Why was baptism still practiced at every conversion in Paul's early days?
Baptism was still practiced at every conversion because Paul's early ministry was in a transition period. During those early days, water baptism remained part and parcel whenever he had a convert, practiced the moment she believed. As Paul later received deeper and fuller revelations, the importance of baptism dropped away.
Les explains that this was still the transition period, so baptism in Paul's early days was still part and parcel every time he had a convert. He points out that this will also appear with the Philippian jailer in the next few minutes. Les maintains that as Paul goes on into his deeper and fuller revelations, the importance of baptism sort of drops away, though he notes many people will not agree with him. In this case, Paul still practiced water baptism the moment Lydia believed, after her heart was opened and she attended to the things Paul said.