2026 Easter Baptism Testimonies

My name is Everett and I have been coming to Christ City Church for almost my whole life. Growing up in a Christian family and in the church meant that I always knew of Jesus and had the start of a relationship with him. I went to church, read my Bible and prayed, but it felt like something was missing.

As a young kid I mostly did things for the fun of it without thinking of the consequences. My choices gave me temporary happiness but ultimately lead to negative thoughts and shame. I kept my feelings to myself and acted one way at school and another at home. That way of living left me feeling weighed down and alone. About 2 years ago I came to reground my faith after youth one night. The sermon had been about sin. I knew about sin but this time I felt convicted. God revealed the way I had been selfishly living my life, and I knew I needed to confess to Him and my parents. Weight was lifted off my chest after I confessed and asked for forgiveness. I realized what a relationship with Jesus really meant and how important it was to have trusted people I could talk to. My youth pastor showed me Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” This verse stuck out to me while we were talking through some of my struggles with thoughts and it felt really meaningful to what I was going through. During the time of reaffirming my faith I grew closer to God through spending more time with Him and being discipled. Now I live a life with far less weight on my chest, my faith has become personal as He continues to change me to be more like Him.

It took me awhile to make the decision to become baptized, because I thought l had to be perfect. I continued to pray about it and finally came to the decision after talking with my parents and youth pastor. I know now that baptism is the next step for me. I’m excited to show everyone that Jesus is my Saviour, he died on the cross for me and took my sin and shame away.

My name is Cathy, and I’ve been coming to Christ City with my husband, David, for about two years now.

Before I knew Jesus, I was always chasing perfection and often felt that I was never enough, even though everything in my life looked fine on the outside. I grew up in a loving family, had groups of friends, and did well in school, but I often felt empty and guilty in my teenage years and early adulthood. In my early twenties, during university, I became depressed. I lost a lot of weight, had difficulty sleeping, and almost took a break from school. Therapy helped me get my life back on track, and I eventually graduated and worked a few corporate jobs. But during that time, I felt like I was on a hamster wheel—going through the same superficial routine every day without any real purpose. I kept searching for something more meaningful and good. My sister had married a Christian man, and since 2010, I always enjoyed being around their church community, even though I didn’t fully understand why at the time.

2020 was a challenging year for me and my loved ones. Similar to my early twenties, I lost weight, couldn’t sleep, and often felt overwhelmed. I remember crying to my realtor friend while searching for my first home, telling him I didn’t deserve good things. That winter, I stayed with my sister’s family during Christmas break, and one night around 4 a.m., I felt like I was close to a panic attack. Then suddenly, something shifted inside me. I was able to breathe again. I felt peace. I woke up crying because I didn’t understand what had happened, and I told my brother‑in‑law that I felt like lifting my arms the way I’d seen people do in church. He explained that what I was feeling was surrender—turning toward God through Christ. That morning, he asked if I wanted to follow God, and we prayed together—acknowledging my sin, thanking Jesus for dying for me, and choosing to turn away from my old life and follow Him. That was the moment everything changed.

Since giving my life to Jesus in January 2021, everything about my life has changed. I bought my own place and made it a cozy, loving home. I found joy and peace working in the non‑profit world, where I feel connected to the community instead of stuck on a hamster wheel. I surrounded myself with Christian influences, and through friends, I met a Christian man who deeply loves God—the kind of life and partnership I had always hoped for. After dating for a year, we got married, and we strive to keep God at the heart of all our decisions. Pastor Sam from Christ City officiated our ceremony, and one of the passages read at our wedding was Ephesians 3:14–21. These verses have stayed close to my heart because they speak about being “strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner being” and about knowing “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” That’s exactly what God did for me that morning at 4 a.m.—He met me in my weakness, filled me with peace, and showed me a love deeper than anything I had ever known.

I want to be baptized because after five years of walking with Jesus, I feel rooted in my faith. My life looks and feels so different from before I knew Him. I’m grounded, I’m joyful, and I know who I am in Christ. I want to publicly declare that I belong to Him, and I want to continue seeking His character and following Jesus for the rest of my life.

I grew up in an atheist home where I was taught strong moral values, but without the peace and understanding that comes from knowing Jesus. I was raised to keep every door open and prioritize school and sports above everything else. This mindset carried me through high school, where from the outside, life looked great. I had good grades, a girlfriend, and a strong group of friends. But internally, I was struggling. I felt empty and uneasy, often giving in to things like laziness, gluttony, and selfish desires, while judging others to make myself feel better. This continued after high school and through COVID. My girlfriend at the time tried to introduce me to Jesus, but I resisted. Conversations about God made me uncomfortable, even angry. Looking back, I can see that God was already working in my life, even when I was pushing Him away.

