Christina Dugdale wasn't sure what emotions she should be experiencing. Most people would be overjoyed watching their daughter get dunked and being baptized at such an early age. Her 10-year-old daughter Lauren had become a Christian several months earlier and for months now had been wanting to get baptized. One Sunday last month, Lauren decided this was the Sunday that she was going to do it—this was the Sunday where she would proclaim her faith and love for Jesus by taking the plunge and getting baptized. And so she did, with her two sisters, Julia and Maddie, along with a packed service of joyful onlookers at the 11:15 a.m. service. But as Christina watched her husband, Mark, dunk their daughter in front of hundreds of people, while there was a definite joy that was springing inside of her witnessing her daughter be baptized, there was also a feeling of sadness, a feeling most mothers don't have on the day her daughter gets baptized.

"I was just broken that morning, and Lauren turned around and said she wanted to get baptized." –Christina Dugdale

That morning before the service, Christina had got a phone call. Her heart stopped. Christina's grandfather George, the person who had guided her first steps toward Jesus, had passed away. The Dugdale family had come to church a few hours later, with somber hearts and minds fixated on other things. As the music started after the sermon and people began lining up to be baptized, Lauren decided this was it. This was the Sunday where she would finally proclaim to the world her faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized. "I was just broken that morning, and Lauren turned around and said she wanted to get baptized," Christina said. "It was pretty bittersweet just because [Grandpa George] planted that seed for me, and for that continuation from me into my kids was pretty special." While Mark was raised in a Christian home since an early age, Christina was not. Since her parents would not take her to church, Christina would stay with her grandparents George and Chris Nazarian on Saturday nights so she could attend church with them. They attended a Greek Orthodox church, and while it wasn't until later in life when Christina met her husband that she became a Christian, that heart transformation began with her grandparents taking her to church. "I totally attribute my grandparents for planting that seed," Christina said. "I think God is the ultimate one that determines that, but I think he was a major influence as far as planting a seed in my heart." Mark and Christina Dugdale have been attending Mars Hill Church for a while now, over six years to be exact. Together the couple has three daughters: Maddie, 12, Lauren, 10, and Julia, 9. Mark and Christina have been married for over 14 years. At church, it's never hard to spot the Dugdale clan. The four ladies are always with the strongest man in the room, a sort of Mars Hill Mr. Universe, if you will. Mark has been competing in body building competitions since he was 19 years old. For as masculine as pumping iron for hours each day is, being at Mars Hill has changed his view on what being a good father and husband entails. "Mars Hill dramatically changed my perspective on what it practically looked like to raise daughters," Mark said. "I owe a lot to Pastor Mark's preaching by just making the Scriptures practical."

"I don't think there is a better gift then getting to baptize your children and know that they love the Lord." –Mark Dugdale

The three young girls always sit with their parents during the service and listen to Pastor Mark's sermons. "They get a lot out of the sermon. Mark and I both feel there is nothing they can't hear. No matter what topic it is, we have them sit through it all. If it's in the Bible, we don't feel that it is beyond them, that we can have that discussion with them," Christina said. "For a very long time they have been sitting with us in the sermons and I think that's been great for their growth." Lauren was in second grade at Heritage Christian School when she made the decision to accept Christ as her personal Savior, as opposed to just going along with her parents' faith. "One day at chapel the speaker told us, 'When chapel is over I want you to go back to your classroom and ask God to give you a new heart, and if you don't feel like you’re ready then just pray,’" Lauren said. "And so I went back to the classroom and asked Jesus into my heart." After that day, she knew she wanted to be baptized. "I think it's awesome, because not all little sisters come to Christ," Maddie, who's also been baptized, said about her younger sister getting baptized." And it's good to know that when we all pass away, they are going to go where I am going to go, and where Mom and Dad are going to go." The baptisms are indeed a deep point of communion for the family. As Christina watched her husband dunk their daughter, she thought it was only fitting to see her daughter get baptized on the day that the man who played a part in Lauren's coming to know Christ went home to be with Jesus. "Every time I would see him he would be praying for these girls, for their safety and their health, just always in prayer for them," Christina said. "Especially in his last days, he would be in constant prayer for them." The girls' father, Mark, is right there for his daughters to pick up where their grandfather's legacy of prayer for the girls left off. "It's awesome as a father to see your daughters come to Christ at such a young age," Mark said. "Now I just have to pray that they keep moving forward and growing in their faith. I don't think there is a better gift then getting to baptize your children and know that they love the Lord." This story was written by Ballard intern Kevin Proctor.

Mark Dugdale was the 2004 Mr. USA. Here's a trailer for a documentary on him, his family, career, and faith called "Legacy":