Ginger Chappell emerged from the shallow water of the Soque River in Clarkesville, dripping with cool water and newfound faith.
She and her former and future husband, T.J. Chappell, joined five other people baptized Saturday in the river, in a gathering organized by Christian laypeople and open to all.
A baptism of healing
“I feel clean, refreshed,” Ginger said. Moments earlier, she had been sobbing on the shoulder of Nicole Moore, the lay pastor who led her and others through the open-air baptism, consoling her for her confessed past misdeeds and embracing her in her life to come on Earth, and, she hopes, in Heaven.
T.J. went under the water just after Ginger, cradled in the attendants’ hands. After the couple emerged, they said they had married in 1999, were together for six years, then divorced, but have been finding their way back together, even after they lost their beloved son, Patrick, to a fentanyl overdose about a year ago.
“I have a feeling of so many things leaving me,” Ginger said, her soaked hair glistening in the July sun. “I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
T.J. said the couple would complete their transformative day by driving up to a waterfall farther north in Georgia, with a plan to scatter their son’s ashes in one of the places they used to enjoy taking him.
Open invitation, open hearts
Some 35 devout Christians, many of them connected to Bethesda Fellowship Church in Cornelia, gathered on July 12 from 1 p.m. to past 4, offering fellowship, camaraderie, and full-immersion baptism in Habersham’s principal river, where it runs along the north side of Pitts Park.
Alongside the baptism site at the west end of the park, preparations for Saturday evening’s “Red, White, and Tunes” concert were underway; later on, one of the people attending the event came over to the baptism site and underwent the rite herself. Moore said she told them only her first name, Marissa. The spontaneity of the moment made it a high point of the day, Moore said.
In a text Saturday afternoon, Moore wrote: “[Marissa] saw our ‘Open Baptisms’ sign and felt drawn to come and be baptized. You could visibly see the Holy Spirit working in her and it was truly beautiful!! She hadn’t known about the event and didn’t have dry clothes to change into, but didn’t care. She wanted an encounter with Jesus and came to the water. She handed someone her phone, and right into the water she went. She got her encounter with Jesus, and it was truly amazing!!”
Outside the box
Pastor John Graham of Bethesda, casually dressed in a Ronald Acuña Atlanta Braves jersey, came to the baptism to support the proceedings, though he didn’t personally organize it.
“Organized religion has put God in a box, and he was never supposed to be there,” Graham said. He said he’d encouraged Moore and the rest of his congregation to get out into the community and minister to potential, aspiring, or committed Christians, and bring people closer to the faith.
Graham’s wife, Tabitha, also assisted with the baptisms, helping the people in and out of the water and laying her hands on them as they prepared and submerged. Later, she said she takes the message of spreading the Word seriously and has led groups of Christian women to the Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto to minister to inmates, who are all women. She and her team recently baptized some 40 Arrendale inmates.
Flowing water, living faith
Saturday marked the second of three scheduled baptism events this summer at Pitts Park. The final one is August 16, offering baptism to anyone in the community who feels called to take part.
Moore led each of the willing people through the ritual, whispering words of encouragement to them, laying hands on their shoulders, and ultimately dipping each backwards into the water. All looked joyful as they emerged into what they hoped was a new beginning for their faith and their everyday lives.
Natasha and Samuel Dove of Danielsville, 40 and 42 years old, respectively, only recently committed to baptism. Samuel knew for weeks he wanted to take the plunge, but Natasha wasn’t so sure. “I was still thinking about it until last night,” she said.
One of their three children joined them at the river and frolicked around them while the ceremony was underway. The boy gently touched his mother’s face as she emerged from the water.
“This was awesome; God definitely received glory today,” Moore said.
While baptism in man-made vessels is permissible—Moore has used clean animal feeding troughs and inflatable swimming pools—she said, “it’s different in the living, flowing water.”
God understands
Some of what Moore said to the baptism candidates was inaudible from the riverbank. Asked what words were exchanged, she said, “We’ve been very personal with some of the people—as intimate as they want to get with their words, we receive them.”
Moore and some of the others also occasionally spoke in tongues during the baptisms. While the syllables may sound like gibberish to many, Moore said they offer a spiritual message and are a gift. Speaking in tongues is another means of communicating with God.
“He understands what the words mean,” she added.
It’s about time
“I feel wonderful,” said Susan Green, 52, as she left the water after being immersed early in the day. “I just felt led, and I decided to do it two days ago.” She said that the experience was “more than I expected…the peace of God was present.”
Baptism has roots that go back at least as far as John the Baptist in the Bible. The Gospels describe Jesus’ baptism at the hands of John—also in a flowing river—the Jordan.
Ancient Jewish traditions also mandated ritual cleansing in a flowing body of water or specially constructed ritual baths. Jewish high priests used them, but also regular citizens who cleansed themselves for purity. They would bathe following a disease, or by women, after their menstrual cycles and childbirth.
Bonnie Dillashaw, a close friend of Moore, delighted in being outdoors with folks at the park. The bustle and preparation for the concert and fireworks show did not faze her.
“This is what we’re supposed to be doing, Dillashaw said, “more public events.”
She laughed at the notion that church needed to be restricted to a physical space. Gesturing toward the river, she added, “It’s about time that Jesus left the building.”
