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Soldiers Baptized in Historic Iraqi Monastery
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 16, 2005) - Thanks to U.S. Army Covenant Chaplain
Captain John Grauer, two soldiers who accepted Christ in Iraq were able
to be baptized in a 1,600-year-old monastery in this city that some
believe to be the ancient city of Ninevah.
Grauer is a former church planter at New Song Covenant Church who now
serves in the Army full-time. His wife, Tyra, is worship director at
First Covenant Church in Anchorage, Alaska.
When the soldiers sought to be baptized, Grauer knew he wanted them to
have an experience they would remember forever. "It would have been easy
to do the baptism in a chapel, but with so much history all around,
conducting the baptism in a place where other Christians have gathered
for centuries carried special significance," he says.
Conducting a baptism in Iraq isn't as easy as in the United States,
however. Like the earliest church, the baptisms were conducted in a
hostile environment. The soldiers and a Catholic priest who helped
officiate the baptisms were brought to the St. Behnam Monastery in
Strkyer vehicles, which are armored personnel carriers.
The monastery is a regular meeting place for Christians in the
Muslim-dominated area. Grauer arranged the service with the help of the
monastery's priest, Father Francis Djahola.
Djahola attended seminary in Mosul and had made his home there for more
than 20 years. When asked about an evangelical Christian performing a
baptism in a Catholic church, Djahola said, "Evangelical or Catholic, we
are Christians."
"In America it might be unusual to have an evangelical pastor conducting
a service in a Catholic church," says Grauer, "but on this day,
denomination played no part."
The baptism also was international in more than simply location. Grauer
led the service in English and Djahola translated in Syriac.
And so, in the midst of a battle zone, the soldiers were baptized into
the community of God.
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