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

BY : Michael Foust ChristianHeadlines.com

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.

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.”

This of course is the Site of the Baptisms of the Jesus Movement.
I was Baptized there 50 Years ago, as was my wife, Cathe.
But we never had a baptism like what happened yesterday.
We baptized 4500 people!
There… pic.twitter.com/qeDmPACrEE

— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) July 9, 2023Laurie 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.”