How/when/where were you baptized?
 

I thought it would be interesting if we just told about how we were baptized. One person that I know was baptized in a horse trough in Texarkana and wrote a song about it. You can see his video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THYwmbkaLQw


Some have been baptized in lakes and rivers or hut tubs or swimming pools. I was baptized in what looked like a wooden crate with a plastic liner. See next post.

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

I was not raised in a church. My mother was a member of the local Congregational Church in Union Grove, WI. She did not attend. She had us three boys baptized (sprinkled) in the parsonage in the fall of 1942 so I was almost almost 5 years old and my brothers were almost 3 and 2. We did go to Sunday School there for a little while till Mom got tired of the hassle we gave her when she tried to send us.

As a teenager around 16 or 17 I began to reach out toward the Lord. I got a copy of the Revised Standard Version Bible and began to read it. I read some Roman Catholic material but did not pursue it any further. On March 28, 1955 I attended evangelistic services at the local Baptist Church. I really don't remember who preached or what he preached on but after going home that night I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart. My life was radically changed. My language cleaned up immediately. I went back to that church on Wednesday night and testified for the first time in my life. I quit smoking and drinking, and I started going to that Baptist Church. I attended Sunday School, Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, youth meetings and Wednesday prayer and Bible Study. I started carrying my Bible to school with me and read it in Study Hall. People who knew me knew that something happened.

Through reading the Bible and through hearing some preachers on the radio, I began to realize that God had more available for me than what we were experiencing and practicing at that Baptist Church. This is not meant to put anyone down at that Church. Our pastor was a good man and there were some great Christians in that Church. They just did not believe that things like healing, speaking with tongues, etc were available in our day.

Some of us teenagers talked about maybe being more for us. One girl cried all the while we were talking and reported us to the pastor. He kindly told me later on the way to some Bible classes that those gifts had ceased when the written Word became available. I did not argue with him. Some time during this period a couple of the teen age guys from that church rode to Kenosha, WI with a girl who went to Sunday School at the Baptist Church and then to a morning service with her aunt at a Church of God (Cleveland, TN). I was not impressed with their service. To be fair, we got there after the worship and all we were there for was a long period of announcements and the sermon. The trip to the Church of God may have happened before or after my visit to Marshfield. I'm not sure of the chronology.

During the summer of 1955 our family went "up north" in Wisconsin for a week. We spent Saturday night and Sunday with my mother's aunt. About a block from her house there was a white, frame, two story house that had a sign out in front that said "Apostolic Church." When I asked my aunt what kind of a church it was she said she did not know but they got kinda loud at times. That was back in the days before most places were air conditioned.

I got up that Sunday morning and went to a Church of Christ. I'd never been to one before. It was a small congregation and the folks were nice. That night I walked over to the Apostolic Church and was contemplating going on in. I walked around the side and tried to see into one of the windows. I heard a voice saying, "Kinda nosey, aren't you?" A couple of teen age girls (if I remember right) had seen me. I walked over to them and talked to them. When I told them where I was from, they knew some people from our small town who went to a church in Racine called Bethel Tabernacle. I had been to that church a couple of times, once as a joke with a couple of teenagers, once as a child as part of a Sunday School contest (with the family the girl in Marshield knew) and once just to visit during a revival. Actually, the visit during the revival may have happened after the Marshfield visit --I'm not sure of the timing.

I went on into the church. The auditorium was the living and dining rooms on the first floor of the house. There was a small platform. I think Sis. Hardt led some singing and testimonies while she played her guitar and Bro. Hardt preached something about a fish in a net. I may have that service confused with the following week. After service, I went to the basement prayer room and sought God for the Holy Ghost Baptism. I did not receive the experience but prayed for maybe an hour.

Our family spent the rest of the week in a cabin on a lake. I don't remember where it was but it may have been Hayward. A couple of times I walked out into the woods and sought God for the Holy Ghost Baptism.

