When Connie Batiuk became good friends with Jeff Strait, she tried to think of a good way to introduce him to her church, the Stevensville Seventh-day Adventist Church. Since the first Sabbath of each month Stevensville has an evening concert, and since Strait likes music, she thought a concert could be just the perfect first step.

Strait loved the concert and felt very much at home in the church with the other concert goers. When the idea of having a cowboy camp meeting at Stevensville began to unfold, he stepped right in and helped with the advertising and the logistics. He greatly contributed to the success of the camp meeting.

As the summer wore on, Strait began studying with Barry Curtis, Stevensville Church pastor, and Ken Reiber, church elder, before prayer meeting each Wednesday evening. On one such evening in October, Strait met Reiber at the door with a blank baptismal certificate in his hand and said, “Ken, I’m ready.”

During his baptism, Pastor Curtis read from Col. 2:12, “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” Strait was truly buried and raised to new life and now walks with his Lord.