucks and cars and headed for the river. When I got there, The City Kids were all lined up standing on the bank of the river, but Sarge and Phil, the leader of the group, were already standing waist deep in the river, waiting for me to join them to begin the baptizing. With my jeans and Jesus T-shirt on, I waded into the river to help these kids make their public confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Oh man!!! Even though it was August in Oregon, the water in that Willamette River was freezing cold. I’m not sure, but I think I began to shiver as Sarge and I took Phil and proclaimed, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.” We leaned Phil backward and submerged his head underwater. We quickly raised him back up and proclaimed, “Your old man is dead and buried and you are now raised into new life in Jesus Christ.” We repeated this process over and over as we baptized each of The City Kids who had prayed with us. The last one we baptized was Goldilocks. I could tell he was particularly moved and touched by the Lord during his baptism. As Sarge and I began to climb back out of the river, Phil came back in and said, “I want to get baptized again.” I think he wanted to be sure it took.

We assured him one time going under water was

enough to seal the deal with Jesus!

Besides that, that river had not gotten any warmer and actually felt like it was getting colder. But I knew

53