“I wanted to profess to Him and to the public that from this point on I’m surrendering fully and giving Him my all.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

“God doesn’t stop working, He is still saving!”

That is the testimony Rob Olson will remember when the pandemic has past. As the church ministries pastor at Bethel Pentecostal Church, he says it was hard finding “wins” when service attendance dropped to zero (in person) and the church moved online; but nothing can stop the life-changing power of the cross.

Olson says the two biggest challenges were gauging where congregants are at and the relational gap, which makes follow-up ministry more challenging.

“There is not a service that goes by where we don’t ask if people want to be saved,” Olson states. “I wonder how many people are missed [when churches don’t ask]. We kept that up during the lockdown. It is way more difficult, because we don’t necessarily get to speak to them right away.”

“There is not a service that goes by where we don’t ask if people want to be saved,” Photo courtesy of Bethel Pentecostal Church.

Normally, when someone raises their hand to accept Christ, the Bethel team makes sure to connect with them, even if they are not comfortable coming to the front of the church. That initial conversation and prayer helps build a bridge and makes the person more comfortable with follow-up ministry. Online, that has often been a barrier.

Nevertheless, lives were being changed. Olson says they still have people indicating that they want to become Christians. Most do so in the comments on Facebook, YouTube, or through a set-aside button on the “Church Online” platform.

“Being able to do this baptism, last Sunday, was such an encouragement. We figured our people need to get baptized, they want to get baptized, let’s put the idea out there. We had 13 people sign up.”

Like many churches, Bethel had planned a baptismal service around Easter, but COVID restrictions made that impossible. Some baptismal candidates have waited months, but others came to faith during the pandemic.

“With God by my side I can overcome anything!” Photo courtesy of Bethel Pentecostal Church.

“We have a really cool story of someone who was baptized on Sunday. They started coming to services through the online experiences and got saved that way. When they came to church on Sunday, it was their first time coming to a live Bethel service, and then they were baptized.”

After the service, the church invited everyone to meet at Mooney’s Bay. With about 100 people on the shore (plus many unsuspecting beachgoers) candidates waded into the water. The church’s lead pastor asked each person questions about their decision to follow Christ, then said the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” As an added precaution, each person was actually baptized by a friend or family member.

“Seeing the experiences of the people being baptized, the joy on their faces, the family members who had been praying for people for years being able to baptize their loved ones, it was such a victory.”

“I completely broke down and at that moment decided to change my ways.”

Dany Pinard is one of the young people who was baptized.

“Water baptism is the fresh start of a new path where my strong faith and wisdom allow me to walk through my future endeavours with an open heart,” he says. “With God by my side I can overcome anything!”

Stephanie Lesaulnier is another young person from the group baptized last Sunday. Lesaulnier grew up at Bethel, but drifted away from God at 16 years old.

“I was going through a lot emotionally and instead of running to Jesus, I turned to substances,” she says. “I stopped going to church. I always felt a tug on my heart to go back, but I didn’t want to change my lifestyle.”

Last year, Lesaulnier felt God drawing her back. Although she still did not want to change, she started praying that God would change her desires.

“The idea of waiting for this to end to continue the next steps, it seemed unnecessary.” Photo courtesy of Bethel Pentecostal Church.

“God really did come through on that prayer. The turning point was at a young adults retreat where I really felt the Holy Spirit’s presence. My pastor told me that no matter what I’ve been through or what I’ve done, I’m just as worthy of God’s love as anyone else in this room. I completely broke down and at that moment decided to change my ways.”

Lesaulnier had planned to be baptized at the church’s Easter service. After all these months, she is so glad she was finally able to take this step.

“I wanted to profess to Him and to the public that from this point on I’m surrendering fully and giving Him my all.” She adds that the past few months have been very difficult. “I’d say it’s been the hardest time of my life, however, my relationship with God has not been affected. I have faith that Jesus has my best interest at heart throughout every circumstance I may face.”

Olson says the church never wants to miss an opportunity to invite people to trust Jesus and take the next steps in their faith.

“Baptism is just such an integral part of the walk. The idea of waiting for this to end to continue the next steps, it seemed unnecessary. We don’t want to waste an opportunity.”