by Lamar Wadsworth » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:51 pm
Two women profoundly shaped my understanding of the Lord's supper. One was a young woman named Judy about 30 years ago when I was pastor of Unity Baptist Church in Dalton GA. Following a communion service, she lingered to speak to me after the others left. Tears were running down her face. She said, "I hope I didn't do something wrong, but you did say (she quoted my words of invitation to the table). I do love Jesus, He has forgiven my sins, and I want to follow Him, so when the trays were passed, I took communion." I told her that she did the right thing. A smile broke across her face, followed by beautiful holy laughter. "I guess that means I need to be baptized." I told her "I guess it does." Not realizing that she didn't know how to do evangelism, she led her 11 year old daughter to faith in Christ that afternoon, and I baptized both of them that night.
The other woman was our oldest daughter Linda who was 18 when she held my feet to the fire and told me exactly how it made her feel to see only men serve communion. I will never lead another communion service where women are excluded from serving the bread and the cup.