Our 99th and ½ Baptism

A momentous occasion. In August, we launched our Church Planting Movement strategy. We had wondered who among our team members would be privileged to baptize the 100th believer. On Saturday, the 27th, Bro. Delfin texted me that there were five new believers to be baptized that day and asked if I would be the one to baptize them. Since new believers have a special bond with the one who baptizes them, I suggested to Bro. Delfin that it would be best if he was the one to baptize them.

He texted me back and insisted that I have the honor. Five new believers would bring our total baptisms to 99. That was exciting. So, on the morning of the 27th, I traveled 2 hours to a remote village along the coast. After doing some training for their church members, we conducted the baptism along the beach after lunch.

Just before we entered the water, I was told that one of the older ladies there decided she wanted to follow Jesus and be baptized. Wow, I thought, she would be our 100th baptism! But there was a problem. She was terrified of the water. She had grown up near the beach, but in all of her 86 years, she had never gotten in the water. After watching me immerse the other five, there was no way she was going to get into the water, even if Jesus told her! But she wanted to be baptized, somehow.

“Ma’am”, I suggested, “how about we just sit you down in the water and let a wave wash over you?

“Noooo,” she squealed, “I’m afraid of water. It will hurt. I can’t do that.” Well, I thought, she is 86. I don’t want to be responsible for a heart attack or nervous breakdown.

“What if we let you sit in a plastic chair in the water and I’ll pour a bucket of water gently over you?”

“Noooooo,” she squealed even louder, “the water will hurt me; it will hurt my eyes!” I quietly wondered if, in her 86 years, she had ever taken a bath. But I didn’t bring it up.

About then my theology began to crack. Baptists don’t do sprinkling, that’s why we are called Baptists. We do it like Jesus did. The symbolism is important. What would my seminary professors think? Surely Jerry Rankin would have me expelled from the mission board.

But in that remote village far away from civilization, I decided no one was looking. “Ma’am,” I reluctantly conceded, “what if I just get a cup of water and, while you sit right here, I’ll just pour it carefully over your hair (what little she had) and let it run down your backside.”

“Will it hurt?”

“No, Ma’am, it will not hurt.”

“OK.”

So there you have it. In the early afternoon of June 27th, I, Mark Moses, a Baptist missionary, conducted a baptism by sprinkling. I can’t believe I did it. I’ve been having nightmares of Jerry Rankin ripping off my missionary service pins and of my ordination being rescinded. Hannah suggested that maybe the Presbyterians would take me in. I wonder if God is going to bring it up when I enter heaven and my rewards, if any, are calculated. Even my teammates suggested it didn’t count as a whole baptism. Maybe she was the 99 ½ baptism?

Well, at any rate, we rejoice over every soul that has believed and demonstrated that obedience through baptism. We’ve had a lot of fun joking about my ½ baptism. I mean, a lot of fun…and joking. Right, Jerry?