Why I Left the Baptist Church

Why I Left the Baptist Church

As the five year anniversary of the day I obeyed the Gospel approaches, I feel it is time I finally tell my story as to why I left the Baptist church; furthermore, why I obeyed the Gospel and was baptized into Christ on July 29, 2007 at Hanceville church of Christ.  As with any story, I feel it is important to start at the beginning, because I know throughout my childhood and adolescence God was consistently giving my family and me the opportunity to see the Truth.

            When I was born my father was a deacon at Seventh Street Baptist Church. My parents still have the certificate, where they had me dedicated to the Lord in this church. By the time I was a toddler my dad had become the Minister of Youth at Faith Baptist Church, and this is really the first experience of church that I can remember. I honestly cannot remember much, rather than on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s we went. I remember Vacation Bible Schools, but I do not remember what I learned about God or the Bible I only remember peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cool-aide.

            When I was five years old my dad decided it was time he started preaching. He became the pastor at Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Blountsville, AL and this is where my first memories of the Bible are from. The church was very small and there were not a lot of children, so my mother was the one teaching me and my younger brother about the Bible. We learned a lot this way, she would tell us Bible stories and then we would draw what we learned from them and put them on the walls of that wood-paneled classroom. I can still remember there was one wall where you could not even see the wood paneling because of how many of John’s and my drawing covered the wall. In the Baptist church the Lord’s Supper is not taken weekly; it was taken on special occasions, such as Easter, to remember the death of Jesus Christ. I remember specifically driving home from church one night when I was five and asking my dad why they ate crackers and drank juice at church that day. Dad just told me we would talk about it when we got home. When we got home he sat me down and told me that in order to eat the crackers and drink the juice you must be a Christian and we must all accept Jesus into our hearts because we are sinners. I specifically remember this part because I was in kindergarten at the time and each day we had ‘center time’ where we got to play. I liked ‘center time’ and to my five year old ears ‘sinner’ and ‘center’ were the same thing so I wanted to be able to eat the crackers and drink the juice. So my dad told me I must pray the sinner’s prayer to be saved, and then I would be baptized to show my friends what God did for me. So I did. When they baptized me a few weeks later so all my family could make it, they had me standing on two cinderblocks in the baptismal pool and you still couldn’t see my head. That was the first time I was baptized.

            It was only about a year or two after I was baptized, that I can first remember learning of the church of Christ. My oldest brother, Scott, had started dating his now wife, Magan. The first time Scott went to church with Magan my dad told him he better take a towel, because they like to baptize everybody. This perked my curiosity because I knew Scott had already accepted Jesus and had been baptized, but I was six or seven and did not think anything of it beyond that. Within the next year or so my brother stopped coming to the Baptist church, and I eventually learned he obeyed the Gospel and was baptized into Christ. This was the first time I ever heard it put that way, “baptized into Christ”. At the age I was at I only knew it had to be bad because it immediately caused strife within my family.

            The arguments and debates started at this time between my brother and my parents. He was trying his hardest to show them the Truth, but my dad as a Southern Baptist Preacher and as a father could not grasp it. He hung to the belief that he became a Christian at age nine, and could not believe his own son was now rejecting all he had taught him. I saw the damage it was doing to my family, separating us and I hated the church for that. There were nights they would debate all night long. Finally it simmered down, and that probably had a lot to do with Scott not being at home anymore. We all accepted the fact that we believed differently and that seemed to be how our lives would always be.

            Then my other older brother, Colby, started dating his future wife, Melissa. She was also a member of the church of Christ. I remember my mom saying she was going to have to stop praying for us to find Christian mates, and start praying for us to find Baptist mates. The irony of this statement still cracks me up to this day, God has sense of humor. I think Colby was slightly more resistant at first in regards to even visiting the church of Christ. He had witnessed what it did to our parents when Scott had converted. He was also a very studious person himself. He had studied the Bible all his life, and had debated against the Truth with his friends and his brother, but eventually he realized the Truth and he was baptized into Christ. When we learned of this I think it was a sense of déjà vu and hurt. I know personally I had heard Colby defend the Baptist doctrine, and I didn’t understand nor did I want to why he had now joined the church of Christ. I was thirteen or fourteen at the time, and knew this was going to bring about more strife within our family.

