twins_60203

Posted: 5/30/03

Born together, baptized together,
82-year-old blind twins open eyes

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS–They were together at birth, and yet again at the baptism ceremony symbolizing their rebirth 82 years later.

Margie Beryl Hejkal and her twin brother, Ross Meryl Barnes, recently were baptized at Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Cliff in Dallas.

Pastor Ted Kiser had Barnes put his arm around his sister's shoulder and the pair, both blind, were baptized simultaneously.

“We dunked them together,” Kiser said. “My wife and I were baptized together, and it just makes it real special. All through my ministry I've given husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and such that option.”

The simultaneous spiritual soaking is sometimes especially meaningful for young married couples, Kiser said. “That way when they have a time when they may feel like leaving, and most people do at one time or another, it gives them a memory that's a little more special that may help them get through whatever it is they're going through,” he said.

Hejkal first came to the South Dallas church through the encouragement of her neighbor and friend Dolly Wisdom. Hejkal told Wisdom that while she had been in and out of churches for most of her life, she wasn't sure she was a Christian.

During the altar call at the next Sunday's worship service, she told Kiser the same thing.

“I told her: 'If you've been saved, you're still saved. If you're not saved, let's go through the plan of salvation while the Holy Spirit is dealing with you.'”

Hejkal made a profession of faith that morning and plans were made for her baptism.

After she returned home, she called her brother at his home in Tulsa, Okla. “Well, he caught the next plane down,” Kiser reported. “He told her, 'You're not going to do this by yourself.'”

His sister didn't know what to do about the situation. She called Kiser and said: “We may have a problem. My brother's coming down here, and he thinks he's going to be baptized.”

Kiser didn't see that as a problem, but as an opportunity. He presented the gospel to Barnes, who also made a profession of faith in Christ, and the way was paved for a baptism neither Kiser nor his congregation soon will forget.

“It was really something special,” Kiser said. “Their being 82 was awesome, then twins, and both being blind. It's just a very unique situation.”

The pastor said the pair were by far the oldest people he has baptized.

And the experience was an eye-opener for his congregation as well, he said. “Somehow there's this thought that everybody past 70 is saved, but that's not the case.”