Back in September of 2023, a crowd of college kids at Auburn University, about 200 in total, decided to make a leap of faith and be baptized after attending a campus Christian service called “Unite Auburn.” Speaking to Laura Ingraham after the fact, a pastor who helped baptize the college kids spoke about how they ended up moving forward with the unexpected baptism ceremony.
Speaking about the service, the pastor, Pastor Jonathan Pokluda of the Harris Creek Baptist Church, said that the decision to baptize the kids was a surprise and that because there was no baptismal pool at the service venue, they decided to gather at a nearby lake to perform the important ceremony.
Commenting to Ingraham about the surprise nature of the ceremony, Pastor Pokluda said, “That wasn’t the plan.” He added, “We got in the arena and got to preach from God’s Word and at the end… someone texted and said that they hadn’t been baptized and they wanted to be baptized. They had believed upon Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.”
Pastor Pokluda continued by describing how they made their way to the lake and then explained the ceremony, saying, “We went out there, and thousands of students gathered around the pond. Several of them wanted to be baptized. We began to have those conversations to make sure they understood the Gospel, that they hadn’t been baptized as a believer before, and we went to dunking.”
He then spoke about how some students seem ready to accept the Gospel despite the peer pressures around them, saying, “There’s a work that He is doing and there’s a remnant of people saying, ‘Hey, I’m not interested in vaping. I’m not interested in smoking weed, getting high, doing drugs, having sex. I want to live for something more than that. I want to live for forever. I believe there’s a God and I believe he has a purpose in my life and I believe he gave his son Jesus to die for my sins, and so I want to live by his spirit,’ and that’s what we’re seeing, and that’s what we saw at Auburn last Tuesday.”
Joining Pastor Pokluda in speaking about the powerful event, Michael Floyd, one of the singers from the service, said, “It was just a great time to be in the arena and to see all that happened.” Continuing, he added that the event and others like it are great because they show kids that they need not hide their faith. In his words: “It lets people know that college students are unapologetic about their worship and seeking Christ and that we’re rising up to take a stand for the Kingdom of God, and that, hey, it’s time to be about our Father’s business.”
Watch Pastor Pokluda speak about the powerful event here:
And watch the incredible baptisms here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video