I am writing this blog post right now because I am not really sure what else to do. Today I got the shocking news that Cindy Wall (of Auburn Alabama) had passed away and is now with our Lord. This is the same person that I wrote about in my last blog post, (called Skype Video Baptism from Innovate08 in South Bend to Auburn) who had blessed all of us so much through her baptism. [To see the full slideshow of photos from the baptism, click Cindy Wall Skype Baptism gallery.]
This truly had to be God’s will and timing. Something so hard to explain and so hard to comprehend could be nothing else than God’s raw will expressed through her life, shown as a witness to us all, that there is never a good time to put off God’s work. At this point it is so hard to process the information and put into words the flood of thoughts that come to mind.
Over the past several months I have written many blog posts (like my mother-in-law Georgia Christal, musician Matthew Butler, and others like Steven Curtis Chapman, Prayers for His Family, Family Testimony, Bronner Burgess Drowns in Pool) about individuals that have come into my life in one form or another and then died, and I am then again reminded that we are NOT in charge of this world, God is. After the last few posts about Matthew Butler and after hearing from his mother and his widowed wife, I wrote Is it Really Important to Ask God Why Anymore?, and that is a little how I feel right now. Why bother asking why, it isn’t up to us, no matter how hard we try to make the world conform to our life, instead of us conforming to God’s will for our life.
Thank You Cindy for the Time You Spent With Me
I spoke with Cindy on Sunday morning about the baptism and I told her how much it really meant to the people involved, and me personally. The conversation we had was something I meant to tell her on Friday after the baptism, but I am so glad I did on Sunday.
Now, her actions to follow Jesus in baptism on Friday was something so huge, so important, that none of us could have possibly comprehended at the time. Any one person could have said no, could have decided it was to much trouble, our pastor could have said he didn’t have time (after all, he was in another state), and any number of other things could have kept the baptism from happening. Yet, the people involved, in another state, said yes, we will follow the Lord.
Much of my conversation with Cindy before the baptism was about our preconceived notions of “church” and “a baptism”, and why it doesn’t always have to be like the traditions of history. Her baptism was to be a party. She wanted her baptism to be a celebration, which meant, a party. In the same sentence, she told me she wanted her baptism to be a party, just like her funeral. Of course when you are talking to a young person, about to be baptized, the second part just flew by my ears without much notice.
She took the time to talk to me, tell me about her experiences, and invite me into one of the most exciting times in her life and to that, all I can say is thank you.
If the Lord is Pressing You to Do Something, Don’t Wait
There is no greater example of a life in submission to the Lord than this. If He is doing the same to you, don’t wait, our time here is short. It puts into perspective some of the people I interact with each day, some of the projects I am involved with, and what importance each has in my life. It does makes me think about the things I did today… what did you do? I spent several hours working with b/ this morning, and then spent the rest of the day with my wife. Not every day goes like today, but It was time well spent.
Tonight I felt compelled to spend some time and write something about Cindy’s story and the witness of faith her life now represents. Tomorrow, when I re-read this, it may not make any sense to me at all, but her life was special to many, and it was to me as well, thanks Cindy.
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Late last week I posted about one of the most incredible baptisms I have ever seen (see Creative Chaos 27 // Skype Video Baptism from Innovate08 in Indiana), a video conference baptism. Most of the staff of our church went to the Innvate08 Conference in South Bend Indiana, while a requested baptism had to take place on that Friday, when they were all gone. In comes Skype Video. With the staff in South Bend, and all of us down here in Auburn hooked up the required links and away everything went.
To see the full slideshow of photos from the baptism, click Cindy Wall Skype Baptism gallery.
What was really amazing to me about this baptism, and what made it so special, had nothing to do with the technology at all. The personalized value of this baptism, the people it affected, and the time that our Pastor was able to devote to an individual single baptism made it one of the most special baptisms I have seen. It was a celebration, as it should be, something that was not rushed through, and a baptism that was reflective upon the meaning of our dying to self. Instead of having to deal with time constraints of a Sunday morning worship hour, everyone was able to slow down and take a little more time. Rusty read the following scripture was read:
2 Corinthians 5:14-19 // 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
After the actual baptism took place, we hung up with the staff in Indiana (see other posts wow and the baptism) and we were all able to share a meal together. Later I talked with Cindy and told her that I understood this baptism was special to her, but what she did by doing this, was allow so many other people to participate in a great blessing. There were perhaps 25-30 other people that made this event special, and I know that everyone that participated was greatly blessed by the whole thing.
What else could anyone ask for in a baptism. It certainly was special. If you would like to see the video (from the South Bend, Indiana end) you can view it below.
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This is my post for Creative Chaos // 27 (see also guidelines) over at Ragamuffin Soul for this week (which isn’t published quite yet over there but will be soon). If you haven’t participated in Creative Chaos yet there is always time to jump in. It is a great tool to learn some of the new and innovative ways other churches and groups are being creative in their faith. Even if you don’t post, just reading through a few of them is a real eye opener of what is done around the country and world in worship.
I have skipped a few weeks for this post but wanted to pick it back up again, there are always so many great ways people worship, and this week, we have a unique opportunity to combine our faith with technology of Skpye. As much of a techno person as I am, this was my first experience using Skype.
As a full time eBay seller for many many years (a few years ago now) once eBay had purchased Skype, they started pushing it on their larger sellers (us being one of them) and at that point we were not interested in the slightest bit. I had put it off for as long as I possibly could, and the video baptism from Innovate08 pulled me into Skype. It has turned out to be a great tool and can be used for many different things, but this week we are using it for a baptism.
Skype Video Baptism from Innovate08 in Indiana
This week almost our entire church staff went to the Innovate08 conference in South Bend Indiana near Granger Community Church, leaving us lay people (gotroot and myself) back here to help with a baptism that, by necessity, had to take place this Friday while the staff was in Indiana. The church decided that we were going to do the Baptism anyway, and do it through a video conference method using Skype. We looked at doing the setup with Mogulus so we could capture the live video on both ends as it was happening but just couldn’t pull it off this time. So, Skype Video, here we go.
The Baptism will take place this Friday afternoon with a community group around the person being baptized and our head pastor, Rusty Hutson, will be on the big screen doing all the officiating from up in South Bend. This is certainly the first video baptism we have performed at this church, but somewhere, someone has had to have done this before. If so, we would love to hear from you and to learn from your experiences. If we ever do this again we would like to have some way to record the video exchange on both ends so we can later, at a minimum, publish it in house.
What’s Happening on Skype and Twitter This Weekend
Now that I am officially on skype I am sure I will find some other great uses for the service, but for today, it is Creative Chaos 27.
To follow the happenings at Innovate08 on Twitter just see a few of the headliners like @shawnwood, @timastevens, @innovate08 to name a few. Of course you can always follow me on Twitter as well at @scottfillmer. I will not be in South Bend this weekend but will post to twitter live from Jordan-Hare stadium for the Auburn vs LSU football game and of course ESPN GameDay (see ESPN College GameDay Comes to Auburn for Tigers vs LSU for details).
