Yesterday was a wonderful day in the life of the Storyline Community. Our first worship gathering went off without a snag.
No explosions. No violence. No earthquakes. No fainting. It was great.
Thanks to all of you who have supported us in prayer as we prepared. I’m so proud of my team. All of us worked together with God to do something greater than ourselves.
We talked yesterday about the story of Zechariah and Mary (Luke 1:5-56). One doubted God’s promises; the other trusted. One decided it wasn’t worth the risk; the other decided it was.
Contemplative Stations
For all the challenge of planting a church, I’m sitting here this afternoon thinking: It’s worth the risk. God is worth the risk.
And of all the amazing ways to bring our gathering to conclusion – one of our Storyline people decided that yesterday was the day for him to declare that God is worth the risk of faith.
Sergio Sanchez doesn’t have much in terms of a spiritual/religious background. He grew up in Spain where most of the people he knew were atheists or agnostic. One of his parents is nominally Catholic; the other non-religious.
Sergio Sanchez
He’s always sensed that God was there. Sergio came to the US this past summer to teach Spanish in the Dallas Independent School District. We connected to him through a mutual friend and he began to explore the story of God more deeply.
Yesterday, Sergio made God’s story his own story and was baptized into Christ.
Sergio wore and old shirt that he used to wear for good luck and then threw it in the trash after he was baptized as a way of symbolizing that the new creation is here: the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What’s great is that Sergio’s parents were visiting from Spain and were able to see it. The don’t speak a lick of English, so our first baptism ceremony was bilingual. Sergio’s girlfriend, Kara, translated for us and did a marvelous job.
The Water Was Cold
Rejoice with us for the ways God is alive in the Storyline Community!
In the Storyline 
Just love the story of Sergio, & rejoiced looking at the pics of his baptism. Tell him there are people in Arkansas praying for him & his journey with God. Praying for all of you at Storyline, too.
It was so great to see you & Julie this past weekend at Mattitos! Lots of fun to visit with old friends, & meet new ones! Has Julie forgiven you for surprising her?
Hope you, Julie & Ryan have a wonderful, warm Christmas being with your family & friends. Know the Cones are thinking about you often.
What a great beginning. Yes, my prayers are with Sergio and his family.
I like to think of you singing a little cold water baptism song in that first picture. :o)
Merry Christmas,
John
Praising God because of you and your team!
Thank you everyone for your prayers
Charles,
Congratulations on the service Sunday, and Alyssa and I are so excited about Sergio’s decision. What a great story! We are praying for Storyline and for Sergio at Richland Hills. We enjoyed our time in Uptown a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for hosting us.
God bless,
Clint
Congratulations friend,
looks and sounds like y’all had a powerful first gathering – I pray it was just the first of many.
Yay! I’m so glad you took the risk. We’re celebrating with you and Sergio and the angels in heaven.
Reading this gave me chills! (and not just because of the thought of that cold pool water! :))
Thank you for sharing these amazing testimonies of God’s goodness–praying for you and this church plant! Can’t wait to see how God will continue to use you and bless your work in Uptown for His kingdom!
Awesome stuff dude! I’m really glad to hear that things are turning out so well. I hope and pray they will continue to be so blessed. Lifting ya’ll up!
hey bro… just read the past two entries while listening to U2 on youtube. i was listening to with or with out you. don’t know if it meant anything… but it was cool.
how about that for shallow spirituality?
it was great to see you last week. it blessed me.
speaking of risks… cindy and i laid in bed the other night, scared to death. it’s a risk, and there’s only One who can make this useful. i’ll screw it up.
hey bro… love you. keep living out the love story.
accept God’s love. love God. love others.
ricky
Charles, it is great to hear about Sergio’s baptism. We rejoice with you!