What Is “Baptize America”?
Many Christians have been noticing signs on the side of the road with the text, “Baptize America.” This phrase alone should be something that excites every Bible-believing Christian. After all, it was Jesus Himself who said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Mat. 28:19-20). Unfortunately, there is more to the movement than the phrase itself. So, we should ask, “What is the Baptize America movement, and are their teachings Biblical?”
Before we can answer those questions, we need to look at some of the background of the movement. The first event of the movement was called, “Baptize SoCal,” which was held in May of 2023, where more than 4,000 people were baptized. The second event was called, “Baptize California,” which was held in May of 2024, where more than 12,000 people were baptized. Then the third and most recent event was held in June of 2025, where more than 25,000 people were baptized. If everything was done according to Scripture and these baptisms followed the will of God, this event should be celebrated, but as we will see, that is not the case.
The leader of this movement is named Mark Francey, and he is the preacher for the Oceans Church in Irvine, California. Mark was involved in a documentary in which he shared where the idea for this event came from. Notice where the unbiblical background of this movement begins. According to Mark Francey, he was reading a book that told of a great water baptism that took place in Pirate’s Cove in 1990. This is when Mark said he was “hit nearly in the chest, closed his eyes and saw a vision.” This vision was of a future event taking place at Pirate’s Cove where many would be baptized. Again, according to Mark, the Holy Spirit hit him right in the stomach and said, “Mark, I want you to unite my church in California and I want you to actually do an event that gathers people around what we all agree on, which is water baptism.” The Holy Spirit allegedly continued, “Mark, my lost children, they all know three things. They know Easter, they know Christmas, and they know water baptism.” The last thing that Mark claims to have heard from the Holy Spirit is: “These images from this event will go all over America, and they will believe that if God can unite the church in California, He can unite the church in any state and in any country.”
There are so many things wrong with the statements Mark makes in this interview, but there are three areas that show unequivocally that this movement is not Biblical. The first is the vision itself, the second is the call for unity, and the third is the teaching on baptism itself. When it comes to how God communicates His will to us, we must be honest and say that God has chosen to communicate to man through a number of different ways throughout history. In the garden of Eden, we see God walking through the garden and talking directly to Adam (Gen. 3:8-9). God spoke to Moses through an angel which appeared through the burning bush (Exo. 3:2-4). God spoke to Abraham through a vision (Gen. 15:1). God spoke to Abimelech through a dream (Gen. 20:3-6). Then, throughout the books of prophecy of the Old Testament, God speaks to groups of people through His chosen prophets. God even tells Jeremiah that he will be His mouth to the Israelites (Jer. 15:19-20). So, God does have the power to speak to mankind through any means that He chooses.
So, “How does God speak to us today?” What we see is that during the first century the Bible clearly documents a change in the way that God has chosen to speak to man. The book of Matthew tells us, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mat. 7:28-29). When Jesus came, He spoke with an authority from God the likes of which man had never seen before. The Hebrews’ writer explains it well when He writes, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. 1:1-2). So, God no longer speaks to us through visions, dreams, or prophets, but He speaks to us through the teachings of His dear Son (Scripture references are from the King James).
Why then are so many people confused about this? Why do people still believe God speaks to man through visions and dreams today? The simplest reason for this is that Jesus ascended back into heaven and is no longer with us, which is confirmed in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:9. Thankfully, the Bible also clearly deals with Jesus’ absence when it comes to how God communicates to us today.
Jesus taught on various occasions that He had passed His authority of teaching the message of God to His chosen apostles. Just after Jesus questioned His apostles about who men were saying that He was, He posed the same question to the apostles. Peter answered for the group by saying, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” We then see Jesus’ response to this answer in Matthew 16:17-19. Notice the transfer of authority in verse nineteen which says, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Then, as Jesus is about to ascend back to heaven, He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Mat. 28:18-20). These chosen followers of Jesus had a unique ability to speak for God because Jesus gave them authority to do so and then promised to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to remind them what they should say—and to guide them into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13; Luke 12:11-12).
This leads to two logical questions: “Was this authority passed from the apostles to other Christians?” and “Does the line continue even to today?” The best way to answer this is to allow the Bible to speak for itself. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-20).
Then the same man, led by the same Spirit, wrote in a parallel passage to the Colossians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col. 3:16-17). These parallel passages show that being filled with the Holy Spirit equals letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.
When we add to these passages 1 Corinthians 13, which tells of the miraculous abilities given through the Holy Spirit vanishing away when that which is perfect, the full revelation from God, has come, we see that God speaks to us today—not through prophets, visions, or dreams. Instead, God now speaks to us through the words of His dear Son and the apostles to whom He granted authority to speak on His behalf through the power of the Holy Spirit. This means that the leader of the Baptize America movement is lying (or is self-deceived) about where he came up with the idea for the movement and the visions he received, which does not bode well for the movement itself being from God.
The next thing that is problematic about Mark’s statement about where he got the idea for the movement has to do with the supposed call for unity. The unity that Mark describes is a unity in diversity, because it is only uniting around a singular idea from Scripture rather than uniting on all Scripture. To be fair, there is a Biblical teaching about unity in diversity. Scripture shows us that all nations, races, and both sexes are invited to be an equal part of the Lord’s church (Gal. 3:28). Paul also teaches about Christian liberties being a reality such as the eating of meats principle in Romans 14. These are areas where there is no specific law on a subject; so, Christians must make a choice; sometimes they are different regarding authorized matters. These differences on topics where liberty is allowed do not get rid of the true unity of the church. True unity in diversity is being united despite outside differences and differing opinions in areas of Christian liberty.
