North Carolina school baptized over 100 kids without their parents’ permission

A North Carolina school is apologizing after baptizing more than 100 students without their parents’ permission, the Fayetteville Observer reports. 

In a post to Facebook on Thursday, Fayetteville private Christian school Northwood Temple Academy wrote: “I feel it in my bones, You’re about to move! Today we had over 100 middle and high school students spontaneously declare their faith and get baptized today. We will have more pictures of these powerful moments posted over the next couple of days!”

Three students who were already scheduled to be baptized had their ceremonies conducted that morning, but the offer was then extended to other students who had not been scheduled.

In a letter to families, school principle Renee McLamb said the incident was basically out of her control.

“Spirit of the Lord moved and the invitation to accept the Lord and be baptized was given and the students just began to respond to the presence of the Lord,” she wrote, adding that “it was not the intention of any faculty member to do anything behind a parent’s back or in any kind of secret way.”

“I do understand that parents would desire to be a part of something so wonderful happening in the lives of their children, and so I apologize that we did not take that into consideration in that moment,” McLamb said. “I pray that at the end of the day we will all rejoice because God truly did a work in the lives of our students.”

“We were not expecting such an overwhelming response to the message that was spoken, but as a mother I certainly can empathize with why some parents were upset,” she said.

One parent who complained said that their child had already been baptized and was worried about a second baptism undoing the first.

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.