            By this time my dad had started preaching at Bethlehem East Baptist Church in Hanceville, AL. I loved it there. Bethlehem East was what I considered my home church, I assumed I would one day get married there, take my kids to church there. It’s where I had friends and I was happy for the most part. There was always no peace in my heart though. Every night when I would lay down I would think what happens if I die, how do I know for sure that I am going to Heaven. I was only five years old, when I had gotten ‘saved’ and I honestly couldn’t remember is I had said the ‘sinner’s prayer’ or not, and for so many nights I would say it over and over again while laid in bed hoping that would bring peace. One Sunday morning when I was twelve, one of my friends went forward to get ‘saved’, I thought maybe I needed to do that too in front of everyone and then I would have peace. So I followed my friend to the front prayed the sinner’s prayer and was baptized for the second time the following week. For a while that brought peace.

            That uncertainty returned when I was fifteen. In many denominational churches, during October they put together “Judgment Houses”. It’s basically a drama where you go from room to room while members of that church portray a real life situation such as war, cancer, car accident, or drinking. In the storyline there is usually a ‘good’ kid who lives for God and ‘rebel’ kid who just wants to have fun. By the end of the drama, they both die and they have to face the Judgment. The ‘good’ kid is welcomed to Heaven and ‘rebel’ kid is sent to Hell. You then have to follow the ‘rebel’ kid to Hell, and they often times do a good job presenting as realistic a view as they can with extreme heat and a scary devil. Most of us wind up screaming or crying. Then you get to go to Heaven and its usually puffy clouds, white robes, and “I Can Only Imagine” playing in the background. Then a guy resembling Randy Owen portrays Jesus and hugs everybody. It scares most kids into getting saved, and in 2005 it did the same to me. I thought I must have just followed my friend to the front when I was twelve and I needed to make certain I was saved. I went into this little room where they take you to pray and talked to one of the churches counselors, she was a real sweet lady and she was also a preacher’s daughter so I felt this was God’s plan. She and I talked, I said the sinner’s prayer for about the millionth time in my life and was baptized to show what had happened to me a few weeks later. I thought I was good then, I was fifteen, I thought I was mature, and I was finally a Christian for real. I thought the third baptism must have been the charm.

            I started studying a lot on my own. A lot of it was probably driven by the desire to be the one child my parents could be proud of. When you have three siblings there is always an unspoken sibling rivalry, and I wanted to be the victor. I did not want to disappoint my parents by one day being a part of the church of Christ, so I was studying to be able to defend my beliefs. When you start to read the Bible, it is funny how God shows you what he wants you to see, not necessarily what you set out to see. I started to find faults in the Baptist Doctrine. A large help for me in seeing the Truth was when I started having friends that were members of the church. I was spending a lot of time with my sister-in-law Melissa, and in my junior year of high school I was in a leadership program through the county. There I met Shay Isbell; she was a member of the church and was friends with Melissa, so automatically I stayed near her at the meetings. Remarks that Melissa would make in passing started to get me thinking, she knew so much about the Bible, and I wanted to as well. But I chalked her knowledge up to her being older than me, and I would be there eventually. Then Shay started making comments, and Shay was the same age as I was, and she knew the names of all the judges and about all the kingdoms in the Old Testament things I never even heard of. Through Melissa and Shay I met Heather Isbell and a few other Christians my age. Everyone I met that was a member of the church no matter what age was extremely knowledgeable of the Bible, and it definitely perked my curiosity.

