CBS News
On a warm Sunday afternoon, thousands of people converged on a private cove in Southern California for a spiritual rebirth, part of what organizers call the world’s largest synchronized water baptism.
The event, Baptize America, drew participation from more than 650 churches nationwide, with around 30,000 people baptized. The gathering represents a broader trend: A worldwide surge in adults becoming baptized into the Christian faith, particularly among an unlikely demographic: Gen Z men.
“Water baptism is identifying in the death, the burial, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” said Pastor Mark Francey of Oceans Church, a non-denominational Christian church in Orange County. “Getting in the ocean to do something so transcendent in a transcendent place like the ocean, it’s just a really special way to connect with God.”
