DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Twenty-two people from 12 churches in Florida took the baptismal plunge in the Atlantic Ocean Oct. 1, marking some of the first baptisms in what Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch hopes will be 1 million converts and baptisms within the next 12 months.
Welch is confident the 1 million goal can be reached. “If each of our 43,500 churches would baptize at least two converts per month, we’d break the 1 million mark easily,” he said. “That would be more than a million hell-bound souls turned heavenward.” The 1 million baptisms challenge runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2006.
The Florida baptisms in the Atlantic were part of a service by the Halifax Baptist Association.
Dennis Belz, Halifax director of missions, said he was “grateful our churches could come together for this event. I’m sure we’ll do this again — maybe around Easter of next year. I trust we’ll have all our churches represented then.”
The first 22 baptismal candidates were ethnically diverse, representing both sexes and ranging in age from 7 to 90.
“I believe we are on our way to victory,” Welch said after the rally. “My prayer is that God will bless these efforts, and His people called Southern Baptists will catch this wave of baptisms today and ride it ’til we reach 1 million.”
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