[1]ST. LOUIS (BP)–Think the Internet is a solely tool of Satan? The Siddons family of St. Louis would disagree. In fact, they are pretty thankful for the Internet page of First Baptist Church of Lemay in St. Louis, because it’s where they met Christ.
Dave and Linda Siddons were browsing the Internet’s World Wide Web when they came across First Baptist’s page (http://welcome.to/fbclemay) and happened to link to the part that invites visitors to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Further exploring the First Baptist site, they came across pastor Jim Rice’s biographical sketch. Dave Siddons noticed that Rice was a member of the North American Hunting Club.
Rice recalled Dave Siddons’ reaction: “He saw that, and he said, ‘Well, we ought to try that church out, now that I have made this decision for the Lord. They sound like our kind of people.’”
On July 12, 1998, the Siddonses visited the church and went forward to talk to Rice during the invitation.
“When they came forward on a Sunday morning, I said, ‘Are you coming to accept Christ?’ Rice recounted. “And she [Linda Siddons] said, ‘I’ve already accepted Christ; I read how to on your webpage.’”
Rice later visited with the couple’s daughters, Sarah, then 14, and Kristen, then 11, and led them to Christ as well.
“Not only did I baptize the whole family together, but now her mother is attending church also,” Rice said. “And some of the other family members have visited from time to time.”
Rice said the family has been active in the church’s ministry. Dave serves as a trustee, Linda has been a Vacation Bible School worker, the girls are involved in the youth group’s missions projects and all four have volunteered at church cleanup days.
Rice said the Siddons’ experience caused the whole congregation — some of whom were unsure of the value of the website — to support the cyber-ministry wholeheartedly. “They realized that being on the Internet was definitely worth it.”