            Growing up, every time we visited with Scott and Magan and even Colby and Melissa, we would go to church with them, my parents included. In those visits I had noticed the major differences, no instrumental music, Lord’s supper every Sunday, and my favorite difference was in Bible class, they used their Bibles as the guide. This became my hang-up, I did not understand why we as Baptists did not do that either. At this point in time I was in the high school class and we had these books made by Life Way directed towards typical teenage problems, sex, drugs, and peer pressure. These are definitely issues that needed to be drilled into our heads, but rather than digging in deep to what the Bible had to say on the issue we had stories or quotes from famous people like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. That did not set well with me. I knew that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). I wanted a Bible class that was like that, so I voiced my opinion and my desires to study more to members of the class. This was met with a resounding no, we had a curriculum and we were going to follow it. This was extremely discouraging for me, and for a few weeks I refused to even go to that class. Another issue started to bother me as well. This issue I knew was also bothering my parents from statements they would make. We had a female pianist, a female song leader, and I had a female teaching my class. I had read the verse over and over clear as day that states, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law” (1 Corinthians 14:34). I did not understand why the church we were attending went directly against God’s word. Surely if the women who were against God’s word were explained and shown the Scripture to support these things they would stop. I approached the lady who was leading music and was teaching my Bible class, I showed her the verse and told her I was concerned she was usurping God’s authority. This led to several lengthy conversations some including my parents and other women I knew who supported me, but the end determination was they would not change there was not a man who wanted to lead music or teach; therefore, they were not usurping they were just doing what had to be done. I was infuriated two things I found in God’s word, had been shot down to keep everyone happy.

            Around this time my mom had been doing a lot of studying as well. She will tell you to this day that she knew the Truth; she knew the Baptist church was wrong and she knew what she had to do but she could not leave my daddy alone. Honestly, it would have been the worst thing that could have happened, to abandon him. My mom and I would have long discussions about when we were going to leave Bethlehem East; the disputes had become frequent between our family and the members there. We knew there was coming a day we would leave Bethlehem East.

            My parents had been invited by my dad’s coworker and attended a Gospel meeting at Fourth Street church of Christ and they attended each night of the week. The series of lessons were on being a New Testament church. This was a revolution to my father. It was like he had received a new wind as a preacher, and he became determined to help Bethlehem East Baptist Church become a New Testament church. His first mission had been to stop the tradition the church had of allowing all Holidays (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, etc.) to take over the worship period. He met with the deacons and they were all in agreement with him and the motion passed at the next business meeting. My dad was like a new man, until that night when the woman who typically ran such events was present. She had missed Sunday morning and thought there was a need for a revote since not all the members were able to participate in the morning service. Predictably, the vote was overturned and the church chose celebrating holidays over worshipping God. I remember well the car ride home that night, we talked about where we might go to church if we were to leave Bethlehem East, and my parents said they would visit the church of Christ. This made me happy, at this point I really wanted to visit more at the church of Christ, because everyone seemed so dedicated to learning about God and nothing else. This was the first time I ever wanted to be a member of the church.

            We stayed on at Bethlehem East after that week, but I think something had changed in all of us.  My brother, Colby, had been making attempts to study with my father. It was around this time they had what I will always remember as the ‘biggest Biblical debate’ between them. It started off pretty calm, but quickly escaladed. The major difference in this debate, as I sat listened that night, was for the first time during one of my father-brother debates my brother was the one I believed. Every position my dad threw at him, Colby had scripture to back his belief. That night did not end well, and it was a while before we saw Colby and Melissa again, but the thing I remember from that night is my dad saying, “You can’t tell me that!” while my brother always answered in scripture. That is the night I realized the Truth, it was just a matter of time before I had to surrender and obey. I started studying more on my own, I told my sister-in-law Melissa I wanted to study and she gave me a bookmark full of scripture reference for every major issue, and I read all the scriptures listed for baptism. That was the first time I ever read Acts 2:38, “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. That was the game-changer for me, I realized then that baptism was for forgiveness, and although I had been baptized three times, none of those were for the purpose of forgiveness. I had never obeyed God’s word on how to become a Christian; I had only obeyed man’s word.

