McDONOUGH, Ga. — Beaming smiles. Hands raised in praise. Happy tears streaming down radiant faces.
Those are moments Mary Catherine Conner looks for when new believers come up from the baptismal waters.
With the click of a camera, the Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church communications director captures instances of euphoria. Tiny rivulets cascading off ears and elbows are frozen in time. So are those toothy grins that just can’t be held back.
In just the past month, Conner has photographed 55 baptisms at Eagle’s Landing. Twenty-seven of those were last Sunday alone.
“It’s a beautiful thing to be able to capture the joy and the outward expression of what the Lord has done inwardly,” she said. “It’s always a special moment, a special memory for them to hold onto.”
Eagle’s Landing lead pastor Trea Brinson lives for such moments, too.
“You look around and you see all these tears of joy,” Brinson said. “You see people standing, shouting, giving all glory to God.”
Eagle’s Landing, on the southside of the sprawling Atlanta metropolitan area, serves one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the nation. At last count, 146 languages were being spoken in the metro area.
The love of Christ, Brinson said, bridges all those cultures.
“We have been very, very intentional about reaching the entire community,” he said. “People from our church are out there sharing their faith, and people are coming to Christ as a result.”
Matt McKinney, connections pastor at Eagle’s Landing, said the Lord has been blessing the church with many new believers.
“The baptisms are a real testimony of what God is doing in the hearts of our people,” he said. “Our church has a real love for people and our community. Our people are very inviting.”
McKinney said Sunday was a special day for the church, seeing so many people baptized in a single service.
“We remind our people that baptism isn’t the finish line, that it’s the starting line,” he said. “We are entering into an apprenticeship with King Jesus. Through that apprenticeship, we’re learning from Him, as disciples, how to live and to love together.”
Brinson said baptism allows believers to speak boldly that they belong to Jesus.
“If you want to follow Jesus, and you want the world to know you’re following Christ, if you want to go public with your faith, then baptism lets you do that.”
And Conner, who also owns Mary Catherine Photography, allows them to share the emotion of the moment on social media and beyond.
For her, it's a labor of love.
“I shoot hundreds of photos at every baptism,” she said. “I’ve literally shot many thousands of baptism photos.”