The following Sunday we were in Marshfield again staying with a different relative. I got up Sunday morning and walked to the Apostolic Church. I was there for Sunday School. Sis Hardt taught the teenagers. I think it was in the basement at a picnic table. I don't remember if there was a subsequent morning service or not. I spent the day with them. Like I said, I remember two children, Aaron and Sharon. That night after service I went to the prayer room and prayed again but did not receive the Holy Ghost Baptism.

I'm not 100 percent sure but I think I prayed both Sunday nights like I stated above.

In October, Tex Hansen, a neighbor and someone I actually went to school with for all of grades 1-8 and also 9-12, and the mutual acquaintance with the Marshfield girls invited me to a meeting at Elim Tabernacle in Milwaukee, WI. At that time I was still 17 and in the 11th grade. I think this was a District Conference or maybe it was a fellowship meeting. Elim Tabernacle was pastored by F.J. Ellis (no relation to me). After service I went to the altar (or maybe a prayer room) and was seeking the Holy Ghost Baptism. Tex asked me if I wanted to get baptized. I had been baptized that previous summer in a lake and had joined the Baptist Church. I had been reading some about baptism in Jesus' name but was not convinced it was necessary. I thought, "Well, I'll probably get baptized in Jesus' name some time or another so I may as well do it tonight." The baptistry looked like a wooden box with a plastic liner. A garden hose was used to fill it with enought water to cover me. I had to kneel in it and the baptizer purshed me over backward. I'm not sure if I was completely submerged or not. Bro. L.R. Mitchell had been the pastor of Bethel Tabernacle in Racine and was leaving to go to North Dakota as a home missionary. He was the one who baptized me.

A month or two later I began to attend Bethel Tabenacle. I did not drive or have a car so a couple different families who lived in Union Grove took turns bringing me to church. By then Bro. Lester Thompson was the pastor.

On May 20, 1956 I was baptized in the Spirit at Bethel Tabernacle. That following September I went to St. Paul, MN to the Apostolic Bible Institute. In the spring of 1957 I came to the Cincinnati area for the summer and have been here ever since. I have only been back to Bethel Tabernacle twice and that was years ago. That church building is no longer there. It had been replaced by a brick Baptist church some time. Some of the congregation that made up Bethel Tabernacle is now part of a church called True Life Ministries. Their web site is
http://truelifeministries.com/index.php?nid=93285&s=hm
I've never been there and since it is about 8 hours from where I live, I'll probably never get there.

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

Someone told me about an African American preacher who said,
"I'm the undertaker,
I take you under in Jesus' name."

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

Bro. Jimmy Russell baptized so many people in Ward's Creek in Madisonville, KY that people there called it Jesus' Name Creek.

Bro. Eugene Shafer baptized so many people in the Ohio River here in Cincinnati that people said, "Bro. Shafer has baptized so many people in the Ohio River that the catfish all know him by name." I heard that at his funeral and I heard that from someone else later.

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

This is from pages 46-49 of the book,The Coal Miner preacher.
It is an autobiography of Bro. Jimmy Russell

on Sunday afternoon we
had an hour program on WFMW that was called “The
Beams of Light.” We featured our choirs and other
singers. We ministered on the radio for about eight years.
One day as I was driving to Princeton for one of the
broadcasts I came to Ward’s Creek. Just as I crossed this
creek, I looked down at the water and the big tree leaning
out over the creek, the Lord spoke to my heart, “Tell them
on the radio that by faith you are coming to Ward’s Creek
for a baptizing under that leaning tree after the broadcast.”
I did not know of a soul to be baptized. Twice during
my radio message I told the listeners about the faith baptismal
service.

After the broadcast I got in my car and drove toward
the creek. There was a long hill that went down toward
the creek. When I crested the hill, I saw cars parked on
both sides of the road, and cars were parked out in the
field. I think some of them wanted to watch me make a
fool of myself when no one showed up to be baptized.
I parked near the top of the hill and walked down to
the creek. I was careful to go where the tree leaned over
the water as I felt the Spirit had directed me. I opened my
Bible and preached for nearly an hour, unaware that the
creek was filling up with folks behind me. They had
waded out ready for baptism.

