A few weeks after the tour, Scott submitted a writing sample about his batism experience in Diego to Urbanite magazine. His piece was accepted and put to print a couple months later, here it is..

Out There: Wade in the Water

By Scott Paynter

How does a reggae singer from Baltimore end up on a tiny speck of an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, singing at a sunrise baptism? Truth is stranger than fiction.

While on an Armed Forces entertainment tour of Asia and the South Pacific, my band, Jah Works, spent a week on Diego Garcia, a British territory between Madagascar and India. Through a leasing agreement with the Brits, it plays host to a slew of American military personnel, doing any number of top-secret jobs. This was our last stop after performing our way through Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Guam, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

Our shows that week were played in a number of large ballrooms, officer’s clubs and an outdoor venue near the U.S. Air Force’s “ Tent City” encampment. While playing the Officer’s Club show, which was a bit more sedate a crowd than our band is used to, I met one of the chaplains on the island, the Reverend Jennifer Bixby. She approached me during a set break to say that she was quite taken with one of our original tunes, “Moses.” She asked if we’d be willing to perform it at a sunrise baptism that coming Sunday.

Being a full-time musician, the thought of singing at sunrise initially caused me to shudder. Usually I'm going to bed at sunrise. But I quickly realized that this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. For the longest time, I’ d been telling family and friends that I wanted to incorporate my music into something larger and more meaningful than the normal smoke-filled bar and club scenes. I told Rev. Jennifer that we’d be honored.

I walked out of my quarters at about 7:15 that Sunday morning to see the sky a painting of light blue, burning red and orange. The sun was just up over the water, and the air was still cool, for Diego Garcia anyway, which is seven degrees below the equator. As I walked the quarter mile toward the beach pavilion where the baptism was to be held, I saw my guitar player, Kevin, and was relieved. Honestly I wondered if one of us would oversleep and not show.

Rev. Jennifer went over the service with us and we learned that the song would be a cappella. Singing with a band playing through a sound system is one thing, but the thought of singing with no music had me sweating more than the increasingly humid morning.

The service began, and the small group of 15 people gathered together to sing hymns and say prayers for the world. Rev. Jennifer talked about the places where people were suffering. Haiti was reeling from another hurricane, while the “ first world” mouthed half-hearted pledges of support (and this was well before the devastation of the tsunami). Russian schoolchildren were taken hostage and massacred, and CNN pumped it into living rooms as some kind of macabre entertainment. Yet here we were, on a beautiful morning in the middle of the Indian Ocean, gathered together to witness the baptism of five Filipino men who worked on the island. How beautiful was it that people of faith could gather together and welcome these five men into a spiritual community?

After the brief service, we jumped into two vehicles and rode to the water. We walked through the trees and bush until we found ourselves on a beach of blinding white sand. The sun was rising fast and it shot diamonds off the surface of the water. We stood in a circle and Rev. Jennifer told the assembly that she had a special surprise. Jah Works, she said, was gracious enough to come and sing a song for the baptism. As the faces of the people turned in our direction, I felt all my nervousness wash away. I was filled with the spirit of God, of my Irish ancestors and all the singers I'd ever admired as I opened my mouth to sing:

Send us, another brother Moses You got to lead us, across the Red Sea Why don't you send us, another brother Moses Because truly, that’ s who we need right now

My bandmates joined me in a three-part harmony, with nothing but the wind and the sea to sing along with. I felt transported to another level. When we finished, Rev. Jennifer led the men into the water. They waded up to their elbows, and she supported them one by one as they leaned back into the ocean. They each came out of the water in their own way, one jumping with happiness, another smiling quietly as he wiped tears from his eyes.

Music and spirituality have always been linked for me, and that morning was proof that they always will be. The spirit moved amongst us, bridging the distance between heaven and earth. —When not touring with his band Jah Works, Scott Paynter writes from his home in Baltimore.

The island of Diego Garcia was not affected by December’s tsunami.