Six individuals of varying ages and backgrounds were baptized last October and joined the Waterflow Church, greatly adding to the congregation’s small membership. And it all started with a little boy. He was learning to love Jesus more every day and wanted to walk with Him throughout his life. Here’s how it happened.
The Waterflow Church, located 16 miles west of Farmington, New Mexico, began baptismal classes with a couple of teenagers in late 2019. The classes ran concurrently with prayer meetings. The teenagers’ aunt heard about the study group and asked if she could join because when visiting the church earlier she liked what she saw and was interested in learning more.
Ezzack, an eight-year-old, also heard about the classes and decided he wanted to be baptized. He talked to his mom about it, but she wasn’t sure he was old enough; and surely with his reading disability he wasn’t ready for the big kid’s baptismal class.
But Ezzack is nothing if not determined, and he just would not let it go. He kept asking and asking until finally his mom approached church leaders in early 2020 with the idea. By then, COVID-19 had hit, and everything was being rearranged to accommodate the new reality–including church service, prayer meeting, and most importantly, the mission school. All services were moved online.
The church decided that Ezzack and his sister Dyanna would have in-person school one day a week and online school on the other days. During the in-person days, they would go through the junior edition of the baptismal class.
The teenagers were attending school also and got Bible instruction through their regular Bible classes. The English teacher used Bible topics to teach them how to write research papers, so they were getting a double dose.
Tentative arrangements were made with director Steve Gillham from La Vida Mission to come and baptize the kids in the spring of 2021. However, that plan fell through when Elder Gillham became sick and eventually was laid to rest in the Lord. So then the question was, Who could baptize these kids?
That is where things stayed for a few more months, but Ezzack would not give up! In September, a member brought the pending baptisms up again during prayer meeting. They discussed and agreed to contact the Rocky Mountain Conference office about the situation. During conversations, the church discovered that Doug Inglish, RMC vice president of administration, would be in Piñon Hills soon and could baptize them if arrangements could be made on short notice.
Pam Goldtooth had attended that prayer meeting and mentioned that if there were going to be a baptism, her two teens would like to be part of it. Ezzack and Dyanna’s mother asked if she could be re-baptized with her kids. This brought the total to five candidates, but God wasn’t done yet.
Pam mentioned to her sister, Priscilla, who had been taking classes with the teenagers before the pandemic hit, that there would be a baptism. Priscilla confirmed that she believed everything and was then included with the existing group, bringing the total number to be baptized to six.
The service was planned for Sabbath afternoon, October 2, 2021, at the Piñon Hills Church. Many individuals from surrounding churches came to support and witness the six baptisms. The crowd was larger than what the Waterflow Church could have seated, and members were thankful for the use of the Piñon Hills Church for the special occasion.
We know that God has blessed us immensely here in Waterflow. We are a tiny church without many resources, and most of our members are older, so we are especially grateful to be baptizing young people! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to nurture and grow these new members in the faith.
— Cynthia Risk is the Waterflow Church clerk and teaches at the Waterflow mission school.
