Joshua's Dedication

Joshua was dedicated at our church on Father's Day. Our parents came out to support us in this. The pictures were taken by our buddy Mike. You can check out more of his great photography at www.Riverhomephotography.com Thanks for the great pictures!

So before I tell you about the dedication ceremony, I thought I'd give a quick overview of what baby dedication is. Basically, our church does baptism for people once they have decided to give their life to Christ. In the Bible, it talks about people repenting of their sins and being baptized. Baby dedication is an opportunity for parents to proclaim their desires to raise their child in Biblical truth and to know the Lord. Hopefully Joshua will be baptized one day when he accepts Christ's free gift of grace & salvation.


We decided to have our own little ceremony so our friend Cliff could dedicate Joshua. Cliff is the head-honcho for the International Group we work with on campus.

Our friend Brandon played a little diddy for the occasion. ("Only You" by David Crowder) Friends Chris, and Laura & Chance read scripture (Proverbs 3:1-12 and Joshua 1:8-9).

The ceremony was in our church's prayer chapel-this is a shot of the group making their commitment to support us. A tradition at our church is that the father's says a prayer for their child. I thought I'd share Kurt's sweet prayer:

"Father in Heaven, we recognize you as the one true God and creator of all things. Joshua truly is a gift from you and we are grateful for the opportunity to offer him up to you today. We also know that we can not raise Joshua well without your guidance.

"Despite our best efforts, we know that we can not give salvation to Joshua or that he can earn it on his own. We are thankful that you sacrificed your only Son on our behalf, so that we may have the opportunity to live forever in heaven with you. We are grateful that your Scriptures are rich with wisdom and that the Holy Spirit guides and directs. We are grateful for our families that have surrounded and supported us even from afar. As far as our Austin family, we are amazed at the community you have raised up around us and we are thankful for their friendship.

"Lord God, you have blessed Joshua richly with an abundance of joy. It is infectious to see his smile, to hear his laughter, and to know that he already brings joy to others. You have answered our prayers for health and even good sleep. Joshua is also more beautiful that we could have ever imagined.

"We pray that Joshua would accept your free gift of salvation at a young age and that he would be of great service to your kingdom. As Joshua from the Old Testament was a mighty man of God, we pray that Joshua Leighton would also be a mighty man of God. We pray that you would be the center of his focus for all of his days and that you would bless him with great health throughout his life. We ask for wisdom as parents in letting go of our desires and enjoying your will for Joshua's life. We ask for discernment in the difficult times of raising and disciplining Joshua. We pray that Joshua would continue to exhibit much joy as he grows in wisdom and stature.

"Lord God, we ask all of these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen. "



Afterwards, we had a reception in the courtyard, under the big oak trees. It was fun-thanks for coming out ya'll!

Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to wake Joshua up from a nap for the occasion. Hence, blank stares and no smiles for the camera.