The unity in diversity which Mark Francey claims is being done in the Baptize America movement does not align with the unity of diversity in Scripture. The Bible clearly shows us that where there is a law—a system of doctrine handed down by Christ and the apostles—there are areas where no diversity of opinion can exist. These are areas where we must transform our opinions to align with the true teaching of the Scripture.
In 1 Corinthians 1:10-11, Paul writes, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.” Paul then discusses the division that has arisen based on who was superior because of who baptized them. Paul reminds them that this is foolish, that they are on the same team and who baptizes them does not matter, they need to remain united.
Then, in chapter five, Paul is discussing something sinful that is taking place in their midst—a fornication so bad that it is not even named among the Gentiles. He then tells that the one who is committing this sin is openly boasting about it and that they are to deliver this person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved (1 Cor. 5:5). They are later told to purge out the leaven, and not to keep company with fornicators. The reasoning for this is that, when one sins so openly, they have already made the choice to separate themselves from God; so, believers in withdrawing from them are not the ones causing the division. There is to be no unity in diversity when one is doing or teaching things contrary to Scripture.
When we apply this teaching to the Baptize America movement, we can see that their call for unity, because they happen to agree on a singular Biblical subject while teaching other false doctrines, is not true Biblical unity. In fact, it is something else entirely that Jesus warns about near the end of His famous, “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Mat. 7:15). We then see this same warning appear again and again throughout Scripture. Jesus later said, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (24:4-5). John likewise wrote, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). People like Mark Francey and the “Baptize America” group who teach contrary to Scripture are called antichrists and are to be marked and avoided.
What would God say if we ignored these warnings and joined ourselves to a movement led by a false prophet based on our unity over one subject? Scripture does not uphold such a thing. This interdenominational unity is nothing more than a call for the faithful to participate in unequally yoking themselves together with unbelievers, which is condemned (2 Cor. 6:14).
The sad reality is that, although the leader of the movement, Mark Francey, claims that we all agree on water baptism, he and the Ocean’s Church of which he is a part do not teach true Biblical baptism. Nailing down exactly what they teach on baptism is not an easy thing to do. This is because they call for people to be baptized but never actually say why someone should be baptized. This should be an immediate cause for concern to anyone thinking about joining this group. If a person or group of people call you to do something in the name of God, but never provide you with why God commanded such a thing, it should cause you to be on alert.
The Ocean’s Church’s website had an about page, containing a section telling what this group believes. In this section is a dropdown tab titled “Salvation.” Here it says: “The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the only way of salvation through the forgiveness of sin. Salvation occurs when people place their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as sufficient payment for their sin. Salvation is a gift from God, and it cannot be earned through our own efforts.”
There is clearly a lot of reformation language in this statement of belief on the area of salvation, but what we see lacking is any mention of baptism or how one comes into contact with the saving blood of Jesus Christ. The most dangerous thing about this statement is that it is filled with truths from Scripture while systematically leaving out certain parts that the group does not agree with. Based on the glaring absence of baptism in this statement, we can safely assume that this group does not teach baptism as being necessary for salvation; in fact, every Scripture reference they provide conveniently stops just before the verse which mentions baptism.
One thing that is clear is that the Ocean’s Church picture of salvation does not match with the Biblical picture of salvation. The Word of God teaches that one must first hear the Word of God and believe it to be saved (Acts 16:30-31; Rom. 1:16; Heb. 11:6). It also clearly tells us the importance of calling upon the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:9-10, 13-15). At the same time Scripture shows that one must repent of sins and be baptized to be saved from sin (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 2:38-39; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21). Baptism is no more or less important than every other thing listed in the New Testament as being necessary for salvation. However, it is necessary just like faith, repentance, and confession.
So, the very first thing that Mark Francey and the Baptize America movement gets wrong about baptism is that it is not necessary for salvation. The next thing that they get wrong about baptism is the immediate nature of baptism which is taught in Scripture. According to an article put out by “TheWordOrlando.com,” Mark said, “Ultimately, our desire is to make the Day of Pentecost the day that Christendom celebrates water baptism.” So, this is an event where for months or even a full year in advance they call people to be baptized and determine to baptize them at a specific day in the future. We never see this anywhere in Scripture.
In every single conversion account of the Bible, we see the person or people baptized immediately upon their realization that they need to be baptized in order to be saved. It is immediate because they realize they are lost and want to remedy that situation immediately—it’s not someday far out in the future. Acts 2 tells us that the same day in which these people were convicted by Peter’s words 3,000 of them were baptized (2:41). In Acts 8, as Philip is teaching the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus, the man asks what is hindering him from being baptized. Philip tells him that if he believes, he may, which causes the man to make a confession about Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God. Immediately, they stop the chariot, go down into the water, and Philip baptizes him (8:36-38). He could have waited till they finished their journey or until he got home so his family and friends could witness his baptism, but he did not; he was baptized immediately. Likewise, the Philippian jailor was baptized in the middle of the night, the same hour that he believed (16:30-33). He did not wait until the jail was secure after the earthquake, he did not wait for a decent hour; no, he was baptized immediately. The idea of waiting for a big event to baptize people shows a complete misunderstanding of the importance of baptism that is shown in Scripture.
Overall, the Baptize America movement seems like a great thing at the surface level. However, when we look into the movement and their teachings, we see false prophets, false teachings about unity, and false teachings surrounding the Biblical doctrine of baptism.
Sadly, this movement has baptized nearly 40,000 people, which means they have deceived that many people and given those people a false sense of their salvation and eternal security, which is an extremely dangerous thing that will lead many souls to a devastating end. May God bring the false teachings of this group to light so they can lead no more astray. Hopefully, those who have been led astray may find their way to God and true Biblical teachings. [This article appeared in the August, 2025 issue of The Defender. Brethren ought to be informed about the topic.]