More than 4,000 people were baptized in a single ceremony in southern California last Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Jesus Movement.
Baptize SoCal was touted as “the biggest water baptism in history” as 4,166 people were baptized in Pirate’s Cove, marking their acceptance of Jesus Christ and entry into the Christian church.
The mass event was organized by Oceans Church, a ministry located in Orange County, and involved the participation of more than 280 churches and 8,000 attendees on Pentecost Sunday, which marks the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.
“What an amazing and historic day,” West Coast Life Church pastor Ray Gene Wilson said. “Thousands baptized at Pirates Cove. God is moving in California.”
Over the same weekend, hundreds also gathered on Pensacola Beach in Florida to pray, worship, and receive Christ, and many were baptized in the ocean.
The Jesus Movement, an evangelical Christian movement that began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was commemorated earlier this year with the release of the hit movie Jesus Revolution. The film chronicled the coming to faith of prominent pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie as the Jesus Movement was spreading in America.
The movie’s release in February coincided with the Asbury Christian Revival, one of the biggest Christian revivals in years, which saw some 50,000 Christians participate in nonstop prayer and worship over a multi-week period at Asbury University in Kentucky.
Numerous participants in last Sunday’s Baptize SoCal event took to social media to share the spiritual experience with their friends.
“It was such a blessing to witness so many people getting baptized for one but to be able to see happen the same place that the hippies did it 50 years ago for The Jesus People Movement was just surreal,” videographer Eddy Ferguson wrote.
“It was so incredible just seeing all of these people come together,” worship leader Daniel Mamora wrote.
“In fact, I was sitting on top of the cliff watching the baptisms and there’s a staircase in order to get down if you want to get baptized and literally, there was a whole line right there and then all of a sudden, the line just goes around into the parking lot, it wasn’t just people wanting to come in and witness but people wanting to get baptized, that blew me away!” he said.