Baptism

When Shandle Riley was stopped outside the home of her ex-mother-in law late at night for a traffic infraction, it’s possible she might’ve silently prayed for deliverance. But surely, she didn’t expect what happened next.

Deputy Daniel Wilkey found marijuana during the traffic stop. But Wilkey also told Riley that God was talking to him. In addition to citing her for possession of a controlled substance, Wilkey told her that she wouldn’t go to jail if she agreed to be baptized. Not by a pastor at a local church, but by Wilkey himself. At his prodding, Riley went inside to get some towels saying, “I guess I’m fixing to get baptized.” They drove to nearby Lake Soddy, where Wilkey baptized Riley, who remained fully clothed as she was submerged in the water. Another deputy, Jacob Goforth, witnessed the event and recorded footage on his phone.

Riley later filed suit against Officers Wilkey and Goforth. During her deposition, Riley testified of the baptism, “it had nothing to do with God ... or being a good person.” Rather, “it had something to do with power and control.”

Back in 2019, a judge dismissed the claims against Goforth, but still allowed the rest of the suit to proceed. Judge McDonough said, “No government interest is furthered by the baptism of a detainee by an on-duty law-enforcement officer.”

Riley died from an accidental drug overdose in April of 2022. However, Riley’s attorney said that her case will still go forward. The attorney said, “Baptism by a police officer in the line of duty, in exchange for leniency in a criminal case is beyond the pale.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Authority figures who exploit the vulnerable in the name of Christ bring dishonor to the faith.

It was one of the worst days of 23-year-old Brenton Winn’s life. But it paved the way for one of the best. He was angry at God after he relapsed from an addiction to methamphetamines. Winn knew nothing about Central Baptist Church of Conway, Arkansas, when he broke in that evening. High on drugs, Winn went on a rampage and destroyed $100,000 of church property.

Six months later Winn was baptized at Central Baptist. He said, “As I’m starting to understand how God works, I’ve realized I didn’t pick the church that night. God picked me. If it had been any other church, I think I’d be sitting in prison right now.”

Winn’s journey from a jail cell in February to a baptismal pool in September began when Central Baptist senior pastor, Don Chandler, talked to the prosecutor. Chandler knew the godly response to Winn would be to offer forgiveness rather than judgment.

Chandler said, “You can’t preach grace for 50 years without practicing it, especially in front of your whole church …This was a young man who had made some mistakes. He was on drugs and alcohol when he did what he did. But he was redeemable.”

Chandler told the prosecutor that the church would like to see Winn get help with Renewal Ranch, a faith-based residential recovery ministry. The judge, who at the time had been a board member of Renewal Ranch, gave Winn the option. He could either go to jail, potentially for 20 years, or he could voluntarily choose to go to Renewal Ranch. Winn chose Renewal Ranch.

Winn accepted Christ as his Savior after one of the Bible studies at Renewal Ranch. Winn and other ranch residents attend church at Central Baptist on Wednesday evenings. Winn chose to be baptized at the church on one of those Wednesday nights.

Winn said. “I gave my heart to Christ. I used to think it was a coincidence [that I chose to break into the church], but now I call it confirmation that God is real, and he answers prayers. I needed a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

While our life story will be different, what is true for this young man is true for every one of us. God is still working a beautiful story of grace in every one of our lives.

On Christmas Day the Chicago Tribune ran a frontpage story titled, “At Christmas, a rebirth.” The story said, in part:

Su Zhu Yuan thought Americans celebrated Christmas as part of their patriotic duty. Relatives gave gifts. Neighbors prepared feasts. Storefronts in Chinatown advertised sales. But during her eight years in the United States, no one told her the biblical story behind Christmas--until this year. On Sunday, Yuan celebrated the birth of Jesus for the first time by immersing herself in the baptismal waters at Chinese Christian Union Church. She emerged a newborn Christian. “I have peace in my heart and joy,” the 41-year-old seamstress said through a translator. “I’m giving the heavy burdens to Jesus.”