            Still, I stayed true to my raising, and as we started the summer between my junior and senior year in high school things took a big turn in the right direction. On June 10, 2007 we had a youth committee meeting at our church. I was there as well as both my parents, and a woman became persistent yet again against my father. This was the final straw for him, he stood up proclaimed he was done and resigned right there. We never went back. The following weeks for us were difficult as a family. As my mother tried to persuade my father into visiting Cullman church of Christ and my father was focused on finding a new Baptist church, where he could be the pastor. We quickly learned that the world of being Baptist had changed drastically since the last time we were looking for a new Baptist church to attend. We visited at a church that never even had a sermon because they were too ‘caught up in the spirit’ singing. One night we visited at Bethesda church of Christ during a Gospel meeting (where my dad is now preaching the Truth), and I remember this night specifically because it was only a week or two before I obeyed the Gospel. The preacher, that night pointed out another verse I had never heard before. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” Mark 16:16. I knew I needed to obey and be baptized for the remission of my sins. As the invitation song was sang, “Why Keep Jesus Waiting”, I gripped the pew in the right-rear of the church building to avoid going forward, I did not know these people and it could wait.

A few weeks later on July 29, 2007 we went to hear my brother, Colby, preach at Hanceville church of Christ. I knew on the way there that night, I was going to go forward. I did not tell anyone, because I did not want anyone to talk me out of it. To this day I cannot recall what Colby preached on, or the invitation song, because I was so scared. My parents were there, and though both my older brothers, had gone against my father, and obeyed God’s command, neither of them did it with our father in the audience. When the song started I stepped out, walked to the front, where Colby (who looked as scared as I must have looked) motioned for me to sit on the front pew. Colby got Leon Mauldin and Alton Bailey to come to the front and the three of them asked me questions. Why do you want to be baptized? Do you know what you are being baptized for? The questions upset me, because I wanted to be baptized for the remission of my sins and become a true Christian, I could not understand why they were delaying. In hindsight, I see they were just asking to confirm and to insure I knew how serious it was, and that I was doing it for the right purpose. I confessed I was a sinner and believed in Christ before the congregation and the ladies ushered me in to prepare me for baptism. It was my fourth time to ever be baptized, but as I walked into the waters where my brother, Colby, waited for me, I knew for the first time I was about to fill the hole in my life that plagued me for so long. Colby buried me in water, and I was raised a Christian.

            That night my father asked me if I believed he was going to Hell now too. I as a young Christian had no idea how to answer that question, so I did my best to avoid my dad for a while. My mom was so supportive and proud of my decision, as were my older brothers and the wives. I felt at peace and at home in the Lord’s church. I began to prepare myself for the years of dispute to come with my father. Much too all our surprise, two weeks later he showed up at a family gathering on a Thursday night to tell us he obeyed the Gospel and was baptized that day at Cullman church of Christ. Turns out he just needed someone to take him from where he was a show him the Truth more fully, much like Apolos. None of us even knew he was going to study with the preacher at the Cullman congregation that day, and the one thing I would have never believed would happen, happened. That weekend my mom obeyed the Gospel and a few months later, my baby brother John obeyed as well.

It took almost ten years, but in those ten years God brought all of us in the Junkin family to the Truth. The providence that was in place at all times astounds me. God has a plan for all things and everyone. One of the people that encouraged me most to study, just through her example is now my sister-in-law Shay Isbell Junkin. My mother’s prayer so long ago that we would all find Christian mates, was answered with four resounding yes’s, by the names of Magan, Melissa, Mark, and Shay. I know all my sisters-in-law were not only blessings from God for my brothers, but they were key blessings from God in helping me finding the Truth. I am grateful every day for my Christian husband, Mark. I know God had him set aside just for me, and he encourages me daily to be a better Christian. I am also extremely grateful for my family, and that we are all also Christian family. As a Christian family we have never been closer, and we grow closer daily. My prayer is and always will be that we are all growing closer to God daily.