Aaron Erhardt

Aug 4, 2026

The Village Church of Christ has been blessed with many baptisms. We had 29 last year and are on track to surpass that number this year. However, something happened on Sunday that I had never experienced. As I was speaking, four men walked up and joined me on stage. Three came down the middle aisle and one approached from the side. I greeted each of them and asked if they were coming to get baptized. They all said “yes” and we immediately made our way to the baptistry.

The zeal of those four men was reminiscent of a story in Mark 2. Jesus was at a house in Capernaum teaching a large crowd when four men approached carrying their crippled friend on a stretcher. When they could not get him through the door because of the crowd, they took him up an exterior staircase and began tearing up the roof. They eventually made a hole big enough for the stretcher to be lowered down to Jesus.

When Jesus saw what was happening, He was not annoyed or upset. Nor did He rebuke the men for damaging property or disrupting a Bible study. Instead, He commended them for their faith and healed their friend.

The four men knew that if they could carry their friend to Jesus but once, they would never have to carry him again. They had an undaunted determination and the Lord admired that very much. They had a zeal that couldn’t wait. I saw that same kind of zeal on Sunday. I’m sure Jesus was just as impressed and so were we!