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4,500 Baptized at 'Jesus Revolution Baptism' Event: Lines Were 'Half a Mile Long,' Greg Laurie Says

  • Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
  • Updated Jul 12, 2023
4,500 Baptized at 'Jesus Revolution Baptism' Event: Lines Were 'Half a Mile Long,' Greg Laurie Says

Some 4,500 people were baptized at a mass "Jesus Revolution" baptismal event at Pirate's Cove Beach in California Saturday that pastor and organizer Greg Laurie says may have been the largest mass baptism in American history.

"We give God all the glory for this," Laurie said. "I think this is a real sign of spiritual awakening."

Laurie and his Harvest ministry organized the mass baptism at Pirate's Cove, the same beach used for mass baptisms during the Jesus Movement 50 years ago. The beach was seen in the 2023 hit film Jesus Revolution.

One month ago, 4,166 people were baptized at Pirate's Cove in an event dubbed "Baptize SoCal" organized by Oceans Church.

The historical Jesus Movement never experienced such a wide-scale baptism event, Laurie said.

"People like to talk about the good old days and back during the Jesus Movement when we had the big baptisms there. … Let me just tell you, because I was there: We never had a baptism on the scale," Laurie said. "This one is new, this is fresh. This has never happened before, and it happened where? In California. Everybody likes to throw California under the bus. A lot of people are leaving California. I'll probably stay here because someone has to turn the lights out. But actually, I'm here to turn the light on. I think the people of this state want to hear the gospel. I think that people of America want to hear it as well."

Laurie said about 3,800 people had signed up to be baptized, but many more than that showed up. When including those who were not baptized, some 20,000 people were in attendance.

"They were on top of the rocks. They were here, there and everywhere. There was a line that was like half a mile long of people waiting to be baptized," Laurie said. "And my son Jonathan was talking to people, and they were happy and enjoyed it. They said, 'Oh, we wait in lines longer than this for Disneyland – we're happy to do this.' And people literally came from all around the world. All around America, of course, as well. It was just fantastic.

"... This may be the largest single baptism in American history. Certainly, it's among the largest."

Related:

Pastor Greg Laurie Announces Jesus Revolution Baptism at Pirates Cove Beach

Over 4,000 Baptized on 50th Anniversary of Jesus Movement

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/ Gobal Moments

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.