Baptism: A really big deal?

In Baptist life we’ve always struggled with the value of the importance of baptism. Don’t get me wrong, we have always considered it to be very important, but we’ve also struggled with placing too much emphasis on it, i.e., baptismal regeneration. The IMB, which is the lone convention entity that I trust almost completely, has set forth a new set of guidelines per the trustees vote that bothers me. They have said that if a person practices a personal prayer language, or if they weren’t baptized in a way that doesn’t resemble “baptist baptism” than they are not eligible for missionary service. I should also mention that out of 87 trustees only 25 voted for it; 18 against and 43 abstained or were absent.

This issue became important to me about 2 months ago when I found out about it and then found out that my best friend is being asked by the IMB to be rebaptized prior to appointment as a career missionary. I’ll be the one rebaptizing himm. It has also come up again recently with this post that was just placed on steve mccoy’s blog.

So I guess my post is here in order to ask you this question: What constitutes biblical baptism? In my opinion it must be in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and it must be post-conversion. Those are the two non-negotiables. I tend to think it should be by immersion, though I wouldn’t die for that one, but everything else is moot to me. I can’t see biblical support for denying/approving anything else.

I’m posting this because I wan’t to hear what you think. I’ve talked to a few people I trust and almost universally they disagree with me and agree with the IMB trustees. Of course they are typically more traditional as well. So, let’s hear it!