It was a wild, wonderful day for a multisite megachurch in South Carolina, Upstate Church. It just held a service in which almost twelve dozen people were baptized in a single day, with about a third of them choosing that day to pick up their cross and follow Christ.
Upstate Church, also known as First Baptist Simpsonville, has six campuses and about seven thousand members. On Sunday, December 3, it held an incredible event at which 141 people were baptised, 86 of home decided ahead of time to do so and 55 of whom decided to do so when the church offered up an invitation during the service.
The church posted about the incredible number of baptisms on Facebook, saying, “141!!! We cannot get over what God did on Sunday. 141 lives that have gone from death to life and 141 people who made the decision to follow Christ in obedience through baptism. This is only the beginning! Jesus, we can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!”
Speaking about the event to The Christian Post, Upstate Church’s Lead Pastor, Wayne Bray, spoke about how wonderful it was that nearly ninety people registered for the baptism event, saying, “Every decision was confirmed by a minister prior to being added to the list. We had high expectations, but we never expected 86 new believers to register in the weeks leading up to Dec. 3.”
Continuing, he said it was like Acts 2, the moment of the Pentecost, saying, “I can’t adequately express how amazing it was to be a part of the day. More than any other moment in my ministry, I felt like we were living the book of Acts. We had preached from Acts 2, and it seemed as if we were in the pages ourselves.”
Then, Pastor Bray went on to note that this was the largest single day of baptisms in the church’s history, blowing well past its previous record of 35. He said, “we have never had spontaneous or mass baptisms before.”
Continuing, he explained how the church tries to ensure the newly baptized stay with the church, saying, “We are very intentional about discipleship at Upstate Church.” He added, “Our Spiritual Formation Team has done a great job creating a systematic process for helping new believers take their next step in the journey, regardless of their previous religious experience. Small groups and mentoring will be a major part of this process moving forward.”
Pastor Bray, in his biography on the church’s website, says, “I’m just an ordinary guy, but God has given me an extraordinary passion and vision for his church. I am a team-building strategist who cares most about the advancement of the gospel of Christ and the accomplishment of His mission. God has given me an undying passion for the mission of First Baptist Simpsonville / Upstate Church. I truly love my church family. They are the best! This is an uncommon moment in time when God is doing a new thing, and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. Amy is my life, but our kids are pretty cool, too. Nothing makes me happier than seeing our five children serve the Lord faithfully. Go Braves!”
Check out some of the baptism photos here:
Featured image credit: from the embedded Upstate Church Harrison Bridge Post