Bay Springs Church improvises a way to baptize new believer

By Tony Martin
Associate Editor

Where there’s a will…
Hayden Cannon, son of Cheston and Beth Cannon of Bay Springs, had the unique experience of being baptized June 14 in a trough in the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot of Bay Springs Church.

“Last Vacation Bible School, he was asking questions,” said pastor Ed King. “During the February revival, God continued to work. His mom and dad got with our children’s minister and me, and we knew he was getting closer to a decision.

“Then later his dad called me and said, ‘God is dealing with Hayden. Can we meet and talk with you?’ So we did that a couple of times. I met with him and shared the Gospel with him while his mom and dad were present, and just let God work.”

The church had been holding a drive-in parking lot service for some weeks because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, and after one of the services Hayden and his father met with King.

The pastor used Romans 6:23 as his starting point and asked Hayden where he was spiritually. Hayden hadn’t yet trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

He took home some material to read. “I told Hayden he could look at that anytime, and whenever he was ready he could ask God to save him,” King said.

Some time later, Hayden’s dad called King. “Hayden wants to tell you something,” he told King.

“In his own words Hayden said, ‘I got with Mom and Dad and my brother. We were looking over what you gave me, and I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Lord,’” King recalls.

Hayden and King met to talk about baptism. “Jesus said do it, so I want to do it,” Hayden told his pastor.

The church planned to have one more drive-in worship. The church had recently held a senior recognition and even had the Lord’s Supper in the parking lot.

“I told Hayden, ‘Let’s just baptize you in the parking lot,’ and he was all for that,” said King.

The pastor located a water trough at a feed store and placed it in the back of a pickup truck, which raised the trough to be visible to the congregation in the parking lot.

“Hayden was nervous that Sunday morning,” King recounted. “We were going over the reasons for baptism, because he didn’t want to get in front of everybody. I told him that he’d been getting up in front of everybody anyway on Sunday mornings for the children’s sermon that Taylor [Benton, youth minister] did every week.

“Hayden agreed and it was a great day.”

King, along with Benton and music minister Mark Atteberry, have been busy coming up with creative ways to keep the congregation together and have engaged in a variety of Internet streaming services and daily YouTube devotion videos.

The church has been heeding health warnings since resuming “normal” worship services, in a phased approach.

“Hayden’s baptism was a year in the process,” said King. “He came to salvation in a family setting, where it was just them. That was awesome. The virus has made us think about a lot of things differently.”

Hayden’s salvation and baptism were two of those things.