I pitched my Bible to Brother Floyd Jackson and
counted sixteen people waiting to be baptized in Jesus’
name. I waded out into waist-deep water and baptized
them. What an enjoyable experience! It was a very special,
God-ordained baptismal service. I never once
entertained the thought that God would let me down.
When my wife heard the broadcast at home, she
remarked, “I’m not worried. Someone will get baptized.”
My friend, Richard Sisk, heard my faith baptismal announcement
and told his wife, “I’m going over there to
see if anyone comes to it.” He had not been baptized in
Jesus’ name and had wrestled with the issue. On the way,
he told the Lord that if Brother Russell mentioned water
to him, he’d take that as a confirmation and get baptized.
He chose an obvious word and made it easy! All he
needed at that time was a nudge.

As I climbed up on the bank, Brother Sisk was standing
nearby. I reached up and shook his pant leg and said,
“Brother Sisk, the water’s wet.”
It stunned him. I had used his special word! He
quickly ran to his car and took off for Madisonville as fast
as the law would allow.
I stayed at the creek, feeling that Brother Sisk would
be back. I walked up the hill where my car was parked
and sat down in the front seat with my feet out on the
ground. I was still basking in the enjoyment of the
unusual baptismal service. I sat there for quite awhile.
Several cars turned off the road, and Brother Sisk’s
car was in front of them. He’d gone home to get a change
of clothes. It gave me a lot of pleasure to baptize my
friend in Jesus’ name just as the believers did all through
the Book of Acts. Three thousand people were baptized
on the Day of Pentecost. My tally for the day seemed
small by comparison, but it was growing. The night I was
baptized, ninety-six were baptized.

After Brother Sisk was baptized, a fellow kept hanging
around. He started ranting about how wrong it was to use
Jesus’ name in baptism. Evidently, like Brother Sisk, the
man had been in a tug-o-war frame of mind over Jesus
Name baptism and chose to verbally oppose me. He got
all worked up into a high pitch.

As he stepped on some moss-covered rocks at one shallow
part of the creek, intending to cross to the other side, he
fell, and a sharp rock punctured his arm. He held his arm,
and his face contorted in pain. A big knot formed on the arm.
I asked him, “What were you saying about Jesus’
Name baptism awhile ago?”

He admitted, “I don’t know if I believe it or not.”
I told him, “Follow me into the creek, and I’ll baptize
that knot away.”
He became childlike. “Do you believe that God would
heal me if you baptize me?”
“Yes, sir, I sure do,” I said. I led him into the water,
baptized him, watched him stand there and clap his
hands. The knot was gone, and God had won the
tug-o-war battle.

When the faith baptismal service was over, twenty-two
people had been baptized. As I drove home, a contented
sigh escaped my lips. “Isn’t God good?” What a pleasant
way to spend an afternoon—preaching and baptizing!
There were thirty-five people in the Princeton church
when I began pastoring. God added to the church in the
twenty months I was there, and there were 135 in attendance
when I left.

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

Where - in the church baptismal tank
When - July, 1967
How - In Jesus name

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

I wasn't raised in the church either.

In my early 20's I was invited to a bible study and after several weeks baptized into the titles.

After several weeks the bible study happened to be visited by an Apostolic gentelman sharing Acts 2:38 with some of the group in a discussion. Some of us broke into a smaller study group and about 2 months later visited an Apostolic church and was baptized in Jesus name and filled with the Holy Ghost. It was 1995.

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

This is a baptism which took place last night in the new church sanctuary of a home missions church in Ruston, LA. I received an email today from Ron who is an assistant pastor there. He said the person came up out of the water speaking with tongues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgbkkQorHw

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

March of 62 Elder Jimmy Russell baptized me in Jesus Name. I have been to Ward's creek. I was not baptized there.

Re: How/when/where were you baptized?
 

March 21, 1975 at Faith Apostolic in Jesus' name by my dad, Floyd Reading.