DAY TOM ROSE AGAIN

CITY pastoral adviser Sue Baynes baptised Mayor Tom Tate in 2018, in a major public event leading up to the Commonwealth Games.

Mr Tate could have had the ceremony at his private pool or the beach, but chose the lake at Evandale near council chambers because this was to be a “baptism for the city”.

He had endured a cancer scare and the pain of seeing his wife Ruth suffer a severe heart attack – the baptism was partly a result of realising his own mortality.

“(The baptism was) to let the world know I love Christ and in doing so, that the spirit of awakening for our city also comes through,” he said, after the ceremony. “I mean, I know the Lord was on the same journey (with me during cancer) and I had the sense there was more (for me) to do. So this is the way of going, ‘Well Lord, before I get into round two, you know, give me more energy’ and that’s what this is about.”

Ms Baynes told the crowd: “He has a beautiful swimming pool in his home and it could have been done very privately and he said ‘No, there’s a lake where we are meeting for Easter and that’s where I want to do it’.

“He’s been praying and reading his Bible and he is confident this is the step that Jesus wants him to take today.”

Ms Baynes, in an Evangelism in Australia podcast, recalled how she met Mr Tate before he became mayor when, as a candidate, he reached out to all pastors in the city.

Of her role, she said: “I do this because I love the Lord. I love this city. And believe God has great things for the Gold Coast.”