First Baptism

On May 18, 2008 we had our very first baptism service at Anchor Baptist Church. Of course, it was not without some labour. The baptismal is a very different kind of baptismal. It is built into the floor under the platform with access by a large heavy two-handled door. Because the church was without a pastor for quite some time the baptismal had not been cleaned in forever either. As a result, the water was dismal and dirty. It was filled with bugs on top of it all. So, my wife and I set to clean it. That Saturday morning we had led a man to the Lord who had commited to be at the services to be baptized the next day. Later that evening we figured we had better make sure the baptismal was in proper condition to have a baptism. After the determination was made to clean it we discovered several interesting other facts about the baptismal. It has no drain that operates independently. The drain only operates with a pump system which is also used to recirculate the pool. All the access to the drain and the recirculation valves are located underneath the church. So off I went to investigate and figure the system out, which I did in time. Unfortunately, since the pump only pulls out the water using about a 2 1/2 inch pvc pipe located inside the baptismal and the pipe doesn't go all the way to the floor all the water is not removed when you try and pump it out. And even when you are pumping it out, it is a slow process. Needless to say the only other option to remove all the dirt and grime was to scoop out the water by hand which Grace and I did. Once that was completed, then it was on to the actual cleaning. Finally after a long 5 hours we were finished cleaning and refilling the baptismal. The filling had to be done manaully also with a water hose. Oh the joys of a small country church!

Thankfully all the work paid off and our baptismal candidate attended church the next morning and submitted himself for baptism. His name is Leroy Smith and we had had the privilege of leading him to Christ the day before. He was so humble and said when I led him to the Lord that I had answered many questions for him about the Bible he had been having for some time.

One other thing of note was that the baptismal is heated by a plug in baptismal heater. We had plugged it in the night before, but had only left it on the halfway setting thinking it would get too hot. As a result the water was not like ice, but it wasn't really warm either. The weather thankfully was fairly warm and Leroy did not complain at all. Overall it went extremely well!