Last July marked the first baptisms that resulted directly from the Escondido Adventist Church’s new netAdventist website (escondidosda.netadventist.org).

Greg and Juliet Gonzales and their three children were new to Escondido when they went online to search for a church in the spring of 2006. Juliet e-mailed Pastor Jon Ciccarelli asking what Adventists believe about baptism and christening. In response, he arranged to visit the family in their home.

He learned that the Gonzales family had no background whatever with Adventists. Using the Bible, he explained that Adventists dedicate babies rather than baptizing and christening them, and that biblical baptism is for those who have reached “an age of understanding” — the age at which a child or adult can intelligently choose to follow Jesus, understand the plan of salvation and the biblical doctrines that undergird it.

When he also realized that Greg and Juliet didn’t have a Bible — they were borrowing their 8-year-old daughter’s Bible — he gave them pocket Bibles he carries in his car and encouraged them to start reading for themselves. They did.

“They liked what they saw on our website. And, as we talked and studied, they said, ‘This is right. This is God’s leading,’” Ciccarelli noted. Sabbath was not an issue. They said, “It’s there; it’s in the Bible.”

About 30 friends and relatives attended Greg and Juliet’s baptism on Sabbath, July 15, providing the Escondido congregation an opportunity to become acquainted. The three Gonzales children were also dedicated to God, making it a high day for all.

“Having a website like this was a tool God could use to bring this family to into contact with us. It was God’s Spirit at work,” Ciccarelli stated.

After selling their church home last year to enter a building program, the Escondido congregation has been meeting in the academy gymnasium. “The website gives directions to our location and describes things we’re doing,” the pastor said.

He also praised the netAdventist web program because, “It’s so easy to keep updated. My two part-time secretaries are now webmasters. This frees me to post sermon podcasts and do ministry tasks.”

He also noted that a recent mass mailing from the church got no results, but the website has already brought baptisms. “The netAdventist website is a real blessing.”