Voices: Not on the list, but in the Book

We planned to baptize 30 people in the Brazos River last Sunday night, but it wound up being 31, and the last one was not on my list.

Learning when to baptize

First Baptist Church of West has made river baptisms an annual tradition. We have learned a few things the hard way.

The first year, we held the river baptism in August, but it was too hot for the people standing on the bank.

A deacon pulled me over to the side and said, “You know this river is here in October, too.”

The next year, we held the baptism in late October, but the water was too cold for the people being baptized.

We figured out early October was just about right.

But last year, we held the service a little too early in the evening. So, the folks on the bank were looking right into the sun the whole time.

This year, we gathered on the evening of Oct.11 and began about half an hour before sundown. The weather was perfect, the water was surprisingly clear, and the setting was beautiful.

Getting ready to baptize

Before most of us got there, some of our deacons waded out into the river to get things ready. They found the best spot and talked through the safest way to get there and get back to the bank.

While they were working, a fisherman named Michael came floating down the river in his kayak. He stopped to find out what was going on. When he found out we were getting ready to hold baptisms, he told them he wanted to be baptized.

His was basically the same request made by the Ethiopian official in Acts 8. The official heard the gospel from Philip on a desert road, and when they came to some water, he said: “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36).

Michael said he had to go home and check in with his wife, but he would return in time for the service.

When we have a river baptism, I ask people to register ahead of time. Then, to make sure I don’t overlook anybody or get someone’s name wrong, I make a list I carry in a baggie, so it doesn’t get wet.

That evening, I was using my list to get everyone lined up when one of my deacons stepped up to introduce me to Michael. He had returned and was serious about getting baptized. I talked with him one-on-one and asked him plainly whether he was a follower of Christ.

Michael told me he believed in Jesus and had committed to follow him, but he had never gotten baptized and had drifted away from the Lord. He said he had recently “felt called” to be baptized. He just happened to come down the river on the very evening a church was standing in it.

Getting baptized

As our group walked out into the water, the church on the bank sang “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).”

Baptism is a picture of the gospel. Paul tells us what the picture means: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

It is hard to stand in a river and sing about chains falling off without feeling the power of that verse.

Michael was the last person baptized that night. As we concluded the baptisms, the congregation could see the sun setting on the other side of the Brazos, and they began to sing “How Great Is Our God.” After all we had just witnessed and experienced, the words of that song were more real to us than ever.

Being saved

On the way back to the bank, Michael mentioned his name was not on the list. One of the men helping me told him it didn’t matter: “Your name was not on the list, but it is in the Book.”

The Bible speaks of those “who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). That record has never depended on a pastor’s list in a baggie. Baptism does not put anyone’s name in the Book. It is our public response to what Christ has already done. Our list keeps track of who we expect to baptize. God’s Book keeps track of those who belong to him.

As we all walked up to a nearby house to clean up and change clothes, one of our deacons told me he had talked with Michael afterward. He had given Michael a way to stay in touch with the church. That was one of the most encouraging parts of the whole evening to me as a pastor. Michael was not left standing alone in the river. He was handed a path to follow Christ with God’s people, if he chooses to walk it.

I may never see Michael again. I think that is part of the story, too. After the Ethiopian got baptized, the Spirit carried Philip away, and the Ethiopian “saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39). Philip did not get to follow up. But the work was God’s, and the man went on rejoicing.

I do not know what Michael’s road looks like from here. I do know the God who sent Philip to a chariot in the desert is able to send a fisherman down a river at sundown.

John Crowder is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in West. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.