This has been circulating on Facebook, so you may have seen it. I begged and pleaded with people to assure me that this is a spoof, some sort of put-on. But it appears to be real.
Dave Miller is the senior pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Sioux City, Iowa, and editor of SBC Voices. He served as President of the 2017 SBC Pastors’ Conference. He is a graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic and SWBTS. He has pastored churches in Florida, Virginia, and Iowa. Twitter
American evangelicalism is a circus, but it is usually kind of a low-brow circus. Since this woman was talking about godmothers, it is probably not an evangelical church but more likely a mainline paedo-church.
I just baptized a young couple behind their house in a creek (yes, in October, yes, I am at the very tip top of NY State, yes, it was really, really cold.
There was an impromptu pot-luck in the house after the baptism. We don’t usually do that and it was nice.
I particularly liked how the “immersion” only covered about half the girl’s head. Probably didn’t want to take a chance of messing up her makeup or coming up sputtering from the water.
Jess Alford
8 years ago
I loved her white dress.
Jess Alford
8 years ago
Actually I have baptised six people in swimming pools, it was nice. I don’t see anything wrong with where ever they want to be Baptised. As long as it’s an appropriate place. I think we preachers deserve the best.
I do not know if it still exists, but Ronnie Floyd’s church in Springdale, Arkansas (?) used to have a firetruck baptistery in their children’s wing – as I understand it shot a confetti cannon when a child was baptized.
I am told by people who are familiar with this channel that this is NOT a setup. Would that it were.
Louis
8 years ago
Our church did not have a baptistry for the first 14 years of our church life, so we baptized at the homes of our members who had swimming pools. So I have no problem with a pool per se.
I also have no problem with white gowns for candidates (Baptee?). I hope I have seen the last of a young teen wearing a Che t-shirt into the Baptistry.
The concept of making more of a celebration out of the event – a reception afterwards is fine.
The doves are silly, and a bit irreverent in light of the biblical account of Christ’s baptism.
Also, the overall tone makes it look like the event has been hijacked for fashion purposes.
Tommy Rucker
8 years ago
About the only thing that could make it better would be a bacon-wrapped turkey.
It’s a legit (so to speak) show called Big Rich Texas, a reality (again, so to speak) on Style network. It follows rich, idiotic, Texas women who have nothing better to do than to spend money in frivolous ways and speak ill of the other women on the show…not that I’ve seen any of the show or anything. Sort of like Jersey Shore meets Dallas…
John K
8 years ago
Do you need to bring gifts to this style of baptism? I would not want to be out of place if I was ever invited to this form of baptismal event.
Jess Alford
8 years ago
Bart Barber,
Just what part of this blog made you speechless. 🙂
My baptism was so opposite of this. We went to a church in rural Ohio that hadn’t saved enough money at the time to finish building the sanctuary. So the baptistry was just a concrete hole in the basement floor with steps at one end and a pump at the other end. The pump drew up water from the less-than-crystal clear creek behind the church. Given that it was February and the creek had a few inches of ice on it, they pumped it up early so it would be at least a few degrees above freezing for the baptism. We didn’t have white robes so someone loaned me a oversized navy blue suit to wear into the water. Stylish, no, but I’ll never forget it.
Bruce H.
8 years ago
Even more amazing is that she didn’t have a Jesus impersonator doing the Lord’s supper for everyone. Both ordinances could have been upgraded at her “party”. Oh well, that may be the “one-up” at the next baptismal party for another rich friend.
I was waiting for Bruce H to come up with a ‘Priceless’ entry, but nothing about this video seems priceless (speechless, yes, but priceless, no) to me.
Jess Alford
8 years ago
I noticed the wine glasses beside the cake, so it is a Baptist Baptism.
she could have at least referenced Jesus’ baptism when talking about the doves. FAIL.
Fail? Really?
I was thinking of asking our administrative team for a dove budget next year.
Plus the whole three doves / trinity thing.
That’s got to be some kind of spoof. It has to be. Really. It does.
you have much more faith in American evangelicalism than I do. I think she’s serious.
you have much more faith in American evangelicalism than I do. I think she’s serious.
Yeah, it is probably not a spoof. I would think it would compliment the Health and Wealth gospel of a great multitude of television preachers.
It becomes more and more obvious that hell is enlarging itself.
American evangelicalism is a circus, but it is usually kind of a low-brow circus. Since this woman was talking about godmothers, it is probably not an evangelical church but more likely a mainline paedo-church.
