I am sure this is true in most quarters … 

August 5, 2009

by Rick Jervis
USA Today

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. — The Rev. Michael Owens says nothing compares with dunking someone toward salvation.

Owens, the pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in this small church-crowded hamlet in northeast Louisiana, recently joined a dozen other pastors in leading outdoor baptisms in Lake Providence. They baptized 40 white-robed children, ages 4 to 15, plus three adults who waded in unannounced.

"Spirit's in that water," Owens said after the ceremony, his white robe still drenched from the waist down.

Outdoor baptisms are rapidly disappearing in America. Once prevalent in the rivers and deltas of the South, the ritual has been nearly extinguished by indoor pools, mega-churches and modernization, researchers and ministers say.

Read the complete story (Some news sites require registration)

And yet, we are getting to do our first one ever.

It was intended to be a public witness from the begining and not a private ritual.