On Sunday, Yuan donned a white gown and with bare feet ascended a narrow staircase to the church's baptismal pool. Gripping the pastor's arm with both hands, she let him plunge her into the water. As she resurfaced, she wiped the water from her face and smiled. She said, “Today is like a holiday. It's like having two Christmases.”

Two years ago, Chris Simpson led a white pride march. Six months ago, he abandoned the white supremacist movement. This past April, he was baptized.

Simpson, a 38-year-old garbage man and former Marine with "PURE HATE" tattooed across his knuckles, was consumed with hate.

"Hate will blind you to so many things," says Simpson. "It will stop you from having so many things. It consumes you."

After the loss of his first child, Simpson had a lot of hatred and anger built up inside. The white pride movement gave Simpson a place to direct his anger and frustration—at people of other races.

Things began to change, however, during a family trip to Walmart. One of his children looked down an aisle, then up at Simpson and said, "Daddy, you can't go down that aisle. There's a n_____ down there."

"It was time to make a change for them, "Simpson said of his children. "I don't want them following that path."

After he and his family watched the movie Courageous, Simpson began attending church. One month later he was baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ.

"Any kind of burdens I carried before, I let them go." Simpson added, "There's no need to carry things that happen in the past. I forgave all those who wronged me and asked forgiveness from those that I have wronged."

Simpson has left hate behind. He's even going through the Freedom Ink Tattoo removal program—starting with the word HATE.

Asian Access (or A2), a Christian missions agency in South Asia, listed a series of questions that some church planters have been asking new believers who are considering baptism. (Due to safety concerns, Asian Access does not mention the country's name.) The country is predominantly Hindu, but over the past few decades Christianity has grown in popularity—especially among poor and tribal peoples. The following seven questions serve as a reality check for what new followers of Jesus might experience if they decide to "go public" with their decision to follow Christ:

1. Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
2. Are you willing to lose your job?
3. Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
4. Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?
5. Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
6. Are you willing to go to prison?
7. Are you willing to die for Jesus?

The seven questions serve as a sobering reminder for all Christians from every continent of what it might cost us to follow Jesus. These questions also help Western Christians identify with the threats faced by our brothers and sisters from other countries as they seek to follow Christ.

Editor's Note: This illustration was revised on 9-19-13.

In his sermon "A God Who Redeems," Philip Griffin writes:

During the early days of our church plant in Texas we were baptizing lots of people so we brought in a small indoor swimming pool. There were about 30 people who were planning to be baptized. But just before the service we realized that we didn't have a hose. We had a leaky one at home, so I asked other staff members, but no one had a hose. So I decided to go buy one.

As I was leaving to get the hose, a guy named John stopped me and said, "I'm glad I caught you, pastor. I need to talk to you." I tried to have a conversation with him as I kept aiming for my car, but he said, "No, I need to talk in private." So when we got to my office, he said, "I want to know if you're for real." I had been talking about how God says to each and every one of us that there is nothing we can do or say to make him not love us. He doesn't always love our behavior, but he loves us. So I told John, "Absolutely, it's for real." He said, "Well, I'm struggling with homosexual desires and behavior. I'm in and out of gay relationships. I understand what the Bible says, and I want to do what God wants me to do—but I'm losing this battle. Several months ago, I tried to go to another church, but when I came clean with my struggles, they told me never to come back again. So I want to know if you're for real."

We stayed and talked, and I connected him with a ministry that helps people battling same-sex attraction. I also connected him with one of our church's small groups, which ended up embracing him. Before he left my office, he said, "Now I want to tell you one more thing." At this point I'm thinking, I'm not going to have time to get the hose. "When I pulled into the parking lot today, I wasn't aiming my car in this direction. I was going to kill myself." When I asked John if he had a plan for ending his life, he said, "Yes, I did. It was already in motion. I went to the hardware store and bought a garden hose earlier today, and I bought some duct tape. My plan was to drive down this little rural road and tape the hose to my muffler and feed it into my car window." I said, "John, for real, you bought a hose?"