The turning point began when that same girlfriend of four years broke up with me just as I moved to Vancouver. Suddenly, I was alone in a new city, far from my family, trying to manage the demands of being a student-athlete. It was overwhelming. Because of my analytical nature, I became consumed with overthinking what I had done wrong. This led me to a deep depression. I isolated myself, barely slept, barely ate, and felt like I was just surviving. I wanted the pain to stop, but I cared too much about my family to give up. Instead, I turned to self-improvement. I started journaling, reading, training harder, and trying to rebuild myself through discipline. One book, Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly, challenged me in a new way. It introduced the idea that I might be trying to fill a space in my life that only God could fill. That thought stayed with me.

Eventually, I decided to “try” God. At first, it was for selfish reasons. I just wanted relief from the pain. But what started as an experiment became something I depended on. I began praying regularly and reading the Bible daily, eventually reading through it completely. As I did, I started to see myself more clearly; my pride, my need for control, and how I had built my life on things that could not sustain me. Even then, I was still testing God, continuing in reckless patterns at times, almost expecting Him to prove Himself. But He never left me. He was patient with me in a way I had never experienced before.

Over time, I realized that no amount of discipline or self-improvement could fix what was broken inside of me. I needed God. My mindset shifted from trying God to trusting Him. I began to surrender control of my life and place it in His hands. Through that surrender, I came to understand what Jesus did for me on the cross. That my sin had separated me from God, but that Jesus had already paid that price. For the first time, I was able to forgive myself and move forward in His grace.

Since then, my relationship with Christ has continued to grow. He has given me a sense of peace and confidence in the future, knowing that if I strive to honor Him in sport, school, and life He will guide my path. One verse that has stood out to me is Isaiah 6:8: “Here am I. Send me.” It reminds me that God calls each of us in different ways, and I want to be ready to respond. As a continuation of my faith, I feel called to be baptized. To me, baptism is an act of obedience and a public declaration that I have surrendered my life to Christ. I want my life to reflect Him in everything I do, so that when others see something different in me, I can point them to the truth of the gospel. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins, rose again, and has given me new life. Because of that, I now live with purpose, striving to honor Him in all that I do.

My relationship with Jesus began from as early as I can remember. A couple years ago I had a dream of a bright light and an arm reaching out from heaven. I believe this was an invitation to me to follow Christ. I have always been surrounded by Christians, my family and through the church. They told me stories about Jesus, read the bible to me and prayed for me. I decided to follow Jesus because I want to be close to Him and I want to be part of His family. By placing my belief in Him I know that He has cleansed my heart, and saved me from my sins.

Jesus has been helping me to take responsibility for my sin because it is something I wrestle with. Jesus has been showing me my deeper sin, like being selfish, which has impacted other people without my knowing. My hope in Jesus is that He is evermore cleansing me and purifying me to make me holy.

I find a lot of hope in talking to Christ. Over the years my family and I have prayed for adoption, and after several years God gave us a little boy. Sometimes it was really hard to pray because I didn’t know what was going to happen, but God kept telling me to pray and so I did. When I don’t know what to do or there is a problem and I don’t know how to fix it, I pray. At times God takes awhile, but He always comforts me in the end.

If someone asked me who Jesus is, I would say he is my King and Saviour. I think getting baptised is a signal to everyone that I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and King. I want to follow Jesus my whole life.

I want to serve the church by helping people and praying for them, and I know the only way I can help and pray for people is to know the Word of God. The only way I can know the Word of God is to read the bible, and I desire that the church will help me by reminding me of my commitment to God and leading me to Jesus.

My name is Matthew, and I’ve been attending Christ City for 1 year now. I grew up in a Christian household and was involved in church from a young age. I attended Awana since I was 3, went to many bible camps, and served in leadership positions in my youth fellowship group. Because of this, I knew a lot about Jesus growing up and his love for me. But as I went into high school, and especially during the IB program, I started basing a lot of my self-worth on the grades I received. If I didn’t do well on an exam, I’d feel frustrated with myself that I didn’t put in enough effort. I began to see my future as something completely dependent on my performance and control—doing well in high school to get into university, doing well in university to get a job, and building my life from there.

Even though I always intended to grow my relationship with God, this academic side of me began to impact my faith. My prayers began turning into constant requests for God to help me do well on the next test or presentation, week after week. Bible reading and praying became more of a checklist, like spiritual homework I needed to get done so God would later bless or help me with something I needed.

When the pandemic hit during Grade 12, everything slowed down. Suddenly there was no more exams to prepare for or assignments to do, and I had more time than I was used to. It gave me a chance to step back and reflect on why I was doing the things I’ve been doing, and to ask myself whether I really knew Jesus personally. As I started university, I began taking my faith more seriously. I started to spend more time meditating on passages of scripture and talking to God throughout the day. And over time, I began growing closer to him. While working hard was still important, I started to understand that because he’s in control, there’s no need to be anxious about my future, and to prioritize my relationship with him above all other things. Through this, I’ve begun to experience a sense of inner peace where I can be content no matter what earthly circumstance is in front of me.

