Pastor Craig Groeschel of Life.Church is celebrating the more than 2,000 baptisms that took place over the church’s 40-plus campuses, this weekend.
Sunday’s service at the Oklahoma megachurch began with praise and worship as more than 80,000 attendees watched people make a public declaration for Jesus Christ.
From the young to the old, many took that step of faith at a large facility pool used by the church, while others got baptized at satellite campuses. Some even got baptized in their bathtubs, previously recorded video showed.
The entire event lasted more than 20 minutes and the crowd erupted in cheers as the last person – a young woman – was baptized.
“If I can take a moment to express my love for our church family and just say to those of you that are being baptized today, we praise God for the work of Jesus in your life,” Life.Church founder and Groeschel said afterward.
He shared that the number of baptisms that took place was a church record.
The New York Times bestselling author also shared that he got emotional when he realized that a person attending the service was baptized when Life.Church had its first service in 1996.
“I think we baptized five people,” Groeschel recalled, “and here we are, over a quarter of a century later, and this is a record weekend that our church has the honor of celebrating with over 2,000 people this weekend getting baptized.”
He remarked, “The power of God is moving.”
“We’re not praying for revival. We’re in the middle of one. I thank God for what he’s doing,” the pastor said. “God is doing a big thing.”
As CBN News has been reporting, there has been an increase in churches hosting mass baptisms, this summer.
In June, Oceans Church organized Baptize SoCal – an event advertised as “the biggest water baptism in history”.
More than 280 churches and 8,000 attendees watched as 4,166 people flocked to the shore of Pirates Cove to declare their new life in Christ on Pentecost Sunday.
A month later, Harvest Christian Fellowship Sr. Pastor Greg Laurie held the massive baptism event where 32,500 people gathered and 6,794 made public declarations of their decision to dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ.
Laurie explained the deeper significance of the simple gesture.
“You’re saying goodbye to the old you, buried with Christ in baptism so you might walk in newness of life, that’s what the Bible says, so you’re coming out saying, ‘I’m making this commitment’ and you’re doing it publicly in front of friends and family,” he said.
Between SoCal Harvest Crusade and the Jesus Revolution Pirate’s Cove Baptisms, within one week, Laurie and Harvest Church have been able to help approximately 11,295 new Christians dedicate their lives to their Lord and Savior.
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