Baptize America: Pastor Aims for Largest Water Baptism Event in U.S. History in 2025
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated May 24, 2024
The pastor who organized the largest baptism event in California history now has his sights set on an even grander campaign across America in 2025.
“Baptize America” will take place on Pentecost Sunday (June 8) in 2025 and will be -- according to the group behind it -- the “largest synchronized day of water baptism in American history.”
A similar campaign was held in California merely days ago, where some 300 churches baptized more than 12,000 individuals on Saturday and Sunday. Pastor Mark Francey of Oceans Church in Irvine, Calif., organized Baptize California and is behind Baptize America.
“I don't know where God wants us to go. But we're kind of prepared for whatever He wants us to do,” Francey told the Christian Post.
“Ultimately, our desire is to make the Day of Pentecost the day that Christendom celebrates water baptism,” Francey said. “I think it kind of happens organically every once in a while, but the Book of Acts was obviously started with a prayer meeting that led to bold preaching in the public square, that led to a public declaration of faith that 3,000 believed, and then immediately, 3,000 were baptized.”
Individuals who are baptized are then connected with a local church, he said. Some 6,000 were baptized on the beach, where Bethel Music and other artists led worship.
“This isn't like a parachurch organization that's going to kind of blow in and blow out, just get a crowd and just trying to get them hyped,” Francey said. “Our heart was to unite the local church, to work together, to really reach our world, and then to build a kingdom by connecting all of these people that are making a decision to get connected to the local church. For us, the win isn't the count of how many got baptized, really, it’s going to be how that translates into how we are getting people connected to the local church.”
Churches can sign up to participate in Baptize America at BaptizeAmerica.com.
The goal, Francey said, is to spread the spirit of unity and revival across the nation.
“God is not done with America and California,” he said. “In the 1960s, revival followed campus riots and national division. Light shines brightest in dark windows of time. … If this can happen in California, it can spread across America.”
Related:
12,000 Baptized in Historic California Event: ‘God Is Not Done with America’
Photo credit: ©Baptize California
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.
