Bathtub Baptism!

While in college and pastoring a small church as a student pastor I was also in charge of a Christian Worker's Association (CWA) weekly service at a nursing home in east Nashville.  I was asked by an invalid man who was a resident there if I would baptize him.  After some questioning it appeared that he had no church family or any family member who ever visited him. The nursing staff confirmed that no one ever came to see him.

At the time, however, I had never baptized anyone before.  Although I had assisted in a few baptisms this was to be my first. The problem was that the man was physically unable to leave the nursing facility—the nursing staff assured me that he would not be able to leave under any circumstance.  His only church background had been with the Churches of Christ who teach that baptism is by immersion only, and that was the mode he insisted on having.

I would have gladly baptized him by sprinkling or pouring, but he was insistent that he had to be put under the water.  After discussing this among our C.W.A. workers who usually were with me and with the staff we decided upon a “bathtub baptism.”  The following Sunday we had a nurse fill a bathtub into which the man was placed.  The students and staff filled that little bathroom singing and praying as I immersed my first person!  He was happy and so were we.