By Mark Ellis –
In this rural Pennsylvania church 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, the pastoral team believes in spontaneity, so when new believers enter the fold, they urge them to get baptized soon, usually in the pond adjacent to the church.
Sometimes that happens when the pond is frozen solid!
While a few health buffs might be inspired by ice baths at high-end gyms, Lead Pastor Michael Ragozzino has taken the cold plunge in a spiritually exhilarating direction.
“I’m very big on water baptisms, and I always push people to take that next step,” Pastor Michael told God Reports. “We don’t plan baptisms; ours are very off-the-cuff.”
The church, located in Central City near Boyer’s Pond, was founded by Sam Childers, the subject of the film Machine Gun Preacher. Childers is a former drug dealer who found Christ and started an orphanage in Sudan to rescue children abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army. He is still the senior pastor of the church, but because he travels frequently, Pastor Michael oversees the church day-to-day.
Pastor Michael was a heroin addict from the age of 12 to 29. During his 32nd rehab God met him in a powerful way and set him free from addiction.
On Saturday, January 25th, Pastor Michael learned that a newly saved husband and wife were feeling led by the Lord to get baptized the following day.
Pastor Michael talked to them. “The pond is where we do it,” he explained, knowing it was covered by ice. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“If it’s not possible, then we won’t,” the wife said, hesitatingly.
“All things are possible,” Pastor Michael replied. “I’m not going to get to the gates of heaven and explain to Jesus why I turned down a baptism,” he said.
Pastor Michael talked to his team to make sure they could make it happen. “A couple of our
congregants are tree men, so they had large chain saws. So while I’m finishing up preaching, all you hear is two chainsaws start up. They’re out on the pond, cutting a huge cross into the pond.”
Before the baptism, Pastor Michael inquired once more. “Are you sure you guys want to do this?” he asked. “This is going to be cold. It’s going to be a cold plunge!”
“We have to do it,” the couple replied.
“They did it in fully clothed. They didn’t change. They went straight in with their church clothes,” Pastor Michael recounts. “Because they showed faith, two more people decided to get baptized.”
Pastor Michael estimates that 75 people have undergone ‘cold plunge’ baptisms since he arrived at the church five years ago.
“Every year we break ice to do it, because you can’t tell when someone is going to want to be baptized or give their life to the Lord, and we hurry up and rush them out there, saying ‘Let’s go. Let’s do the next step. Why wait?’”
Perhaps there is a biblical justification, with Jesus advising his followers not to be lukewarm, but either hot or cold. Did he mean this cold?
At about 38 degrees in their pond, that makes it at least 20 degrees colder than the Jordan River in January, where Jesus himself was baptized.
Pastor Michael says when he gets in the pond, his toes immediately go numb and his legs turn red. “I just hope that it’s more than a trend and that people are following God, listening to when he says to do it, no matter the circumstance.
“But it’s definitely cold. I just did three more this Sunday (March 30th) and it was still freezing,” he says.
To learn more about Pastor Michael and the church, go here
