On our little farm, while I was growing up, we had a large stock pool about the size of a big backyard swimming pool and fed constantly with fresh water from a nearby spring. It was used as a baptistery by both the local Baptist church and the church of Christ. Before time for the "big meetings" in the summer, it was my job to get the pool cleaned and ready for expected baptisms. I would knock out the plug at the bottom of the pool to drain the stale water. What water was left I had to dip out with a bucket. The settlements had to be shoveled out by hand. Sometimes several inches would accumulate in a year's time. Then I would actually scrub down the rock bottom and the inside concrete walls. After all this was done, I put the wooden plug back in place and let the pool fill up with fresh water. It always looked nice for the water was clean and clear and one could see all the way to the solid rock bottom. I think that the livestock enjoyed it, too!

Baptisms in the pool at home were always impressive. Often the baptism would be during a Gospel Meeting or Revival at night. Cars would be driven up as close as they could get to the pool, situated on a large unbroken rock bluff protruding from the hillside, and the headlights turned so we could see. A crowd from church would gather and sing appropriate songs such as Happy Day. Another invitation would usually be extended by the preacher and a song, Oh, Why Not Tonight? would be sung. Sometimes one or more who had been considering obeying the gospel would wait and make their decision at the pool. Often they would be encouraged by family and friends on the way to the baptism. The candidates for baptism would go to our house to change clothing. The preacher would then take their confession if he had not already done so at the church building. He would ask them the simple question, "Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?" They would so indicate. He then would lead them down the stone steps into the water, and baptize each one in turn, saying: "Upon the confession of your faith in Jesus Christ as God's only begotten Son, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Spirit)."

My great grandfather Squire Dallas Powell was baptized when he was an old man in this pool that he had build. The story is told that because he was such a large man and perhaps somewhat feeble with age, they sat him in a chair to baptize him. My mother and father were baptized in this pool, and at the age of twelve, I was baptized there. Even after all these years, I still have people, from time to time, ask me about the pool and tell me that they were baptized in it. It became sort of a landmark, It was built in about 1912 for watering the stock, but it also served-as the community swimming pool as well as a baptistery. The thick concrete walls still stand, but have become old and cracked and will no longer hold water. It is a relic of a generation past, for most churches anymore have built-in heated baptisteries, which are a convenience. It is not the source of water, nor the water container that counts, but the act of faithful obedience for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:3).