A California pastor is on a mission to hold the biggest mass baptism in world history.
Mark Francey of Oceans Church in San Juan Capistrano, California, is gearing up for Baptize America, a one-day event June 8 he hopes will become the “world’s largest synchronized water baptism.”
It’s an ambitious effort that follows two previous events: Baptize SoCal and Baptize California. The former, held in 2023, saw nearly 4,200 baptisms, while the latter, which unfolded last year, saw more than 12,200 people be immersed.
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Now, Francey wants to up the ante and take these local and state events national.
“We’re going to launch a nationwide movement,” Francey said. “We just believe that if God could do it here in California, He can certainly do it in Tennessee, or Florida, or some of the other great states.”
He continued, “We’re gearing up. We’re really, really excited for what God’s doing with this baptism movement.”
Francey is working across denominations and “boundaries” to unite Christians on one of the main elements on which the vast majority of Bible believers agree: baptism.
“I think that baptism could be a catalytic thing that we can all rally around, get excited about to mobilize the church to work together,” he said.
Francey’s efforts come as claims of Christian revival reverberate across the U.S. Reports of college students being mass baptized in the backs of pick-up trucks and the much-heralded Asbury revival—an event at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, in February 2023 that attracted people from across the globe and resulted in a non-stop church service that lasted two weeks—have made headlines.
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Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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