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‘Fill the Tank’ Brings 1,600 Baptisms in North Carolina BY CHAD AUSTIN
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lle Robinette wasn’t going to let being bound to a wheelchair prevent her from being baptized. Cradled in her husband’s arms, Robinette entered the baptistry at Salem Baptist Church in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, where Pastor Danny McLamb baptized her at the conclusion of the morning worship service on September 12. “God will make a way!” McLamb exclaimed after Robinette’s husband lifted her out of the water. From the mountains to the coast, scores of individuals just like Robinette publicly professed their faith in Jesus Christ through baptism across North Carolina as part of the special “Fill the Tank” baptism emphasis held in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Baptism Sunday. Nearly seven hundred North Carolina Baptist churches committed to participate in the “Fill the Tank” emphasis leading up to Baptism Sunday on September 12. As of 9 a.m. September
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20, more than 320 churches had reported nearly 1,600 baptisms collectively from across the state. “It’s been exciting and encouraging to see so many churches across our state come together to celebrate new life in Christ through baptism,” said Todd Unzicker, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC). “We’ve heard so many powerful testimonies of how God moved, and reports are still coming in. I pray that what happened (on Baptism Sunday) would compel us all to be more intentional about sharing the Good News, making disciples and sending the saved.” All across North Carolina, churches held baptisms both inside and out—in baptistries, tubs, pools, and natural bodies of water. Merritt Taylor, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Burnsville, North Carolina, baptized six people in the Toe River at a local campground, which was followed by a celebration with cake
