Jackson’s Baptism in 2018, Maasai Mara.
The Mara or Talek Rivers in the Maasai Mara in Kenya are not where you want to baptize anyone! If you’ve ever watched the migration documentaries of the wildebeests crossing those waters, you know why.
Jackson Tidwell is my great-nephew. Since we’ve always lived away from family, I’ve seen him about once a year since he was born on September 11, 2001 – yes, the day we’ll never forget. He was the only bright moment in that otherwise formidable, dark day.
Jackson prayed to receive Christ as a child. Life circumstances since that time had not been conducive to much in the way of spiritual nurturing. He was always a good kid. We had “connected” the summer before when I went to visit, as we enthusiastically shared similar cultural and political views.
In mid-2017 as I was putting together our team for the 2018 Kenya mission trip, for reasons I couldn’t explain in the moment, God put Jackson on my mind. As I finished a cup of coffee and sausage biscuit at McDonalds before heading to the office, I reasoned, “He lives in Mississippi. He’ll be in school in January. He can’t be gone for two weeks during the school year.” But the Holy Spirit prompted me to call my sister, his grandmother, and pose the possibility. Within the day, conversations were had. Jackson said yes. His mom and dad agreed. My sister was going to pay his way. They would work it all out with his teachers. Jackson was going to Africa!
I was careful to tell Jackson that no one going on the trip was anywhere near his age. Everyone was his parents’ ages or older. As it didn’t seem to concern him, the plan moved forward.
As summer gave way to fall and the trip grew closer, we were both looking forward to the African adventure. I knew what to expect. He didn’t have much of a clue outside of watching African wildlife documentaries we all see from time to time. This trip wasn’t about the animals, though. It was all about giving ourselves away to serve others in Jesus’ name. The animals we were saving to the end of the trip.
I learned from my family before the trip that Jackson had not been baptized since becoming a believer so many years earlier. They wondered if the subject would come up on the trip, as did I. It’s not my style to pressure. So, we prayed that Jackson would see or hear something that would not only capture his attention about baptism, but elevate his relationship with Christ in general.
I wondered if he’d get bored just hanging around for days while I led a pastor leadership conference in Kisumu at Pastor Samson’s church. There were always children and other teenagers around. He made friends right away. On the first conference morning, however, he chose to stay in the church and listen to me. The first session included the meaning and importance of believer’s baptism by immersion. I saw him listening intently in the very back of the church. The conference ended for the day, and we headed back to our hotel for a shower, dinner, and a good night’s rest.
Jackson is typically more on the quiet side. That evening, back in our room, he asked me about baptism. He brought it up! In fact, he asked if I’d be able to baptize him while we were in Kenya. You know what my answer was! We made a plan to baptize him when we got to the lodge in the Maasai Mara at the end of our trip.
For days, our entire team was excited about Jackson’s upcoming Maasai Land baptism. But we saw spiritual changes happening within him right in front of our eyes every day we were there.
We closed out our time in Kisumu on Monday morning and said tearful goodbyes to pastors and friends there, some of whom I’ve known since 2005. I felt at the time that this was my final trip to Kenya, so the farewells were particularly tough and tearful. And off we went for that 9-hour drive southward.
If you’ve ever been to a thriving African game reserve, there’s hardly an experience that comes close anywhere on earth. We arrived late on Monday afternoon and settled in for two days of safari drives, debriefing from the previous week, enjoying good food and seeing who God might place in our paths for sharing and friendship. The first day we visited a “boma,” a traditional Maasai village. It was quite large with about 30-35 mud huts arranged in a large circle with room for livestock to be brought in the center for safety at night. The population of the village was approximately one hundred. As I conversed with some of the young men in the village, I quickly learned that most were already Christians. At my request, they began singing Maasai worship songs! Jackson wandered over to enjoy the experience.