I just baptized a young couple behind their house in a creek (yes, in October, yes, I am at the very tip top of NY State, yes, it was really, really cold.
There was an impromptu pot-luck in the house after the baptism. We don’t usually do that and it was nice.
I particularly liked how the “immersion” only covered about half the girl’s head. Probably didn’t want to take a chance of messing up her makeup or coming up sputtering from the water.
I loved her white dress.
Actually I have baptised six people in swimming pools, it was nice. I don’t see anything wrong with where ever they want to be Baptised. As long as it’s an appropriate place. I think we preachers deserve the best.
High Fashoned–YES
I don’t think anyone is concerned with where the baptism took place. I think the issue is the idea of making a fashion statement out of a baptism.
Dave, I know it was a fashion statement. That was the reason I was having a little fun.
Dave Miller, I think this is inappropriate to be showing to some of these older preachers, what if they have heart conditions or high blood pressure.
This blog doubles as a way to help people with heart conditions or high blood pressure get to Heaven just a little bit quicker.
Saw this on Denny’s feed. Speechless.
Is this a real thing? I’m not convinced.
Maybe it’s a Health & Wealth thing as CB suggested. That a woman was doing the baptizing pointed to some sort of prosperity gospel Pentecostalism.
But, I don’t know. I tend to think it is something that the Style channel came up with and created on their own.
Although isn’t there a SBC megachurch with a fire-truck baptistry or something? That’s not too different from this stylish stuff….
I do not know if it still exists, but Ronnie Floyd’s church in Springdale, Arkansas (?) used to have a firetruck baptistery in their children’s wing – as I understand it shot a confetti cannon when a child was baptized.
I am told by people who are familiar with this channel that this is NOT a setup. Would that it were.
Our church did not have a baptistry for the first 14 years of our church life, so we baptized at the homes of our members who had swimming pools. So I have no problem with a pool per se.
I also have no problem with white gowns for candidates (Baptee?). I hope I have seen the last of a young teen wearing a Che t-shirt into the Baptistry.
The concept of making more of a celebration out of the event – a reception afterwards is fine.
The doves are silly, and a bit irreverent in light of the biblical account of Christ’s baptism.
Also, the overall tone makes it look like the event has been hijacked for fashion purposes.
About the only thing that could make it better would be a bacon-wrapped turkey.
How about a bacon-wrapped baptistery?
It’s a legit (so to speak) show called Big Rich Texas, a reality (again, so to speak) on Style network. It follows rich, idiotic, Texas women who have nothing better to do than to spend money in frivolous ways and speak ill of the other women on the show…not that I’ve seen any of the show or anything. Sort of like Jersey Shore meets Dallas…
Do you need to bring gifts to this style of baptism? I would not want to be out of place if I was ever invited to this form of baptismal event.
Bart Barber,
Just what part of this blog made you speechless. 🙂
My baptism was so opposite of this. We went to a church in rural Ohio that hadn’t saved enough money at the time to finish building the sanctuary. So the baptistry was just a concrete hole in the basement floor with steps at one end and a pump at the other end. The pump drew up water from the less-than-crystal clear creek behind the church. Given that it was February and the creek had a few inches of ice on it, they pumped it up early so it would be at least a few degrees above freezing for the baptism. We didn’t have white robes so someone loaned me a oversized navy blue suit to wear into the water. Stylish, no, but I’ll never forget it.
Even more amazing is that she didn’t have a Jesus impersonator doing the Lord’s supper for everyone. Both ordinances could have been upgraded at her “party”. Oh well, that may be the “one-up” at the next baptismal party for another rich friend.
Cake: $500, Baptismal Gown: $350, Doves: $150, Food & Drinks: $500,
Extras: Jesus impersonator: $350, Disciples: $200 ea., Lords Supper: $200 (real wine), Offering: $50, Song: “Shall We Gather at the Swimming Pool”: $100.
This sure took my mind off of Obama for a while.
I was waiting for Bruce H to come up with a ‘Priceless’ entry, but nothing about this video seems priceless (speechless, yes, but priceless, no) to me.
I noticed the wine glasses beside the cake, so it is a Baptist Baptism.
Nothing says purity like “boobalicious!”
I sorta glossed over that part.
Looks like it is a TV show. Here’s a blog post from one of the characters saying something about a baptism. I think it may be connected to the video.