For a while, I struggled with whether I should be baptized. I sometimes felt like I had to wait for a transformative spiritual moment or until I felt certain I had progressed enough in my faith to be ready. But I now understand and want to be baptised because it is both an act of obedience and a public declaration that Jesus Christ is my saviour who died on the cross so I could have eternal life. It is by grace alone that I am saved, and no longer have to put my hope in things of this world.

A verse that has been meaningful to me is Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” It reminds me to live with an eternal perspective and allow God to shape my thoughts and decisions every day. My hope and identity are in what Jesus has done for me, and I know I want to live for Him every day for the rest of my life.

I grew up in a Christian home, where we prayed at every meal, and went to church every Sunday. There was never really a time that I didn’t know about Jesus, I had just always known about him. As well, I’ve been going to a Christian school all my life, where we had Bible classes, along with a chapel every week where we learned more about God, and heard our teachers’ testimonies.

Because of how I’d grown up surrounded by Christians, and hearing about their faith made it hard for me to make my belief and faith my own, and not just a replica of someone else’s. I found it difficult to have a personal relationship and connection with God, and not just see Him as something people I knew talked about. When my friends started showing their own faith, and their relationship with God, I felt a little offput, that they could put aside their doubt, and that their belief came so easily to them. So, at my summer camp one year, when my friends stood up to give their life to Jesus, I did too. It made me truly realize that I had to make my faith my own, my relationship with God my own, and not just follow my friends and family. The pastor at the summer camp then prayed over us and blessed us, which is the moment that I think of when I think back to when I first started truly believing in God.

After that, Jesus slowly started to change me, and has made me more aware of my sin, and helped me to be more repentant. By being able to see my sin more clearly, I’ve been able to see my own need for Jesus, and how He saved me on the cross so that I could be forgiven. As well, it’s allowed me to turn away from my mistakes, and instead focus on being more like God as He helps me grow in my faith. I’ve slowly been forming a relationship with Him, and spending more of my time with Him. Now, I’ve come to make my faith my own, and come to realize that God cares for me, and is always there, as well as ready to help. It says in Mark 16:16,‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’  I believe, so I’ve realized I want to be baptized, so I could publicly show my faith to others, and be able to take the next step in my faith. I’m especially glad to be baptized at Easter, because that is when Jesus died on the cross to take on my punishment of death for my sin.

When I was 14 years old I confirmed my baptism and “officially became a member of the church community”. The two years of preparation leading up to my confirmation didn’t leave much of an impression on me, but I do remember reciting my confirmation verse in front of the gathered church. Psalm 23:1 “Der Herr ist mein Hirte, mir wird nichts mangeln.” (The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want).
I figured declaring something like that wouldn’t hurt… And it was easy to memorize. I wasn’t reborn that day and continued my life without being a believer – and not expecting to find truth in that psalm 20 years later.

I ignored God’s call and was busy with “more important stuff”. I idolized my feelings: my happiness, self-pity, and pride. I distracted myself with everything the world has to offer and even developed a (mis-)understanding of God and his church, based on my ignorance. Nevertheless, I was searching for Truth in that time, for meaning, identity, a role model or philosophy that would make sense of my life and give me purpose. I looked everywhere, but it didn’t cross my mind to open the Bible… which, in my mind, just contained fairy tales that naive people told each other to feel better. And I certainly was too smart to believe such stories.

After moving to Canada in 2017 I met more and more Christians: People who had a relationship with God and engaged with the bible – a fairly foreign concept to me. But it impressed me. And made me curious. So one day, about two years ago, I watched a tutorial: “How to: Pray.” I closed my eyes, folded my hands and followed along. And shockingly, God made a point of answering me. Literally. He said, “Have no doubt”. His voice seemed to come from within myself – but it wasn’t my words… I tried to explain it away, rationalize it, ignore it. But I couldn’t.

This was very unexpected to me, and now I see that it was the beginning of my conversion. I curiously started to investigate, having more conversations about faith with my wife, who’s been a Christian for a long time, and continued praying, asking the Lord to help me to get to know Him better. And again, he was there for me… leading me straight to church, which I was not interested in. At all! I resisted, argued, moaned. But then I went anyway…and here I am.

Through scripture, church, and the people in my life God revealed himself more and more and transformed me. He let me understand the severity of sin, my debt and separation from Him and that only Christ through his death on the cross could reconcile me with Him. I surrender to Christ and repent of my sins, not only out of obligation, but because I trust Him, because He is the Truth and he knows me, better than I know myself. Always has, always will.

“The Lord IS my Shepherd. I shall not want”.
The miraculous creator of the heavens and the earth had kept his word all along.

Of course, it’s not always easy and my walk has certainly had its bumps, questions and doubts. But I can testify to the promise that Christ gives: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Hallelujah!

I seek God first now and no longer need to seek dubious opinion-leaders who might comfort me for a moment but will eventually let me down. I know myself better, because I know my creator better. And I’m excited to continue my walk in Christ, putting my trust in Him, knowing that He will provide and bring the good work he began in me to completion. (Philippians 1:6)