Five-year-old Luke Tillman told Grammy award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson earlier this month that he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pastor after his viral video of him baptizing his toys landed him a guest spot on her talk show.
Tillman’s mother posted a video of him baptizing his “Paw Patrol” toys on Dec. 29, 2022. “I shocked my mom today😂 I told her all my toys have to be baptized… today was Chase day🙌🏾 Say amen church😂🙌🏾,” Tillman captioned his video.
The video shows Tillman dressed as a pastor in a baptismal church robe and telling his mother he’s “ready for the baptism.” Tillman then walks into the bathroom where his plush “Paw Patrol” dog, “Chase,” was awaiting his water baptism.
“Are you sure Chase wants to get baptized?” Tillman’s mother asked. “Yeah,” Tillman replied, “He needs the Holy Ghost!”
Tillman entered his bathtub, which had a few inches of water in it, and began to sing the song “Take Me to the Water” by Nina Simone. The preschooler then took his toy “Paw Patrol” character, raised his hand and said, “Obedience to the command, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Ghost,” as he fully dunked Chase in the water.
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Appearing on Hudson’s show, Tillman told her it was a “blessing” to be there as he explained to her that he aspires to be a pastor when he grows up. Tillman shared that his father, who is a pastor, is his inspiration. “So I got it from my father, he baptized me,” Tillman said as he recalled when his dad baptized him.
Tillman was baptized when he was four, but said he had been asking to be baptized since he was two years old. When his father asked him why he wanted to get baptized, Tillman responded, “Because I love God and he did a lot of stuff for me.” He affirmed that he believes that Jesus died for his sins, rose again, is coming again, and lives in his heart.
“You want to be like your dad,” Hudson asked. Tillman replied with an affirmative, “Uh huh.”
Hudson then asked Tillman’s father, “How does it feel that he wants to follow in your footsteps?”
“It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing,” Tillman’s father replied. “I’m thinking now, you know, the pressure is always on PK’s [preacher’s kids] and that whole development, for him, to decide to want to do it, and authentically want to do it—it’s a blessing. I think this year is 20 years of me preaching, and he preached to 20 million people in one week. I haven’t reached that in 20 years. I’m very happy about that.”
