Coronavirus restrictions like “sheltering in place” mean different things to different people. For the family of believers at CampusView Church in Gainesville, Florida staying at home means reaching the lost – and they are watching family members make Jesus Lord.
David Morgan was not interested in visiting church or studying the Bible. Although his wife, Vicky, was baptized four years ago in Gainesville, David only started responding to the gospel when home-life reached a critical point. David studied the Bible and was baptized on March 14.
The following day Lily Soto was baptized. Her father, Hilton, joined the 1999 mission planting as a single and her mother, Mackensie, was the first person baptized in the newly planted Gainesville Christian Church. Lily is a high school sophomore and has been studying the Bible for several months.
And then, another teen put on Christ in baptism! Reese Robinson, the daughter of CampusView ministry leaders, Jarrod and Stacey Robinson, became a Christian on April 4. “Reese has been studying since this past fall,” said Jarrod. “Stacey and I are super encouraged by Reese’s decision…seeing our children make Jesus Lord is the greatest victory we can think of as a parent! Stacey and our other daughter, Chloe (17), baptized Reese.”
On Easter Sunday, Tia Cooks, the sister-in-law of CampusView member Alexis Brown, was baptized after having studied the Bible for several months.
These new Christians had already started on their faith journey before the coronavirus changed life for everyone. But God moves in mysterious ways; He is always about the business of changing lives. In Gainesville, families are seeing the hearts of their loved ones turn to God. Clearly, neither a pandemic nor a lock-down, “nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus ” (Romans 8: 39).
