Carolina Life: Baptisms at Finlay Park bring sense of rebirth to the needy

C. Aluka Berry/caberry@thestate.com

"I feel great, I feel relieved, I feel renewed, I feel refreshed." That was 38 year-old Juan Venerable’s reaction after being baptized by Jonathan Phillip Arnold, Jr. , 20, at Finlay Park in Columbia. Every Wednesday evening for the past four years Christians have gathered at Finlay Park with hearts of unity, humility, and a desire to serve Columbia's inner city homeless. They come from different churches and a variety of denominations with love as the chord that brings them together. On break at work one day, Arnold, of Columbia, said he prayed, "Lord, I fed em', I've loved them, I fellowshipped with them, I've washed their feet. What more can I do to these people that would just praise you?" One word came to mind, "baptism."

“I feel great. I feel relieved. I feel renewed. I feel refreshed.”

That was 38-year-old Juan Venerable’s reaction after being baptized by Jonathan Phillip Arnold Jr., 20, at Finlay Park in Columbia.

Every Wednesday evening for the past four years, Christians have gathered at Finlay Park with a desire to serve Columbia’s inner-city homeless. They come from different churches and a variety of denominations.

On break at work one day, Arnold of Columbia said he prayed, “‘Lord, I fed ’em. I’ve loved them. I fellowshipped with them. I’ve washed their feet. What more can I do to these people that would just praise you?”

“One word came to mind,” Arnold recalled. “Baptism.”

Venerable, who is from Lexington and came out to minister to the homeless, heard Arnold would be doing baptisms.

“At church, it always seemed formal and staged,” he said. “For the first time, it felt pure and sincere to me. So I decided to do it.”

— C. Aluka Berry,

caberry@thestate.com