Church gives members a Hawaiian baptism experience

Each summer, more than 8,000 Prestonwood Baptist Church members and friends visit Hawaiian Falls Waterpark in The Colony. This year is no exception.

Wednesday night brought out more than 1,000 people for an annual baptismal service held at the park.

Among the 24 people baptized were the president of Hawaiian Falls, David Busch, and his son, Brian.

“We live in northern California, so we are not members of the church,” Busch said. “Over the years they’ve had private use of the park since 2004, and having been one of our largest longtime clients, we treat each other as family – and once every two months, I go to services on Sunday.”

Busch was excited to join in the experience because he had not been baptized since his teens, and his son had not been baptized since he was a baby.

“The fact that I get to have my son there with me and we get to do this together is really special,” Busch said. “This is very unusual to have a service in the Lazy River, but then again, it should not have to be traditional. It’s more of the act and commitment and outward expression of your commitment.”

Pastor Jack Graham was joined by Pastor Jarrett Stephens as they immersed the group in the river.

“Baptizing at Hawaiian Falls is an exciting opportunity, as it allows us to baptize in a setting that’s a little more casual,” said Executive Pastor Mike Buster. “Our church family enjoys our family nights at the waterpark, so this is a great and ‘cool’ place to hold a baptism. We appreciate the relationship established over the years with Hawaiian Falls president David Busch, and we are thrilled that he and his son will share this special time with us.”

Carmen Mize, whose son, Truet, was baptized also, said, “We had been looking for the right time for Truet to be baptized, and we just haven’t been able to do it,” she said. “When I told him Pastor Graham would be baptizing at Hawaiian Falls, he snatched it up. He thought it’d be great to have Pastor Graham baptizing him in Lazy River.”

Truet was excited about the experience.

“I wanted to be baptized because I want Jesus in my life and I wanted to show everybody that I’m a Christian, and it was fun to go to Hawaiian Falls and get baptized in the Lazy River,” said Truet. “We had a good time, and we stayed a long time.”

Graham said the baptism at Hawaiian Falls was special, not only for the kids, but for everybody.

“Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan,” said Graham, who pastors the 28,000-member church on Park Boulevard. “He wasn’t baptized in a church. It’s great to baptize people in a church, but the outdoors is a great setting as well, because the message of the Good News – the death, the burial and the Resurrection of Christ – is what baptism symbolizes, and it should be wide-open. So having it outdoors in a common area where people can see it, that’s ideal.”

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