Ceremony a joyful, meaningful event

Getting confirmed by an ordination council in the tradition of the American Baptist Churches USA isn’t a rubber-stamp process.

Council members sometimes recommend that a candidate for the ministry return to studies in a particular area, according to the Rev. Sandra Walton, associate pastor of music and senior adult ministry at First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive.

But once a council has confirmed a candidate, all that’s left is the ordination ceremony itself.

Walton was ordained in 1990 in First Baptist Church of Parsons. She has special memories of that day.

“One of the most powerful things was the laying on of hands by the clergy who were either participants in the service or congregants,” Walton said. “Having all these hands on you is a very weighty feeling.”