By Jeff Brumley
Reports of bleeding religious statues and spiritual images on water towers are usually associated with Catholic and Pentecostal churches. But now you can add some South Carolina Baptists to the mix.
Care Baptist Church in Spartanburg recently alerted local media to the appearance of Christ’s image on a wooden door in the sanctuary. The image includes the face of Jesus, with others reporting also glimpsing the Savior’s flowing robes.
“God wanted me to get this out so people would come see it,” church member Steve Wyatt told The Herald-Journal in Spartanburg in a story published today. “And if people come here to see the door, they might find God while they are here.”
The statement may sound odd coming from the member of a church that belongs to the South Carolina Baptist Convention. But Baptist historian Bill Leonard said openness to the possibility of “the mysterious” as expressed in such sightings is not unheard of in Protestant churches.
“Fundamentalists tend to avoid this kind of image-oriented religious experience, in part because they are suspicious of the claims of Catholics over the years,” said Leonard, professor of Baptist studies and church history at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity. For some theological conservatives such claims also smack of Pentecostalism, Leonard said.
But the charismatic movement has paved the way for some traditional Protestants to believe the Holy Spirit may move in unconventional ways, Leonard said.
The reported appearance of Christ’s image at Care Baptist Church may illustrate “the influx of various evangelical/charismatic influences in certain old line, traditional Baptist churches,” he said.
Care Baptist is a congregation of about 70 members worshiping in a building constructed about 30 years ago.
The image of Christ was first noticed about five years ago and has generated a lot of talk from locals and visitors alike, the Herald-Journal article said.
“I mean, what’s the odds of a door like this coming into the church?” Wyatt told the newspaper. “It’s just amazing.”