North Carolina Church Baptizes 458 People in One Day

A church in North Carolina is celebrating after hundreds of people publicly professed their faith in Jesus Christ through baptism earlier this month.

Biltmore Church baptized 458 people during its annual Outdoor Baptism event on Sept. 13, marking the largest single-day baptism event in the church’s 137-year history.

Nearly 4,000 people gathered at a private lake in Fletcher, North Carolina, for the event, according to the Biblical Recorder, the news publication of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Lead Pastor Bruce Frank celebrated the milestone following the event.

“What a privilege & joy to see 458 people professing faith in Jesus today thru baptism,” Frank wrote on X. “Grateful for a God who saves & a church who shares.”

Hundreds Take the Next Step

Biltmore Church holds baptisms during its regular worship services throughout the year, but once a year, members from its seven campuses come together for the outdoor event.

Executive Pastor Devin Goins told The Christian Post that church staff personally contacted those interested in participating before the event to make sure they understood salvation and were prepared to take baptism as a step of obedience in following Christ.

The church had a little more than 400 people registered heading into the weekend. That number grew as more people made decisions Sunday morning and later at the lake.

But the day was about much more than breaking a record.

Among those baptized were people in wheelchairs and who were assisted into the water, as well as families in which one person's decision encouraged another family member to be baptized.

One man even traveled from New York to North Carolina specifically for the event after previously coming to faith through conversations with a Biltmore Church member.

More Than a Number

The 458 baptisms surpassed the church's previous single-day record of 389, set during last year's outdoor event.

Biltmore Church recorded 686 baptisms throughout 2025. Following this year's outdoor event, the church had already recorded 636 baptisms in 2026, according to the Biblical Recorder.

Church leaders, however, are emphasizing what happens after people leave the water.

The Christian Post reported that the church contacted each person baptized about opportunities to continue growing in their faith. Those who live outside the area were encouraged to become involved in a local congregation.

For Frank, the growing numbers are connected to something much bigger than filling church seats.

“We are not in the crowd business. We are in the disciple-making business,” he told the Biblical Recorder.

And that is an important distinction.

It would be easy to look at 458 baptisms and focus on the record that was broken, but those 458 baptisms represent 458 individual people, each with a story of how they came to Christ and made the decision to publicly profess their faith.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commanded His followers to go, make disciples, and baptize them.

More than 2,000 years later, believers are still answering that call.

Comments:

About

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

Follow Glorious Grace for biblical truth, Christian encouragement, and new resources.

© 2026 Glorious Grace. All rights reserved.