"The shoreline was the very first sanctuary. That's where Jesus walked and talked and taught his followers." - Pastor David Tucker
A large spring water-filled former quarry in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Pennyroyal Scuba Center is well known for helping scuba divers with training and certification. But now, there's a new feature on the complex, Scuba Church. This isn't exactly like the shoreline Jesus taught along, but the comparison is right on-target.
"We actually did some baptisms out of that quarry as a church. And as we did that, several of the instructors and divers were coming up from their dives as we were doing the baptisms. And they all began to join us in the service, but literally in the water. They just floated around while we were doing the baptisms. And it was just a wonderful, wonderful day and everybody was rejoicing. And my deacon came to me later and said, 'Hey, a lot of these folks, they don't get to be at church when they're having to get their certification because it's usually a two-day process that takes place.' And so he said, 'Is there a way that we could provide church and worship and spiritual encouragement to the folks who were coming in?' And I said, 'Certainly.'...'There's no reason that we can't provide spiritual encouragement to anybody that we meet in any place that they're at. I mean, that's the job of the church. That's the entire reason we exist.' And so that's what we did," shares Pastor Tucker.
Nitrogen Detox
When divers come up, there's a required process to remove nitrogen from the body, and that means divers have some time on their hands.
"And in that time period, they're checking equipment, they're going over rules, policies, things they're supposed to be learning and certification. But also there's a guy that sells barbecue while they're there. There's an entire community that kind of builds up in and around this. And so we have this opportunity in that time period when they're above water to be able to share the gospel with them. And so we go down and we hand out flyers and tell them we're going to have a Scuba Church service. And we run them about 15 minutes at a time knowing that they have other things they're going to need to do in that hour, but they're going to be taking 15, 20 minutes to be with us. And so that's what we do. And as we do that, we have just met folks from all over.
And so it's an opportunity for us to be able to share with those who need that spiritual encouragement. (Maybe) they already know Christ, but they get a boost from having other believers around them, encouraging them, or they might be somebody that has never met Christ and we will have the opportunity to share it with them. To be honest with you, Richard, this is our first time doing this. We're roughly about a month and a half in and we are learning as we go. This is something that, surprisingly, I was never taught at seminary," he smiles. "So I'm learning this process as we go and it's exciting, it's fun, and I have yet to meet anyone who was at all put off or dismayed by us being there."
In our complete podcast interview with Pastor Tucker, he uses the nitrogen detox as a comparison to how everyone on earth needs a 'sin detox,' and God has provided a definite way!
(Richard asks) So you sent us a copy of the brochure for Scuba Church, and the title was Dive Into Truth. How did you come up with that?
(Pastor Tucker) "So the concept of diving into the truth was the simplest way I knew to say that all we want to do is share the gospel. A lot of times we get wrapped up when we start talking about church and we do have Scuba Church on our shirts. But folks, when they think of church, they think of buildings, they think of denominations, they think of institutions, they think of all the stuff that comes along with it. But the truth is - the shoreline was the very first sanctuary. That's where Jesus walked and talked and taught his followers. And so any place is a church when Jesus in the middle of them and those who have come have come to follow him. And so we just wanted to say, 'Hey, we want to share truth with you. That's all we're here to do. We're not looking to try to get somebody into a particular church or particular denomination or particular this or that.'
All we want to do is share the gospel. And the gospel's so simple. And I'm so grateful that it is. One of the things that's been a mark of my life has been the fact that I've needed it to be simple. Because as I've gotten complicated in the way that I handle things, it's so good to have God call me back to the simplicity of the gospel. Romans 10: nine and 10, 'If you believe, if you confess,' Paul gives it in four words, 'You shall be saved.' No strings attached, no fine print, no contracts to sign. There's no warranty period. We're given the Spirit as a guarantee. And Paul says He's good to the very end. So I love the fact that it's that simple. And when my life gets complicated, one of the things that I love about the truth is that it's so simple.
All I have to do is go back to it and remember, 'You know what? This doesn't work within church politics or this isn't working within your culture or this isn't working, but the one thing that does work is that gospel. It's that simple truth that Jesus saves.' And so that's kind of where that name came from or where that title came from. I was trying to think up the simplest way to tell folks why we were there. And that seemed like obviously a play on words - dive into the truth, but that's where it begins. You just take that plunge with Christ and you find out all the amazing things that he has waiting for you."
Pastor Tucker's primary role is lead pastor at Second Baptist Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. And he reminds us, "And it doesn't matter where you are. If your eyes and ears are open for God to use you and for you to hear God speak, I promise you, you can find him at scuba lessons, you can find him at rollercoasters, you can find him anywhere."
Listen to our full podcast interview with Pastor Tucker, who shares the powerful, yet simple, message of 'forever with Christ.'