I got a glimpse of redemption that day. I saw John cross the line of faith and let Christ put his feet on a different path. And I saw God take something that was intended for death—that hose—and use it to fill up something that means life—the baptismal pool. From then on we told that story every time we did baptisms in that church.

In 1993, Lt. Col. Gary Morsch joined the Army Reserves as a doctor to care not only for U.S. soldiers, but also for wounded civilians and prisoners of war. In 2005, as a part of the war in Iraq, he was called up to serve as the field doctor for a battalion near the Iranian border. In an article for Today's Christian, he shares a story of something that happened on the last day of his tour of duty:

The Saturday before I left Iraq was one of the most amazing days of my life. I was scheduled to see patients and make rounds at the POW camp, and I asked the chaplain to join me. I wanted to say goodbye to the prisoners. Many of these Muslims had become Christians, and they had been asking for a baptismal service.

The chaplain suddenly decided to conduct a simple service. The POWs gathered their water bottles, and we pulled a cot out of one of the tents, setting it in the middle of the compound. One by one, the POWs sat on the cot and leaned back while we poured water over their heads and baptized them in the name of Christ. We baptized about a dozen that day.

During the baptisms, we asked each man if he wished to take a Christian name. One man asked me to write down each of the apostles' names so he could choose one. Another prisoner, named Afshin, asked me to suggest a name. I suggested James, the brother of Jesus, and told him that my father and brother are named James. Since my family name was on my uniform, Afshin asked about Morsch as well.

The chaplain asked me to baptize Afshin. I asked my friend what name he wished to take. He said, "I wish to take the name James Afshin Morsch." With tears in my eyes, I poured water onto his head, baptizing my Muslim friend into the fellowship of Christ. After our baptismal service, James pulled me aside and told me it was an Iraqi tradition to give a good friend a gift. He slowly slipped a ring off his hand.

"This is my wedding ring," he said. "I haven't seen my wife in many years, and I probably will never see her again. I'd like to give it to you."

I was stunned.

"No, James, you must keep it," I eventually said. "Someday you will see your wife again."

"No, I want you to have it," he said, as he pressed the ring into my hand.

We hugged and said a tearful goodbye, and then I walked out of the POW compound. It was time to return home.

I left on a plane full of wounded soldiers. The airstrip was under attack even as we taxied for takeoff. But I was at peace. God had brought me to Iraq to serve soldiers, civilians, and the enemy. But I saw that those categories are meaningless before God. He loves them all, and calls us to serve them all.

Missionaries Ilir and Kate Cami write:

For some years we have worked with a ministry to refugees in Athens, Greece. Athens is part of the "Refugee Highway," where people from around the world pass through on the road to a better life. In May 2006, one of the missionaries in Athens, Kallie Skaife, reported what happened to an Iranian man identified as "M."

In 2003, everything "M" knew was destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7.45 on the Richter scale. He was tortured by the question of why something like this would happen. "M" went to live with relatives in Afghanistan, was married, and had a daughter. But he was still filled with despair.

Leaving his family behind, "M" headed west and ended up in Athens, staying with more relatives. Though he and all his family were Muslim, "M" became interested in Christianity, finding himself strangely moved by the sight of the crosses he saw decorating the Orthodox churches in the city. "M" was given a Bible and started reading. Since his relatives forbade such a thing, "M" used a tiny flashlight to read during the night after his uncles were asleep.

He studied the Bible this way for two years. Finally, "M" realized God was calling him to be born again. He contacted the refugee ministry center, declaring his faith in Christ and asking for more information.

On Sunday, May 7, 2006, "M" set his alarm for 6 a.m. He wanted to spend time reading his Bible and praying that morning, because on that day he was to be baptized at a fellowship with other Iranian believers. But "M's" cousin had discovered the plan. Before "M's" alarm went off, the cousin boiled water in a saucepan and poured it on "M" while he slept, scalding both thighs and one arm.

"M" came to the baptism anyway. Standing before those gathered, the burns on his arms clearly visible, "M" declared, "No matter what they do to me, I will love Jesus."

After the baptism, "M" said he felt like standing in the center of the city of Athens and shouting to everybody, "I belong to Christ!"