Baptize America Pastor Says Revival Begins with Repentance and the Local Church
Milton Quintanilla
Audio By Carbonatix
By Milton Quintanilla, Crosswalk.com
California pastor Mark Francey, founder of the evangelism group Baptize America, emphasized the importance of water baptisms and the necessity of healthy local churches for evangelism and revival. On Pentecost Sunday last month, Francey led a Baptize America event with over 600 churches and more than 28,000 people across hundreds of locations.
"I think the greatest way to evangelize a city or a state is to plant a local healthy church," said Francey. "And I think the fastest way to make a disciple is to get someone connected to a local church."
The organization has also held events abroad, with around 1,100 people attending events held in countries such as Canada, Paraguay, and Sweden.
"I think the greatest way to evangelize a city or a state is to plant a local healthy church," Francey told podcaster Billy Hallowell in a recent interview for The Christian Post. "And I think the fastest way to make a disciple is to get someone connected to a local church."
He added that coordinating mass baptism events with local churches across the U.S. is a great way to promote and volunteer at such gatherings. In addition to organizing activities for his group, some of the local churches that collaborate with Baptize America will work together and do big events, regional events, in addition to organizing activities for his group.
"What we found is that the pastors that got excited about this, the last two years that participated, made it a big deal, they had big results," he continued. "The biggest baptisms they've ever done. A lot of churches growing by five, 10%."
Francey contended that water baptism is "one of the greatest evangelistic tools that we have in our arsenal to reach the world" for Christ.
"You invite a neighbor that doesn't like church or God, and you tell them your little boy or little girl is getting baptized, they're showing up," he said.
"It wasn't until we went to Pirates Cove that we baptized 4,166 people two years ago, that I'm like, 'this is a scene!' I mean, you have 12,000 people show up to one place and 4,000 get baptized, the whole beach is going, 'what's going on? Oh, I've never been baptized.'"
According to Kandi Bailey, care pastor of GrowLife Church of Land O'Lakes, Florida, one of the Baptize America participating congregations, her congregation witnessed 22 baptisms.
"We wanted to be a part of a larger vision — people coming together who want to stand up and say, I'm a follower of Jesus," she told CP. "What a beautiful heavenly perspective that must have been to see so many stand up in faith."
"I believe there is a move of God happening in this generation. God loves this world and wants to be in relationship with us. I hope people see the beauty of standing up and declaring their faith in God and encourage others to do the same."
Photo Credit: ©Baptize America
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
