By: Shelby Pruitt

I had just picked him up to take him to Sunday Morning Worship.  That was when he asked the question from the back seat…”Pastor Shelby, can I get baptized today?” This was going to be an exciting conversation. 

I asked him why.  “Because I’m ready, and I want to be baptized, today!”   I told him I couldn’t baptize him that day, but we could talk about it,  He asked why not, reiterated that he was ready, he believed, and he loves Jesus. He wanted to be baptized before worship. Then he began to tear up.  A love for the Lord, an intense desire to be obedient in baptism, and tears!   Look out river, here we come!  But I have had many conversations with him.  I know his tendency to emotions and spontaneity.  So I asked him why it had to be today, why he couldn’t wait? He said that if he wasn’t baptized today,  then he couldn’t “have the Lord’s Supper”.  He wanted to be able to take the Lords Supper with the church. 

Aha, turns out it was my wife’s fault.  Not really, but she had been teaching her Sunday School class about the meaning of the ordinances.  That baptism is very important, but doesn’t save, nor make one savable.  She taught them the meaning and importance of the Lord’s Supper, and that it should only be taken by those who are baptized.  I could see a nine year old wanting to participate, but to be crying over an oyster cracker and some juice seemed a bit much.

It turns out that he had confused the Lord’s Supper with the meal we were having after worship.  His nine year old mind had figured out that if he wasn’t baptized, he would have to sit there (stomach rumbling) and watch us eat. When I explained the difference his tears dried up, he was smiling, and asked what we were having for lunch.  I’ve wondered how many pastors would have baptized him without further investigation.  He said many of the right words. 

It is easy to get baptisms if we want to.  I’ve had many children ask to be baptized. I’ve had parents ask me to baptize their children.  Our church ministers to children in some nearby apartments, and this past year I could have easily baptized 20-30 children without even trying, imagine the potential if I would have tried to enticed them to be baptized. Several have told me they were baptized in other churches, but they want to be baptized at our church. One little girl thinks she was baptized, but cannot remember for sure.

There is a girl who has asked on several occasions, but I’ve not baptized her. We show her love and minister to her with both grace and truth. She does have many personal issues, but has not demonstrated repentance or faith. She stopped coming for several weeks. When she showed back up, she told us she had been baptized at another church. I don’t doubt that. I’m sure she is now a statistic in that church’s annual report… another child who has “made a decision”.

There is an effort to raise baptism numbers, an effort that I do not believe is God honoring.  When the only consistently growing age group for baptisms in the past 30 years is five and under we have jumped off the credobaptist rails. Our job isn’t to get young children (who are eager to please)  to say that right words and then immerse them as another number. Our job is not just to get them wet, but to call sinners to repentance and faith in Christ and Christ alone. Our effort should be to get the gospel to the lost, to see those who are dead in sins be regenerated. New creations in Christ will want baptism, along with membership, discipleship, accountability, and service for Christ. And that is when the truly hard work of discipleship begins. But we don’t want to be a stumbling block to children by confusing them with a pre-conversion “believer’s baptism”. 

As pastors we’ve been called to an awesome and glorious mission. We are “under shepherds” serving the Good Shepherd who has allowed us the “privilege to participate in the process” (thank you Bill Faye for the great alliteration). We are not called to be novel, or creative, or even enticing, and certainly not manipulative..  We are called to be faithful. James tells us “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” James 3:1 ESV .  The author of Hebrews wrote “… leaders … are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” Hebrews 13:17 ESV.  This verse is a sobering warning for every pastor. 

I’m afraid that when the time to give an account is at hand, when our works are tested by fire…many of our numbers (baptisms, attendance, membership rolls, and CP giving) will be consumed like chaff.. To be clear, these are all good things, but should not be our focus. These things should be the natural result of a God glorifying focus on Christ and His gospel.

By the way, that young man is now 10, and is memorizing scripture, catechism questions, and hymns.  He can intelligently answer questions for me that I believe many adults would struggle with. He really does show remorse when I have to call him down, or point out his sins. None of this is warrant for baptism. I am looking for genuine repentance because he has sinned against and disappointed a thrice holy God, not remorse for disappointing me or others. I am looking for true faith, an all-in trust in Christ alone for salvation and an eager submission to Jesus as Lord. I can’t manufacture or convince him of this. I can, however, faithfully instruct him, and call him to faith and repentance, for God’s Glory alone. Soli Deo Gloria

Shelby Pruitt and his wife Michelle have three children and two grandchildren. Shelby grew up in Bullitt County, and was called into pastoral ministry while in his thirties. Shelby is blessed to be in his fifth year serving as the bi-vocational pastor at Eagle Heights Baptist Church of Shepherdsville.

This post was written by a contributor to the Pastor’s Blog Initiative. The viewpoints expressed in such posts are explicitly that of the author and not necessarily the Nelson Baptist Association.