A pastor whose church just baptized 1,614 people on a Florida beach called the incredible mass immersion an “amazing” testament to people’s newfound faith.
Pastor Joby Martin, founder and lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22, told CBN News his church hosts a large baptism every year, with 1,100 people participating in the 2023 event.
But Martin said this year was bigger than ever, with 50-60 people helping conduct the baptisms.
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“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,” he said. “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.”
Martin said the event was “like a big family reunion” and celebration for the church. He said it has been “a bit overwhelming” to see so much spiritual fruit and to take part in so much transformation.
“I had no idea when I got into ministry that I would get to be a part of anything like this,” Martin said. “And, obviously, [I] can’t take any credit whatsoever. We planted our church in 2012. Lots of people have come to Christ. The church has grown pretty exponentially.”
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The preacher believes the stunning mass baptism is part of a bigger pattern of faith professions and baptisms observed across America right now, according to Faithwire.
“It just seems like God is doing a thing amongst his church,” Martin said. “It was super neat for us to be able to celebrate what He’s doing here with what He’s doing all over the place.”
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He continued, “[We are] just overwhelmed with the goodness of God — that God decided to flex and God loves saving people. And it was a pretty surreal moment.”
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