WATCH — ‘God Saved a Lot of People’: Florida Church Baptizes 1,614 at Beach

A pastor in Jacksonville, Florida, is giving all honor to God after more than 1,000 people were baptized at a local beach in early May.

The Church of Elevent22’s pastor, Joby Martin, said his church holds an annual mass baptism, and this year’s event was the biggest yet, CBN News reported on Friday.

He told the outlet that “God saved a lot of people, and those people were obedient to take the next step — to go public with their faith and declare Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And just as amazing as the 1,614 people that got baptized are the … maybe 10,000 people from our church [who] showed up to celebrate it on the beach”:

Video footage shows the huge crowd making their way toward the beach, many participants wearing shirts that say, “Who is Jesus? My Lord and Savior.”

As people rose up out of the water, they raised their hands with huge smiles on their faces.

The event was a massive celebration for his church family, and Martin said he believes it is part of something bigger happening across the nation:

Martin witnessed a  ten-year-old girl walk into the water and begin to cry as she watched her father get baptized.

The pastor said he thinks she had been praying for her father, “and she probably doesn’t have the words, but she knows what Paul says in Romans — that this guy, when he comes out of the water, he’s going to be walking in a newness of life.'”

After the pastor baptized the man, everyone cried, and Martin said, “I know that that household has been revived.”

Images show the joyful group participating in the massive event:

Following their baptisms, the church helps participants connect with a Bible study and discipleship groups.

Meanwhile, a huge baptism movement swept across the United States recently as people gathered to worship God in Florida, California, Texas, and Missouri.