A 2024 study by Lifeway Research found that Easter still ranked as the day with the highest attendance for most churches. In the study, 90% of pastors surveyed said Easter was either their church’s highest, second-highest or third-highest attended service, with more than half (52%) identifying Easter as the day with the most attendees.

This tracks with what I hear from pastors every year, who share that not only do they see more people in worship services on Easter, but they also see a lot of people put their faith in Jesus Christ and trust Him as Lord.

Throughout this season, I’m encouraging pastors and church leaders to extend the celebration of new life in Christ to the weekend following Easter. What better way to mark the salvation of our new brothers and sisters than to invite them to take the next step of obedience and be baptized. 

That’s the heart behind “Fill the Tank,” an annual emphasis that takes place the Sunday following Easter, which is April 27 this year. On that day, N.C. Baptist churches pledge to fill their baptism tanks and encourage new Christians or those who haven’t yet been baptized to make this public declaration of their faith.

As Baptists, baptism is in our name, and it’s one of our core doctrinal beliefs. Every baptism that we see in Scripture is post-conversion by immersion. Baptism is step one in following Jesus. It’s a turning point and a declarative moment in the life of a believer. It’s an opportunity to proclaim the very thing we remember on Easter and express our identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

N.C. Baptists are a movement of churches on mission together, and “Fill the Tank” is an “on mission together” initiative that simply asks churches to commit to fill their tank and trust the Lord to save souls between now and then.  We’ve seen Him do it every year that we’ve had a “Fill the Tank” emphasis.

I love hearing the many stories from pastors and churches from across our state following “Fill the Tank.” Pastors have seen God answer prayers and transform lives. They’ve seen entire families baptized, and some have baptized members of their own family.

People have been baptized in baptistries, pools, creeks and tubs. And we know of one instance when a local fire department filled a church’s baptistry that was low on water on a Sunday morning so they could participate in “Fill the Tank.”

Each one of these stories represents an individual whose life has been changed by the gospel, and there are so many more people across our state who need to hear the good news. My prayer is that when a church commits to fill their tank, they will also commit to pray for lost and be more intentional about sharing the gospel.

You can learn more about “Fill the Tank” and pledge to participate by signing up online at www.fillthetanknc.org. At the website, you’ll also find promotional materials, evangelism and discipleship resources, and even some answers to commonly asked questions related to baptism. 

So wherever and however your church does baptisms, I hope you will join fellow N.C. Baptist churches this year and “Fill the Tank” on April 27. I can’t wait to hear the stories of how God moves between now and then. Make sure to share your church’s stories by tagging @ncbaptist and using the hashtag #fillthetanknc on social media.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Todd Unzicker serves as the executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. This article originally appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of the Biblical Recorder magazine.)